User reviews

If you've ever wondered what a horror film written by a Woody Allen wannabe would come out like, then check this one out. It's imaginatively directed, has a typical but enjoyable "haunted place" premise, solid makeup effects....it's an all-around good job, but with one major flaw: the dialogue is overloaded with cheeky wisecracks and witticisms (sample: "You want scary? Go shopping with my ex-wife") that sometimes hit the mark, but are too often delivered at the most inappropriate moments (even while the hero is battling an evil ghost!). (**)

"The Sleeping Car" is a pretty insignificant and worthless horror film that is made endurable by a couple of nice special effects and a neat supporting role by Kevin McCarthy. The plot revolves on an over-aged journalism student Jason (David McNaughton from "American Werewolf in London) who rents an old, refurnished train carriage to live in. This carriage – the sleeping car – is possessed by the spirit of "the Mister", the landlady's late husband who was responsible for a huge train crash ten years earlier. The screenplay doesn't make that much sense, but you can hardly consider that an obstacle in early 90's horror movies. There's some nice murdering and the female lead Judie Aronson is yummy. What's really annoying about the "the Sleeping Car" are the constant witty remarks of protagonist Jason McCree. He uses a supposedly funny one-liner every time his character does or says something. Even in the climax, when he's fighting (?) the demon, he interrupts the action for a lousy remark...Very annoying.

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 !

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.

Mature student Jason (David Naughton) rents an old train carriage that has been converted for accommodation, only it is haunted by its former owner, The Mister. The start of the film takes place 10 years previously, The Mister is an engineer onboard a train that crashes with another train because one of his colleagues is busy having sex and the explosive accident is a result. "I like to joke" says Jason and indeed he does - to the point where it becomes a little tiresome. Naughton's character is very similar to the one he played in "An American Werewolf in London", his one liners, he meets a girl, falls in love, etc. The film also has a dream within a dream sequence, something else that was done far better in that classic werewolf movie. A couple of men are killed by the sofa in the sleeping car, these deaths are quite good though there is not much in the way of gore. Could have done with a higher body count too. The are two welcome sex scenes featuring topless females. The first half of the plot is quite slow, the finale is alright but too little too late to save this from mediocrity. I used to a have a VHS poster for this back in the day, a classic case of great artwork, average movie. Although released in 1990 it is very much an '80's horror movie and that's no bad thing.

Still no proper release so far for this horror made in a time when horror was a not done and was almost death. Some big names from the genre in it, David Naughton of An American Werewolf In London (1981) and Kevin McCarthy and special effects man John Carl Buechler as The Mister.

It take a while before the horror comes in, Jason (Naughton) is just divorced and is searching for a new place to stay, one he finds in an abandoned train car. But from the start we know something happened with the freight train and let this be a car from that accident. Jason awakes the ghost of the landlady's husband. A thing he better did not.

The first half hour we go a bit into the characters with some comedy elements, especially at school. Jason got befriended with Kim (Judie Aronson) which he falls in love with but he still has nightmares of his ex Joanna (Dani Minnick).

There's a bit of nudity here and there with the typical saxophone music. Judie Aronson shows her breasts while having sex with Jason. There's a bit of red stuff and at the end we do see the real Mister but by then it's all too late. Kevin wasn't convincing at all and even looked ridiculous. This is as I said it a thousand times before a perfect example why horror was on a low base around the time being made.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0/5

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

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.

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.

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.

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".

"The American werewolf is back... and having a 'howl' of a bad time!"

And just in case you missed the first tag-line.

"He's not the werewolf anymore, but he's gonna wish he was!"

I love how they constantly reference to David Naughton's most iconic role on the VHS case. Hoping it's enough to pull you into something much more nightmarish. Though honestly, it couldn't be further from the truth.

The first time I saw 'The Sleeping Car', I thought it was such an odd genre film, and re-watching it was no different. I'm sort on the fence if I like it or not. But you can see why it's kind of forgotten. The daft concept seemed original enough for a midnight ghost film - A haunted couch in a railroad car converted into an living apartment, which is rented out to Naughton's thirty-something year old college student. Familiar ideas are presented in this supernatural piece, but a unique choice of setting gave it a bit of character, atmosphere and creativity. However the story wants to focus on other facets. Some not even having much bearing on the central plot, if anything, simply add to the victim fodder, or establish character relationships. It takes a good hour before delivering on its promise, to when the stakes are eventually raised.

Tonally its all over the shop. I guess a couch haunted by a ghost which uses the springs to kill people is ridiculously stupid... but during those moments it's not going for laughs in spite of the imagery. So when it came to the special effects, they're outlandish and well executed. Though most of it happens in the dark. Still the make-up fx had its gruesome moments. As for the demonic spirit (known as The Mister), he's a vicious entity with a vividly scarred face and a stickler for rules... as the landlady mentions. Her dead husband who was a former train conductor before a terrible accident. If you make a mess in his carriage, or have a good time. You'll find yourself impaled/strangled by couch springs. It's kind of jarring since the creation is dead serious, but everything around the spectre is not.

How they defeat the 'the Mister' will get you raising a eyebrow... and again it's done in sincerity even though it might get you chuckling... and it's not from the choice of dialogue.

None of the main cast seems to be taking it all that seriously, but helping this out was a script which seemed to be fishing for a laugh with every second line of dialogue. Only thing that was missing was the fake audience laughter, as it felt like something you'll get from a sitcom with its forced wisecracks, puns and little jokes. It just felt overkill, by constantly piling it on. Maybe it's meant to be awkward and lame in delivery, but it's just too much within too little space.

