Sorry for the late post ending Do Not Get on That Train week. Terror Train is currently available on instant Netflix.

WATCH: Terror Train (1980) – Rated R.

“A fraternity prank goes wrong and lands one student in a mental institution. Four years later, when his frat brothers host a costume party on a train to celebrate their graduation, the student sees this as his opportunity to exact revenge. He sneaks on the train and begins killing the partygoers one at a time, masking himself in the costumes of his victims. Will anyone make it off the train alive?”

Hrrrm. While the slasher genre is not known for originality, Terror Train is overly formulaic.

The most important facet of a slasher is to have a strong female heroine. The quintessential final girl is Laurie Strode in Halloween. Naturally they hired Jamie Lee Curtis to play our heroine here. Jamie Lee filmed this back-to-back with Prom Night and just before she reprised her role of Laurie Strode in Halloween II.

Over a four-year period Jamie defined the phrase Scream Queen. She does have a great scream by the way and it is on display here. From 1978 to 1981 she played the strong female lead in Halloween, The Fog (with her mother Psycho victim Janet Leigh), Prom Night, Terror Train, and Halloween II. Other than coming back as Laurie Strode for the surprisingly entertaining Halloween H20 and the why oh why Halloween Resurrection, she pretty much retired from horror after 1981.

Next you need to have a recognizable actor – usually in a wise do-gooder role. Again our quintessential role model is from Halloween – Donald Pleasance portraying Dr. Loomis. Here we have the venerable Ben Johnson as the train conductor. In the aforementioned Prom Night you have Leslie Nielsen.

An interesting setting helps. Halloween starts with babysitting and segues into a hospital setting for Halloween II. Friday the 13th and The Burning have summer camp, Prom Night has umm well prom night, and Terror Train has a train.

The train setting really helps Terror Train and is well used from private cars to sleeping berths. Writer Daniel Grodnik claims to have gotten the setting from a dream after viewing both Halloween and Silver Streak. My favorite train horror would have to be Horror Express with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.

Normally slasher films have to hide who the killer is. This can be done by awkward angles and obscured views but is more often done through a mask. Friday the 13th ends up several ways – the original laboriously obscures the killer, part 2 has potato sack Jason and finally in part 3 we get hockey mask Jason. In Terror Train, we have a big masquerade party so the killer is able to assume more than one identity.

During the draggy midsection, Terror Train helps divert us with a magic performance by Ken the Magician. Ken is played by none other than uber performer David Copperfield.

The last necessary staple of a slasher is that we have to have a character that we hate and want to die. Hart Bochner (Zach McNeill on The Starter Wife) plays Doc Manley who not only plays the terrible practical joke that starts our movie but also learns no lesson from the tragic outcome. He continually harasses and plays jokes on the other characters.

This is the directorial debut for Roger Spottiswoode. He does a good job of keeping things moving briskly and filming in the confined quarters of a train. He would go on to make Tomorrow Never Dies and The 6th Day.

While extremely formulaic, the formula works. This is an entertaining early 80s slasher. It is not even remotely as good as Halloween but Jamie Lee Curtis and Ben Johnson are both quite good. I recommend this to anyone wanting to see Jamie Lee in her prime or to see a fun 80s slasher. It is by no means a “good” or “important” film but it is enjoyable on its own merits.

People Watch: D.D. Winters has a brief role here as Merry. What is that you say? Who is D.D. Winters? Oh well maybe you know her better as Vanity, the Prince protege.