"TERROR TRAIN" Is Your Ticket to Fun, Thrills, and Chills this New Year's Eve! (RETRO REVIEW)

New Year’s Eve has many exhausting expectations. Do we go out, stay in, who’s gonna be there, do I have a date, do I need a date, etc., etc., etc. It’s the one night of the year when the stress of doing something can be overwhelming. We want to take all that pressure off your shoulders and suggest a nice quiet night at home in front of the T.V. watching a mostly overlooked early slasher gem called “TERROR TRAIN.” Released by 20th Century Fox in 1980, an eclectic year for horror that was truly all over the map. You had the cult trash of “MOTHER’S DAY” and “MANIAC.” John Carpenter redefines the campfire tale with “THE FOG.” Creature Feature B-Movie extravaganzas like “ALLIGATOR.” The launch of the iconic slasher franchise “FRIDAY THE 13TH” and critically acclaimed darlings like “THE SHINING” and “THE CHANGELING.” Horror had a varied but excellent year in 1980, and this film certainly adds to its roster of solid entries. Conceived by Producer Daniel Grodnik to capitalize on the massive success of “HALLOWEEN,” Grodnik thought the setting of a New Year’s Eve party train careening through the snowy darkness would be the perfect setting for a murder mystery horror movie. We think he hit paydirt with this tight, fast-paced 90-minute chiller.

So why is this film the perfect watch for New Year’s Eve? Because that’s the night the film takes place. There’s no need to plan a get-together this year; jump on board this disco boogie train to Killstown and get down! Maybe to the grave because this Silver Steak has a masked psycho (is there any other) bent on slashing their way from engine to caboose, and nobody, not even Jamie Lee Curtis in her horror heyday, will get in their way. This film is one of those 80s classics that has just about everything you need for a fun, campy fright-fest. Solid performances from Jamie-Lee Curtis as our beleaguered Final Girl, a paternal, understanding authority figure in Ben Johnson (undoubtedly unique at the time in this genre), a fantastic “can’t wait till they’re killed” bully performance by Hart Bochner, and sleight of hand magic by David Copperfield (that’s not a misprint, you read it correctly) and disco, disco, disco. Oh, and Vanity shows up as well.

Solidly directed by Roger Spottiswoode (“UNDER FIRE,” “TOMORROW NEVER DIES”), this was his first directorial feature, and the fact that he came from collaborating with the likes of Sam Peckinpah and Walter Hill helps tremendously. The movie certainly contains all the horror tropes you’d expect in a slasher film, the faceless killer thinning the cast down to a few choice guesses as to who’s doing the killing and why, fake outs, redirects, and jump scares, but since Spottiswoode didn’t come from a horror background, there’s both a sense of playfulness to the tension and pathos to the reveal that wasn’t present in slashers of this time period. The inclusion of David Copperfield as the Magician performing for the party makes perfect sense. This whole film is a bit of a magic act. Constantly leading you in different directions to keep you guessing. Spottiswoode certainly isn’t redefining the subgenre by any means, but he has a solid command of the material, and you can sense the fun he’s having playing in this Sanbox, one of which he would never return to. There are some great set pieces in this movie, and Spottiswoode leans into the claustrophobia of the setting to great effect.

He’s aided tremendously by Cinematographer John Alcott, who collaborated with Stanley Kubrick on “2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY,” “BARRY LYNDON,” and “THE SHINING.” Alcott devised specific lightning rigs to accommodate the cramped quarters of the train, completely re-wiring the interiors and using a combination of medical penlights and Christmas lights for the actors. Unlike many 80s slashers, “TERROR TRAIN” looks gorgeous with the grain you expect from this time. There have been complaints that the film can look too dark, but we resolved that issue easily with a few picture adjustments before viewing.

This film comes at a time in Jamie Lee Curtis’ career post “HALLOWEEN” when all she was offered were horror films, and she felt she couldn’t turn down the work. This year saw her in three, “THE FOG,” PROM NIGHT,” and “TERROR TRAIN,” which is pretty remarkable for any Scream Queen working in the studio system. She gives an excellent performance as Alana Maxwell and, to her credit, always stands by the genre work she’s done regardless of the public’s perception of those films. “TERROR TRAIN” is far from her best but certainly deserves a watch, especially on New Year’s Eve, so get your lizard costume out of mothballs, throw on some Cool and the Gang, maybe fire up the fondue pot, and enjoy this throwback blood-soaked love letter to feathered hair and blue eyeshadow.

You can currently watch “TERROR TRAIN” for free on TUBI.

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