Terror Train (1980) - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Ah, Jamie Lee Curtis. Our beloved heroine of the Slasher Horror genre. After her rise to fame in John Carpenter's Halloween, she quickly followed its success with three more scary features in a similar vein, such as Prom Night and another Carpenter classic, The Fog. By the time a sequel to the Michael Myers thriller was released, she had rightfully earned the affectionate title of "Scream Queen." (Grouped with Adrienne Barbeau and Linnea Quigley, we have our holy trinity of scream-horror goddesses.) To the displeasure of fanboys everywhere, the actress finally grew out of the genre when she played a prostitute with a heart of gold in Trading Places. But to the delight of many, Curtis not only did an excellent job in the Aykroyd-Murphy comedy but also left those horror fans with a couple of revealing and wonderfully memorable scenes.

But before she found a wider mainstream audience in 1983, Jamie Lee Curtis practically invented the "Final Girl" archetype, the young timid woman forced to confront her fears and battle the killer as the sole survivor. Unlike a few others of the genre, her character in 1980's Terror Train is not all that frail or a "damsel-in-distress" in need of a male hero. Curtis' Alana is an outspoken and independent woman with a hidden, edgy toughness we are only given glimpses of until her final moments of survival.

Even if Terror Train is not widely remembered outside of cult horror circles, Alana's personality traits have been influential and can be seen in characters like Sidney Prescott of the Scream franchise. Curtis' performance is one way in which the film differs from others in the subgenre; another difference comes from a strict adherence to a structure that is now blatantly formulaic and seems boringly clichéd. While movies like Friday the 13th capitalized on the holiday-themed title and gave mass appeal to the whole "killer in the woods or at youth camp" setting, Terror Train focused on the promiscuous, rascally behavior of college kids, basically establishing the high school or college campus as another ripe setting. And like Curtis being an archetype, these pre-med students (Hart Bochner, Sandee Currie, Timothy Webber, and Anthony Sherwood) are the annoying standard of fodder that actually deserves their comeuppance.

Taken further, the filmmakers add a couple of minor creative quirks to the basic outline of the formula (again, just as it was becoming stock practice). Similar in design to Carpenter's Halloween, the plot makes it known that the masked killer is Kenny Hampson (Derek MacKinnon), a shy fraternity pledge horribly pranked by his so-called friends in the prologue. Years later and psychologically traumatized by the event, he somehow sneaks into that fraternity's costume party aboard a train, making it particularly easy for him to switch between a variety of masks, the creepiest of which are Groucho Marx and an old, balding witch. The story then becomes a revenge tale with a mystery whodunit angle because we don't know who on the trip is actually Kenny. If you don't already figure it out by the one-hour mark, then the final reveal is a fun bonus twist to the entire film.

Director Roger Spottiswoode, a Canadian-born filmmaker who co-wrote 48 Hrs. and was later met with some directing success in Air America and the Bond sequel Tomorrow Never Dies, does a great job building the mystery and escalating the danger until the surprise twist. With cinematographer John Alcott (The Shining, A Clockwork Orange) creating a marvelously atmospheric environment, Spottiswoode's otherwise workmanlike style is made appealing with several excellent moments of suspense towards the end, like the sequence inside the conductor's car. Adding to the fun is a very young David Copperfield as the hired magician. Ben Johnson, a legend of the Western genre, is also the train conductor trying to solve the mystery while protecting Curtis. Terror Train isn't particularly scary, but it's a fun mystery ride with creepy masks.

Vital Disc Stats: The Ultra HD Blu-ray
Kino Lorber brings Terror Train to Ultra HD as a two-disc combo pack. The triple-layered UHD100 disc sits comfortably opposite a region-free BD50 disc. Both are housed inside a black keepcase with a cardboard slipcover. At startup, the disc goes to a static menu screen with the usual options along the bottom and music playing in the background.

The murder train makes a stop at the Ultra HD station with an excellent overall picture, but a few minor issues keep it from scoring higher. Although sourced from a new remaster of the original 35mm camera negatives, the native 4K transfer doesn't appear to be the result of a restoration of those elements, meaning that some age-related issues still remain. Minor scratches, faint blue lines and white specks sprinkle the screen on occasion, but thankfully, it doesn't distract too much and arguably works in its favor, adding to the nostalgia. 

On the whole, resolution and clarity are great and generally pleasing with several moments of softness, some of it due to the very mild soft-focus photography and film stock. Nevertheless, finer details and objects are sharper and cleaner than their HD SDR counterparts, making this a welcomed improvement. The HDR10 presentation also boasts a fuller, bolder primaries and mostly accurate secondary hues, even if a few scenes can look a bit flat and lackluster, and facial complexions are highly revealing with a natural peachy-rose tone in the cast. An improved contrast and brightness balance allows for better visibility of background information during the many low-lit interiors. Specular highlights are vivid and brilliant, and inky black levels provide rich, penetrating shadows, supplying the 1.85:1 image with some depth. But delineation in the darkest moments could be a tad stronger, as the finer aspects are sometimes obscured. The HEVC H.265 encode also comes with a thick grain structure that's consistent and film-like throughout.(HDR10 Video Rating: 82/100)

The cult slasher arrives with two DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks: a 5.1 surround sound and a 2.0 stereo track. Surprisingly, between the two, the 5.1 mix is the clear winner, as it sounds more natural and satisfying overall. The stereo option, on the other hand, feels more strained and flat with thin, hollow vocals that reverberate across the three front channels, making the ADR work more distractingly apparent. And the midrange is noticeably strained and flat with no audible bass. 

The lossless surround track is significantly better with strong, well-prioritized dialogue, delivering clear conversations with good intonation. Imaging consistently feels broad and wide with various background activity convincingly moving across the soundstage and into the off-screen space. The midrange is more extensive and detailed, reaching the higher frequencies without clipping or coming off bright, and the low-end delivers some appreciable weight to some of the visuals. The surrounds are often employed with subtle, nuanced ambient effects without calling attention to themselves or feeling artificial, delivering a surprisingly good and satisfying soundfield, making it the preferred listening option for this horror favorite. (Audio Rating: 88/100)

For this UHD edition, Kino Lorber has ported over archival bonus features for fans to enjoy. The two audio commentaries are shared between the formats while the rest of the supplements are housed in the accompanying Blu-ray.

• Audio Commentary features Canuxploitation critic Paul Corupe and film historian Jason Pichonsky talking about the production and Canadian filmmaking at the time.
• Audio Commentary features an insightful and interesting conversation between film historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas & Josh Nelson
• Interview (HD, 17 min) with director Roger Spottiswoode reflecting on the production and working with the cast
• Music for Murder (HD, 8 min) is an interview with composer John Mills-Cockell discussing the film's music 
• Interview (HD, 6 min) with screenwriter Judith Rascoe sharing their thoughts about their involvement in the script 
• Trailers (HD) containing the theatrical preview, a TV spot and four other trailers.

Starring Jamie Lee Curtis in another of her "Final Girl" roles, Terror Train doesn't stand out in the slasher subgenre, but it's still a fun and entertaining example of the formula. Courtesy of Kino Lorber, the cult slasher favorite arrives at the Ultra HD station with a strong, great-looking 4K HDR10 presentation and a surprisingly satisfying DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack. Supplements from previous releases are joined by a pair of new audio commentaries, making the overall UHD package Recommended.

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