Jamie Lee Curtis Trio

 For my Letterboxd Saturday and early Sunday:

I did revisit the Joe Bob Briggs' Halloween Hoedown version of this film; however, I fastforwarded through a majority of Joe's interview with Blum. While Blum and Green were promoting the polarizing "Halloween Kills" on the Joe Bob show, his attention on "Terror Train" seemed to interfere with their backstory. I don't know: the marriage of Joe Bob hosting this film and getting all of Blum and Green promoting themselves and their film in sort of takes from what makes The Last Drive-In so special. I would think what should have happened is one of Blumhouse's films should have been presented so "Terror Train" didn't have to share custody of Job Bob's attention.

Jamie Lee sharing screen time with David Copperfield and Ben Johnson in the same movie is some sort of pop culture moment in time that at least gets "Terror Train" an extra star and a half.

Seriously, I think Doc prefers Mo over Mitchy. The way Doc and Alana hate each other, and how Doc looks to always cause friction between them, I just believe there is something to it. Speaking of Mitchy, there is just something about a stoned Currie and her flighty but sultry like voice (dressed as a witch, clad in black certainly helps, too) I can't get enough of...too bad, Doc is such an asshole.

Since "The Last Picture Show" is one of my favorite films (and I know him from other films throughout his long career), seeing Ben Johnson as the conductor in "Terror Train", with his folksy charm and bad card tricks, adds to why I like the film. It has to be said Alcott's photography in the film is primarily why I dig this. The costumes, too. The Groucho mask and Hag mask (I think it reminds me of Einstein) the killer wears, good stuff.

The killer isn't imposing to me outside the disguises. They really use the magic tricks / illusionist angle in order to allow the killer to move place to place in the train and clean up messes that would seem impossible otherwise. The prank that breaks the killer's brain is grotesque enough; Doc seems like the kind of douchebag to do that. I remember thinking, "Cool, Copperfield's in this!" at the time I first watched this. Today, he really slows the film down. Still, as a piece of pop culture, the film has a novelty, I guess.

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Gotta give it to Alex. He was taking on Lou and two others and defended himself really well. And Lou, the creep, wearing the iconic glistening ski mask, kissing on Kim and always sexually harrassing her; he's the perfect foil for Kim's rival, Wendy, to exploit as she tries to win back Nick.

I get why this doesn't have a positive ratio with slasher (and Jamie Lee) fans. It has the red herring mental institution escapee on the run (of course, why wouldn't it?), Nick's father, the lieutenant, worrying about whether or not Leonard Murch would resurface in his town. There is a lot of high school melodrama with Wendy, Nick, and Kim, including the foul "ape ash tray", Lou.

I was partial to Vicki, who makes sure to show her bare ass after tennis practice to the creepy school janitor, getting her instructor upset. And, I got to be honest, Wendy, in that prom night dress,looked fantastic; even if, she is Ice Queen. I'm a big fan of red, and Ann-Marie Martin, her hair all done up, with the lipstick, and sequin dress and shawl, she might be a monster but that woman was a knockout. 

I missed out on the early 2000s Anchor Bay release, said to have been the first quality version of the film; it was always a public domain / VHS casualty. But when I got the Synapse Blu -- to say I was more than pleased would be an understatement. I thought I had actually seen it completely for the first time.

Probably most notable as the chance to see Jamie Lee rock it to disco on prom night. Casey Stevens held up his end, too! And Leslie Nielsen as the principal and father to Kim, and younger brother, Alex, still grieving with his struggling wife (Antionette Bower) over the loss that motivates the killings in the film.

The film is a bait and switch, though...Jamie Lee isn't the target, although the film sort of teases that she might be. The Lou/Wendy dynamic always fascinated me...something sensual and dark about it, while the two are eyeing other people, they still seem attracted to each other. It is quite a pairing. I was always seduced by the soft light Paul Lynch uses, but with a proper release, the rest of his film helps me appreciate it more. I'm in the minority on this one. I used to hate it as a teenager in the 90s. I've grown to it now. I'm thinking this is particularly a fond memory, piece of nostalgia for a certain generation.

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I picked up that recent Scream Factory release which included the extended edition, with television cut inserts that most Halloween fans consider not part of canon. That is the version I watched tonight as part of a fun "Jamie Lee Curtis" triple feature I decided on last night. It sort of spawned out of seeing Curtis as a waitress in an episode of "Columbo" from 1977, the year of my birth. That and I was notified "Halloween Kills" was coming this Tuesday on Blu. 

I noticed something for the first time after many, many, many, many viewings of "Halloween". Lynda is walking with Annie and Laurie after school to home, smoking and talking about cheerleading practice, the homecoming dance, and a date with Bob; when Lynda arrives home, she discards the cig and sprays her mouth to cover the smell. I don't know what it was: I just thought it was cute, hiding her smoking from her parents. It isn't like I haven't fixated on PJ Soles in practically every viewing of the film, but I always missed that little detail.

Now that those two boys have been unearthed on the porch eyeing Laurie and Annie as they walk past the extended hedge after Annie tells Laurie she "scared another one away", I can't help but always look for them now. That and the damn line of cig smoke from Carpenter when Annie tells Laurie to come to the hedge. I might be a ridiculous Halloween phile, but even I typically miss something, I guess.

I really just enjoy the extra stuff because I'm such a buff nerd. The nurses talking to Loomis about Michael getting away, seeing Michael's cell, how wrecked it is, with the window smashed by his hand; this is the kind of added filler a lot of folks could give two shits about. I totally understand that. I mean, I often read from the film's detractors that they are bored, so worried nurses at Smith's Grove taking some heat from Loomis -- already sore from the other extended scene featuring him trying and failing to convince doctors Michael is a serious threat a minimum security prison isn't capable of holding in this big auditorium that has a Halloween color palette -- inside the hospital might just dim their already fading shine on the film.

Particularly daunting, I imagine, for those bored with the film already would be a scene they might be nonplussed about: the visit by Lynda to Laurie's house, shot in a living room, about a dress she wants to borrow for the dance. You can obviously tell Jamie Lee has grown up just a bit while PJ and Nancy actually seem to have capably stayed close to their 1978 look. For television, it might work for that audience of like 1981. Today, it just wouldn't be interesting at all...except to a nerd like me.

Oh, and I am not one who forgets Debra Hill's contributions to this film. To me, this is as much a success of Debra's as it is of John's. I get the shower of praise to him, I do, but Debra had a lot of her own hard work in this film. RIP to you, Deb. We miss ya.

This was actually the first time I ever completed this Jamie Lee Curtis trifecta. I just wanted to do this for the year, and since it was early in the year, I thought January was just as good a time as any.