Terror Train 2: I’ve Been Killing on the Railroad All the Live Long Day!

Tubi’s Terror Train 2 was released mere months after the first installment which was a remake of the cult 1980’s horror classic which starred Jamie Lee Curtis. Tubi’s version was released in October 2022 and the sequel on December 30^th, 2022.  The follow-up takes place a little over a year after the events of the first movie and reunites the survivors from the first movie, who decide to face their demons by hosting another party on the same train on New Year’s Eve.  Alana (Robyn Alomar) is struggling to come to terms with what happened to her and is at first reluctant to return, but she is convinced by her friend Claudia (Nia Roam) that she should follow her therapist’s advice and face her fears. The events of the first movie have made the survivors internet famous, especially Pet (Romy Weltman) who is milking the tragedy for all she can get. The porter, Sadie (Nadine Bhabha) remained with the railroad company and has taken the conductor position, finding it therapeutic working through her own fears. The Magician (Tim Rozon) who was severely injured in the first movie and barely survived with his life, returns because he is broke and desperately needed the gig to pay his bills.  And of course, as the movie progresses, people start dying and the search to discover who the killer and their motive begins.  Can Sadie and Alana survive, again?  Watch and find out!

Tubi’s first installment followed very closely to the original storyline, but since the 1980 movie never got a sequel, this new iteration is all original.  The hardest part for me watching this movie is actually the original premise.  I don’t really believe that any of the people that survived that night like Alana and The Magician, would ever return to the same train, they do try to explain this, and I tried to suspend my disbelief, but I think there were more creative ways they could have found to get the originals back on the train.  Other than that, the movie is an adequate slasher flick with an interesting premise.  There are many interesting aspects that I found interesting.  How far someone will go for the attention that comes with fame and the insensitivity of social media followers who care nothing for the feelings of the survivors they idolize are both themes well explored in this film.  There are plenty of twists in the plot that keep you guessing on who the actual killer is, but I feel they could have more elegantly explained the motive.

The performances aren’t bad, especially for a streaming service slasher flick, but I still have a problem connecting to most of the characters.  Robyn does an adequate job once again as Alana, but there is just something that doesn’t feel sincere in her performance.  That special element that makes you empathize with a character is missing and it is hard to tell if it comes from the script or from the actor.  In addition, there was a bit more gore in this film, and I am not one of “those” who lives to see entrails and such.  I prefer to let my brain fill in the details and not actually see it. Overall, this is an Okay film with some “not bad” performances, and if you haven’t seen the original 1980s film, you will probably like this new franchise a lot more than I did.