The Sleeping Car

Moviecut—The Sleeping Car

While this isn't the greatest comedy horror film it is pretty good one with some chilling scenes. Some of the comedy is kinda lame but other parts of it is pretty damned funny. While I liked some of the comedy in the film, I wish they would have dropped the comedy part and made this one a straight horror film because this could have been super scary if done as out right horror movie. The story and special effects are so-so, not awful but not the best. The killing scenes are kinda funny sometimes. The film isn't anything special in the comedy-horror genre but I found it worth watching nonetheless. Mildly entertaining. Just something different to watch in the horror category. 6/10

THE SLEEPING CAR opens with a couple having sex aboard a train as it rolls down the tracks. Clickity clack! Too bad for them that it crashes and explodes. Boom! Next, we're introduced to Jason McCree (David Naughton) who moves into his new apartment, which is a renovated train car. It's a nice place, except for the ghost. He's called "The Mister" and he's one unhappy spook! Death and alleged "hilarity" commence. Anyone remembering Naughton from his role in AN AMERICAM WEREWOLF IN LONDON might expect this movie to be equally enjoyable. It's not. At all. This is a ridiculous horror-comedy containing more cheeeze than a Super Bowl party! As far as the "humor" goes, there are more groaners here than in any packed Emergency Room! ONE REASON TO WATCH THIS: If you've ever wanted to see a college professor folded into a sofa bed. Now, that's funny!...

Mostly, "The Sleeping Car" is just another dead-guy-comes-back-to-life story. But it gets helped - if only minimally - by the fact that the cast members probably know that they're in a B-movie and don't take it too seriously to be stupid. David Naughton (happy birthday, David!) sort of plays off of his "American Werewolf in London" role as a man on a train who awakens the ghost of his landlady's husband. From there, most of the movie consists of...well, you know what sorts of things to expect in a horror flick. A slight disappointment for hardcore horror fans is the lesser amount of gore than we usually find in horror movies. But anyway, it's fun in a pinch. Also starring Kevin McCarthy, who pretty much channels his roles in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and various Joe Dante movies. All in all, we can add this movie to the pantheon of movies with "sleep" in the title: "Sleeping Beauty", "Sleeper", "Sleepaway Camp", "Brother of Sleep" and "Sleepers".

Jason (David Naughton of American Werewolf in London) buys a train car converted into an apartment not knowing that ten years previously it was involved in a bizarre accident. While going back to school he soon starts a relationship with the much younger Kim (Judie Aronson of Friday the 13th: the Final Chapter and Weird Science). However not all is wine and roses as 'the Mister' an undead ghoul is soon after him. Through technically a '90's film this feels like an 80's movie through and through. Now that is usually a plus, but I found the film to be too slow, plodding, derivative, and disjointed to be enjoyable despite one or two fairly inventive kills. Kevin McCarthy earns this one an extra star as he's always a joy to watch, but Taxi's Jeff Conaway is worthless in this movie. Eye Candy: Sandra Margot and Judie Aronson get topless

Perhaps I am being generous with this one, considering I just watched Suspiria, but I found this to be a very colourful, interesting looking movie, with a lot of atmospheric blue lighting contrasted against deep reds , bright yellows, and it has a couple of clever moments (including death by fold-up sofa, probably the most memorable) and it has a good look to it, overall, but..... So much of the dialogue is poorly written, unfunny one-liners, the characters become annoying, and even at a brief 80-minutes, this tale of a man living in a converted train car, haunted by the spirit of John Karl Beuchler, seems padded, with its especially drawn out ending taking up nearly fifteen minutes of the run time. Still, it isn't *terrible*, and might be worth a single watch, for fans of cheeseball 1980s horror, but anything more than that is asking too much from this one.

Jason McCree (David Naughton) has just divorced his wife and although being over-aged, he decides to study journalism. He rents an old sleeping car of a train for living. However, the wagon is possessed by the spirit of the husband of his landlady, called "The Mister", who was responsible for the collision of two trains in an horrible accident ten years ago. "The Sleeping Car" is a confused B-movie with a non-sense screenplay full of flaws and bad acting of the lead actor, David Naughton. There are some few good lines, but the story is a complete mess, without explanation for most of the situation. My vote is three. Title (Brazil): "O Expresso Macabro" ("The Macabre Express") Note: On 20 September 2022, I saw this film again.

This one would be just an average horror B-movie, reasonably well done from what I could judge from a pan&scanned video, but the characters makes up for the ludicrous premise : they are lively and fun. There are illogisms, as usual, but the overall fun atmosphere makes it worth viewing for genre fans. And there is a first : death by couch springs !

This movie is a nice little lost gem of an 80s horror comedy. The guy from An American Werewolf in London moves into a railroad sleeping car that has been converted into a small duplex house. He starts dating the girl from Friday the 13th part 4 while goes to college and is taught journalism by a hyper active, smart ass college professor who looks younger than him. The sleeping car he lives in is haunted by the evil ghost of a guy involved in a train wreck. The spirit kills people using telekinesis in some creative and gory ways. Its' favorite method is to have the bed springs come out of the mattress and mutilate the victim. Basically this a well paced, light-hearted haunted house (haunted sleeping car converted into a house, actually) movie with some gore and nudity thrown in for good measure, and it's actually pretty funny. I really liked this movie and it's a shame it is so hard to find and has never been released on DVD.

A new tenant Jason moves into the apartment-a railroad car converted into a house-he finds the place possessed by the ghost of the Mister,a conductor who blamed himself for a horrible train crash in the past.As the Mister comes back for revenge and starts killing the car's visitors and neighbors,Jason and his roommate try to exorcise the demons for good."The Sleeping Car" by Douglas Curtis is a mildly enjoyable horror comedy that has its share of gruesome moments.The makeup effects are pretty good and the death scenes are suitably gory.Unfortunately the film relies too much on juvenile humour.There is also a nice amount of nudity provided by Judie Aronson and Sandra Margot.So if you are into 80's horror give this one a chance.7 out of 10.