Is Terror Train Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot
Somewhat, 4 out of 10. It is a masked-killer slasher with some jump scares, set on a train.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
4 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Low
It is gone when the credits roll.
DOG
Dog: fine
fine, no dog dies.
Ruling: It is a good pick for slasher fans, and the costume party gives the killer a great deal of cover.
Terror Train runs 97 minutes and puts a New Year's Eve costume party on a moving train. Somebody has a grudge about a prank from three years earlier, and nobody checks who is behind which mask.
The premise, briefly
A group of college students who played a cruel prank on a pledge throw a New Year's Eve costume party on a train three years later, and someone in a mask joins the guest list.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
Kenny Hampson is the killer. Alana apologizes for the prank, Kenny forces her to kiss him, and Carne beats him with a shovel. Kenny tumbles into an icy river while the train carries on.
The scene you're dreading
After most of the other murders, Doc locks himself in a sleeper car and is decapitated. Alana then runs from the magician, finds him dead and finds Kenny in a brakeman's uniform.
The dog
No dog dies in Terror Train.
It is a classic masked-killer slasher with some jump scares, and knowing who is under the mask takes most of the mystery out of it.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
A prank with a corpse in the bed
On New Year's Eve at a fraternity party, Alana Maxwell reluctantly goes along with a prank. She lures Kenny Hampson, an awkward pledge, into a bedroom by promising him sex. What he finds in the bed is a corpse stolen from the medical school. Kenny is traumatized and ends up in a psychiatric hospital. Three years on, people from the same fraternities and sororities throw a costume party on a train. Among the guests are Alana, Mitchy (her best friend), Mo (her boyfriend), class clown Ed, prank ringleader Doc and Jackson. The party has also hired a magician and his female assistant to entertain. A train full of costumes gives a killer a lot of places to hide.
Ed is murdered before he boards, and the killer takes his Groucho Marx mask to blend in with the other guests. As the train heads into the wilderness, the killings continue. Jackson is murdered in a sleeper bathroom, and when the conductor, Carne, comes to investigate, the killer hides the body and puts on Jackson's lizard costume, which fools the brakeman, Charlie. Mitchy dies in her compartment, and Mo turns up dead in the middle of a magic show, and later two members of the crew are found murdered. Carne confines the students to one place while the porters find yet another body. Someone pulls the emergency brake and everyone is thrown off balance. The porters then escort the students off the train, though many of them assume this is another one of Doc's stunts.
Alana does the math on the magician
Alana begins to suspect Kenny and remembers visiting him at the hospital, where she saw how disturbed he was. After most of the other murders, Doc locks himself in a sleeper car and is decapitated, which is the scene people dread most. Alana then mistakes the magician for Kenny and runs from him through the train, only to find the magician dead. She finds Kenny wearing Charlie's uniform. He has also been playing the magician's female assistant in drag.
The ending, explained
Alana says sorry for the original prank, but Kenny will not forgive her. He makes her kiss him anyway. The kiss sets off a relapse of his trauma and leaves him vulnerable. Then Carne turns up and hits Kenny with a shovel, and Kenny falls off the train into an icy river while the train keeps going. Alana and Carne are alive at the end. Ed, Jackson, Mitchy, Mo, Doc, the magician and several crew members are dead.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there is a scene after the credits in Terror Train.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Terror Train scary?
Terror Train is a 4 out of 10, and the dread fades when the credits roll. It is a masked-killer slasher with some jump scares, a body count and a train full of costumes.
How does Terror Train end?
Alana apologizes to Kenny for the prank, but he forces her to kiss him. Carne then beats Kenny with a shovel, and Kenny falls off the train into an icy river.
Does the dog die in Terror Train?
No dog dies in Terror Train.
Is there a post-credits scene in Terror Train?
Nobody has confirmed whether there is a scene after the credits in Terror Train.
Who is the killer in Terror Train?
The killer is Kenny Hampson, the pledge who was tricked by a prank three years earlier. He moves through the party by wearing the costumes of the people he kills and by playing the magician's female assistant.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of Terror Train is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You don't need to ride 97 minutes of Terror Train to know who is under the mask. Install Scaredy Cat and it will blur horror before you see it.
