Search - Amok Train on DVD

Arguably the BEST movie about a train possessed by Satan tha

D. Wilson | NY by way of Cali | 07/14/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"... which in the greater scheme of film probably makes it one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen as well, but hey, I don't buy movies titled Amok Train to become smarter(just cooler)! Amok Train actually goes by the original title of Beyond The Door 3, and helps solidify the trilogy of films as one of the strangest ever. Not so much due to the movies themselves, but because the lineup consists of a blatant Italian ripoff of The Exorcist(posibly the best of all three), a slow-paced sequel directed by Mario Bava (also known as Shock), and now this, an American directed film about a "crazy train"(thanks Ozzie!). The story has a group of American college kids taking a "field trip" to somewhere in Eastern Europe(you know, where people still live in dilapidated huts and stare in awe and disgust at foreigners while banging rocks together and praying to their "old Gods") before having to flee for their lives by jumping onto a train... a train from #ell that is! It seems that the host of this little trip is interested in one of the students, an outcast girl who still possesses her virginity, and it just so happens that a virgin girl is needed in order to ressurect the "prince of darkness." From here on we get to enjoy(kinda) some charming special effects, as the train jumps the tracks and runs people down in the nearby woods and swamplands... then jumps back on the tracks(all done with miniature models too!). Some truly inspired gore effects(including a girl ripping her own face in half to reveal a skull filled with maggots!) and a smidge of nudity help balance against some awful acting and a plot that's gone(much like the train) "amok." The main thing that the movie suffers from though, is that it just takes itself way too seriously, and with this subject matter... how can you? So Amok Train is far from required viewing, but if you're on the hunt for some of that 80's horror magic in the form of a movie you probably never saw(or even heard of)... you could do worse than this(probably LOL!). 2.5 stars rounded up because, as I stated in the title, it still remains the BEST movie about a train possessed by Satan that I've ever seen!"