Terror Train
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Terror Train | |
|---|---|
 theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Roger Spottiswoode |
| Produced by | Harold Greenberg |
| Written by | T.Y. Drake |
| Starring | Ben Johnson Jamie Lee Curtis Hart Bochner David Copperfield |
| Music by | John Mills-Cockell |
| Cinematography | John Alcott |
| Editing by | Anne Henderson |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | October 3, 1980 |
| Running time | 97 min. |
| Country | Canada/United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3,500,000 |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Terror Train is a 1980 Canadian-made horror film starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Ben Johnson, directed by Roger Spottiswoode. It was filmed in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from November 21, 1979 to December 23, 1979.
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[edit] Plot
A college is celebrating New Year's and everybody is happy. One of the fraternities decide to play a prank on a shy and awkward young man, Kenny Hampson (Derek MacKinnion). The prank backfires horribly, and poor Kenny ends up in a mental ward. Three years later, it's graduation time, and the members of the fraternites and sororities decide to have a costume party aboard a train trip to celebrate their graduation. The jokester of the group, Ed (Howard Busgang), is found run through with a sword, everybody thinks it's a joke, but Ed falls dead. The unseen killer steals Ed's Groucho Marx mask, and boards the train, disguised as him. The guy who made up the cruel prank on Kenny, Doc (Hart Bochner) talks about how he set the prank up. But, Alana (Jamie Lee Curtis) walks in and tells him that it was a harsh joke. The group decides to forget about it, and open a bottle of champane. Meanwhile, Jack (Anthony Sherwood) runs into the killer, who he thought was Ed, and is hurled into a mirror. Alana tries to get into the bathroom, but the door is locked, so she gets Carne (Ben Johnson), the train conducter to unlock it. Inside is Jack's body, with blood everywhere, luckily most of the other students are watching a performance by a magician named Ken (David Copperfield), so they don't know anything about Jack yet. Carne gets another crew member to take a look at it, but then the killer cleaned up all the blood and is in Jack's lizard costume. Now dressed as Jack, the killer goes for Mitchy. She wants to have a one night stand with him in a sleeping compartment, but he strangles her, and slits her throat. Alana and Carne discover her body shortly afterwards, yet the killer is still on the loose. Next, Alana's boyfriend, Mo (Timothy Webber) is found with a stab wound in his chest. This time, everybody knows about it, and the train is stopped to a halt. Everybody else on the train are told to get off so the crew can search for the killer and take roll call. Doc and Alana realize that Kenny is the killer and is getting revenge. Alana tries to warn everybody else, but Doc locks himself in a cabin. As Alana gets off the train, Doc is brutally murdered. As everybody gets back on the train, Alana and Carne discover Doc's body, along with his decapitated head! The killer has stolen Doc's monk costume as well. Now, Carne has herded the students on one side of the train, so he'll be able to find the killer. Alana begins to think the killer is the magician, but the magician has disappeared. Alana is to stay in one of the locked cabins. But eventually, Kenny finds Alana, and he chases her into the conductor's car. Alana locks herself in the conductor's office (which is caged off) he finds her, and she stabs him in the face with a letter opener. She runs out of the office and pushes Kenny off the train. Now relieved, she decides to walk over in the magician's cabin, and she discovers his dismembered body in a cabinet! So it couldn't have been him. Alana runs into Carne's cabin, she finds him sitting at his desk, with his head down. But, Alana realizes it isn't Carne, it's Kenny! He never fell out of the train, and he wasn't the magician, but the magician's assistant. Before he can do away with Alana, Carne runs in with a shovel, and finally knocks Kenny out of the train, his body falling in a river.
[edit] Information
Halloween made Jamie Lee Curtis a young star; starring in three horror films in one year made her a "Scream Queen". Terror Train is probably the least remembered of these films. Released in the USA on October 3, 1980 by 20th Century Fox, the film probably suffered from overexposure of its main star. The Fog and Prom Night had already been released to theaters, and enjoyed some success at the height of the early 1980s horror craze. Terror Train was first released on VHS home video in the late 1980s by Key Home Video. A DVD was finally released in 2004 and is available with different cover art than the original VHS version. Original VHS copies were fetching up to $30 USD on eBay before the DVD was available.
This was the first motion picture directed by Spottiswoode. He later went on to direct the films Turner & Hooch and Air America. He is an Emmy Award winning director, who has also won several other directing honors.
[edit] Selected cast
- Ben Johnson as Carne (Train Conductor)
- Jamie Lee Curtis as Alana Maxwell
- Hart Bochner as Doc Manley
- David Copperfield as Ken the Magician
- Derek MacKinnon as Kenny Hampson (and the Magician's Assistant)
- Sandee Currie as Mitchy
- Timothy Webber as Mo
- Anthony Sherwood as Jackson
- Howard Busgang as Ed
- Steve Michaels as Charley the train Brakeman
- Greg Swanson as the Class President
- Vanity (credited as D.D. Winters) as Merry
- Joy Boushel as Pet
- Victor Knight as Walter the Engineer
- Donald Lamoureux as Shovels the Stoker (as Don Lamoureux)
[edit] Remake
A remake is in production, and is set for a 2008 release. Thora Birch is set to play Alana Maxwell.
