While many slasher fans, myself included, weren’t aware of Terror Train before it was name-dropped by Sidney in Scream (1996), it has since become a staple of the golden era of the slasher.
Starring Scream Queen Jamie Lee Curtis, the plot follows a group of teenagers who decide to have a fancy dress New Year’s Eve party on a train, but get more than they bargain for as a killer who continually steals costumes starts slaughtering the passengers in gruesome fashion.
Terror Train follows the slasher formula to a tee, setting up our prior misdemeanour as the teenagers in question pull a cruel prank on the mentally disturbed Kenny, thinking he is going to get with Alana but it turns out to be pieces of a corpse.
Kenny is institutionalised and the group forgets, but Kenny returns for his bloody revenge.
Just to add to the strange plot we also have a cameo from magician David Copperfield, actually playing a magician.
While there are plenty of creative kills, Terror Train is also a well-paced slasher, giving us enough characterisation of the ensemble plus enough spectacle to keep gorehounds happy.
There is also the double-ending of sorts, as we think the killer is defeated before re-appearing on the side of the train and terrorising Alana once, who has now joined the dots to his identity.
But what do you think? Is Terror Train the best New Year’s themed horror? Or are you more of the New Year’s Evil or Bloody New Year persuasion? Let us know in the comments.
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