Terror Train

Terror Train is a 1980 slasher film directed by Roger Spottiswoode in his directorial debut and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Johnson, and Hart Bochner. The film follows a group of pre-medical school students holding a New Year's Eve costume party on a moving train who are targeted by a killer who dons their costumes. It features supporting performances from Sandee Currie, Anthony Sherwood, and David Copperfield.

Terror Train
Original theatrical one-sheet, prominently featuring the villain in a Groucho Marx mask
Directed byRoger Spottiswoode
Written byT. Y. Drake
Produced byHarold Greenberg
Starring
CinematographyJohn Alcott
Edited byAnne Henderson
Music byJohn Mills-Cockell
Production
companies
Astral Bellevue Pathé
Sandy Howard Productions
Triple T Productions
Distributed byAstral Films (Canada)
20th Century Fox (International)
Release date
  • October 3, 1980 (1980-10-03)
Running time
97 minutes
CountriesUnited States
Canada
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3.5 million
Box office$8 million

The concept for the film was based on an idea by executive producer Daniel Grodnik, who sought to "make Halloween on a train". A full-length script for the film was composed by T. Y. Drake, and production began within four months. The film was shot in Montreal between late November and late December 1979, shortly after Curtis had completed filming for Prom Night (1980). Terror Train had to have a primarily Canadian cast and crew to qualify for a tax credit.

An independently produced film, Terror Train was purchased for distribution by the major studio 20th Century Fox, which had yet to release a slasher film; the studio spent an estimated $5 million on an expansive marketing campaign for the film. It was released theatrically in the United States on October 3, 1980, grossing $8 million during its theatrical run. The film's gross disappointed 20th Century Fox. Writer David Grove attributed the movie's box office performance to an oversaturation of the slasher film market.

Terror Train garnered a mixed reception, with several reviewers considering it an above-average example of its subgenre. Critics noted the film's themes of revenge, illusion, and genderfucking. Terror Train became a cult classic, inspiring a remake in 2022, which was followed by a sequel that same year.

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