Day 15 - Terror Train and Jamie Lee Curtis’ Early Scream Queen Run | 31 Days of Halloween

Jamie Lee Curtis had one hell of a run in horror at the beginning of her career. Between 1978 and 1980, she went from Halloween to The Fog to Prom Night to Terror Train, establishing herself as one of the defining scream queens of the era.

For Day 15 of The Bark Knight’s 31 Days of Halloween, we’re taking a ride on Terror train, a 1980 slasher that doesn’t exactly reinvent the genre, but it does find a few inventive and fun ways to play around with it a bit.

Halloween on a Train

Terror Train follows a group of college students who participate in a hazing prank that goes horribly wrong. A few years later, the same group boards a train for a costume party, only to discover that a masked killer has joined them and is taking them out one by one.

The story behind the movie’s creation is almost actually pretty funny in itself. Producer Daniel Grodnik reportedly came up with the idea after watching Halloween and Silver Streak. He woke up in the middle of the night and asked his wife what she thought about putting Halloween on a train. She told him it sounded terrible, which prompted him to write down “Terrible Train.” By the next morning, that had become Terror Train, and the idea quickly developed from there.

And really, “Halloween on a train” is a pretty accurate descripiton of what you’re getting. It’s simple but effective.

Costumes, Train Cars, and a Masked Killer

Does Terror Train bring anything dramatically new to the slasher genre? Not really. But it does have costumes and a train, and both end up doing quite a bit to separate it from the countless other slashers that followed Halloween into theaters.

The costumes are probably the more interesting part of the actual mystery. Rather than sticking with one recognizable mask throughout the movie, the killer takes the costumes of different victims. It means we're never entirely sure who we're looking at when another costumed figure appears, and the gimmick gives the movie a little more room to play with the audience.

Then there's the train itself. Horror movies set on trains are pretty uncommon, and Terror Train gets plenty of mileage out of the setting. Everyone is trapped together in a series of confined spaces, the train employees get pulled into what's happening, and the different cars provide enough variety that the movie doesn't feel like it's spending 90 minutes on the same set.

It also helps that there are a ton of characters onboard. The large cast gives the killer plenty of potential victims and keeps things moving as the bodies start piling up.

One of those characters is even played by David Copperfield, who, in an incredible stretch of the imagination, plays a magician.

Jamie Lee Curtis Takes Another Bite at the Horror Apple

Of course, the biggest reason Terror Train remains notable more than 40 years later is Jamie Lee Curtis.

Curtis was right in the middle of her early horror run when this came out, and she's once again a strong final girl here. She also lets out one hell of a scream toward the end of the movie. They didn't call her a scream queen for nothing.

If you're exploring her horror work outside of the Halloween franchise, there's actually quite a bit to choose from. Beyond Terror Train, you've got The Fog, Prom Night, Roadgames, Virus, the Scream Queens TV series and, much later, Haunted Mansion.

But sticking specifically with that late-'70s and early-'80s run, I'd put Terror Train above Prom Night but below The Fog and Halloween.

Terror Train probably has more action than The Fog, so I could easily see someone preferring it. For me, though, The Fog has the atmosphere, the music, and all that comes with a John Carpenter film, which is hard to beat.

Is Terror Train Worth Watching?

Terror Train doesn't break the slasher mold very much, but I don't think it really needs to. The costume gimmick is fun, the train gives it a setting you don't see very often, and Jamie Lee Curtis is doing exactly what you want Jamie Lee Curtis to be doing in a 1980 horror movie.

Sometimes that's enough. So, it’s worth including in one of your Halloween watchlists, even though it may just be a one or two time watch.

Join me next time as the 31 Days of Halloween keeps the actor theme going with Day 16, our Justin Long theme..

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Previous Day: Day 14 - The Gothic Werewolf Horror of The Cursed

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