Night Terrors

Terror Train (1980) was a film I had been unfamiliar with until not long before its release on DVD around 2004. The slasher genre was receiving a renaissance after Scream (1996) went on a tear, and so a new generation was interested in what was to offer from the past. Curtis rode this fame train when she reappeared in the genre with her return to the Halloween franchise and Laurie Strode in Halloween H20 (1998). I'm one of those who loves to encounter new discoveries from the past, like a coal miner eking out from the tunnels the right ore. Still this film, Terror Train, wasn't a slasher film that set the world on fire in 1980. It made maybe 4 million of its bank back. In fact, despite what is considered a popular genre item from the same period, Prom Night (1980) didn't exactly hit the mother lode, either making about 7 million. Just the same, both will probably maintain exposure and eyes to them for the foreseeable future. That's all that matters in the end. And Jamie Lee Curtis will continue to attain an audience who looks to her as a type of standard bearer. In TT this film is particularly a good showcase for her. I think, in fact, this film gives her more to do. No doubt, though, she is probably is a bit more iconic--her image anyway--in Prom Night, whereas the train and good ole Ben Johnson add a lot of gravitas to Terror Train's rep.

I don't think this is as mediocre as others feel. Is it bloody enough or salacious enough? Well you get some tits--albeit briefly--from a girl wanting to get busy with Curtis' beau, and there's lots of blood even though not a lot of clear violence spilled on screen. Curtis is more involved in "protective action" in Terror Train than Prom Night as the killer aims for her in the former, attempting to avoid (obviously, for reasons later determined once his mask is removed) her in the latter film. I think of the characters she played during her scream queen era, Terror Train seems to give her a bit more to work with. She's a smart pre-med student about to graduate early and leave behind her gal buddy, Mitchy (the sexy and sadly diminished secondary character played by Sandee Currie). She is in a complicated romance with a guy named Mo (Timothy Webber), friends with fellow frat brother and med student, Doc (Hart Bochner). Doc and Curtis' Alana are at odds, mainly over the affections of Mo. Doc's attachment to Mo, for me, is damn near homoerotic in nature. Mitchy means less than Mo in the end to Doc. Alana spends quite some time running into dead friends, and fighting with Doc. Doc's morbid sense of humor and disregard for what his trick on Kenny Sampson caused the kid tells you all you need to know. The hiring of Copperfield wasn't of his doing and he spends a lot of time at odds with him as well...Doc wants to be the life of the party, in command, and so this charismatic and suave magician crashing his spot is met with discord. The Doc and Alana dynamic is fascinating as the two of them seem to be competing for Mo. Doc will do whatever he can to fracture Mo and Alana's relationship, including motivating her to find him with another girl! But the slasher film offered plenty of night terrors for Alana; Terror Train gave Curtis plenty of final girl prestige, including having to defend herself even after the killer yanked an earring off!