Surprisingly the cast had good chemistry, with a definite spark between David Naughton and Judie Aronson. A lot time spent on the banter between the two, along with Jeff Conaway's loutish third wheel university teacher. Sharing the carriage with Naughton is Kevin McCarthy's occultist neighbour. Lucky as they are going to need an exorcism when coming face to face with 'The Mister'. Anyhow McCarthy mostly looks at a lost, but do enjoy the moments he's on screen. Also making a brief appearance during the opening minutes was John Carl Buechler as the mister in human form.

An irate railway engineer on a speeding train tries to get his young guard back on watch, but the lad is more interested in getting into the pants of a well-endowed young woman (Sandra Margot aka future pornstar Tiffany Million). As a result, the locomotive crashes into another train. The engineer, who survives by leaping clear before impact, cops the blame, most people believing that he was drunk on duty. The man goes off the rails (pun intended) and his wife kicks him out; he sets up home in a converted sleeping car in the back yard, and proceeds to bring back a series of young women.

Ten years later, and divorced journalist Jason McCree (David Naughton) rents the sleeping car while he goes back to college, unaware that the now-deceased engineer's ghost haunts the carriage and kills those who dare enter. Can Jason, his young girlfriend Kim (Judie Aronson) and white witch Vincent Tuttle (Kevin McCarthy) find a way to defeat the angry spook?

In 1981, David Naughton starred in the greatest werewolf movie ever made (I'm sure you know the one I mean); a mere 9 years later, he was slumming it in pure garbage like The Sleeping Car, one of the worst horror movies of the '90s. To be fair, the fault doesn't lie with Naughton, who was no doubt hired to reprise his happy-go-lucky persona from An American Werewolf in London, but rather with writer Greg Collins O'Neill, whose screenplay is truly terrible, and director Douglas Curtis, who seems oblivious to the script's major drawbacks: zero scares, lame kills, and atrocious dialogue and non-stop wise-cracks that make the characters hugely irritating. One longs for the ghost to kill them all in the most gruesome way imaginable, just to shut them up. People do die, of course (I was so pleased when journalism teacher Bud Sorenson died), but not in gory enough fashion for my liking. Sadly, Jason, Kim and Vincent escape unscathed, free to continue with their annoying jokes.

2/10 for the two pairs of breasts (Margot's in the opening scene, and Aronson's in her obligatory sex scene with Naughton), minus one point for shamelessly ripping off the dream-within-a-dream scare from An American Werewolf In London.

Jason (David Naughton) moves into an abandoned train car where he resurrects the vicious ghost of his landlady's dead husband... The Mister (John Carl Buechler). After some near-fatal encounters with the violent specter he seeks local exorcist Vincent Tuttle (Kevin McCarthy).

Another review called this film "a snooze". A snooze? With Kevin McCarthy, David Naughton and effects master John Carl Buechler? How could a film with these three horror giants be a snooze? The constant wisecracks, the older journalist returning to school... plenty of potential for a good ghost story here, with 1980s comedy thrown in.

Even John Bowen, who concedes the film is charming and endearing, believes the film is greatly flawed. He says the movie is "trying way too hard to be clever", is full of continuity problems and has a premise that is "vague and arbitrary". That last concern pretty much sums up the horror genre. Bowen is especially hard on writer Greg Collins O'Neill ("Tuff Turf"), but there is always that question of how much you can blame dialogue on the writer and how much has been reworked by the director or actors.

The effects are very cool, as should be expected. The Mister emerging from the walls, the use of seat springs to drill through a man... this is more than a ghost story, it is a bloody killing spree.

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' is by no means a good film. It's slow moving, lacks any atmosphere, and gets rather tedious at times, but it still manages to deliver the goods, or at least some of them. The production values are passable, but far from bad, and the script works to a degree, but for some reason the pieces don't fall into place as they should. The body count is only four, making it too tame to be a slasher movie (though it does hint at that, especially during the overlong climax), but too juvenile to be a psychological thriller/horror film.

The acting isn't bad, but it sure isn't all that great. It seems like the actors were booked for three or four days for filming, and just wanted to get it over with, so they didn't seem to put a lot of effort into it. No one in particular stands out, and the characters don't make the movie any more interesting. On top of that, none of the characters are very well developed, with the exception of the professor, so that does little to help the cause.

Still the movie does have several things working for it, not the least of which is some pretty impressive special effects for a movie of this caliber. Another is the creative and very gruesome death scenes, which may be the best part of this 'not quite there, but close' horror flick

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!...

My review was written in March 1990 after watching the film on Vidmark video cassette.

"The Sleeping Car' is an above-average horror flick released theatrically Feb. 2 in regional markets such as Pittsburgh and Nashville ahead of it video debut in mid-May.

Effort by Vidmark aimed at theatrical audiences would probably have gotten a better shot several years ago before horror pics glutted the market.

It has a stronger plot and cast than usual in limning the familiar tale of haunting, in this case a railroad car that was the scene of sex and murder ten years earlier.

David Naughton is a little long in the tooth, but effective anyway, as the hero on the rebound from a failed marriage (with Dani Minnick) who goes back to school to study journalism with hip prof Jeff Conaway (a fun performance).

He rents the sleeping car as a cheap abode from goofy landlady Ernestinge Mercer and has '60s hippie leftover Kevin McCarthy as an even goofier neighbor. Thanks to interesting gore and makeup effects by John Carl Buechler (also doubling as actor in the ten-years-earlier segments), pic's depiction of poltergeist appearances has some novelty and drive.

Douglas Curtis pilots the picture with self-assurance, stumbling only in a series of false wakeup endings that are a direct lift from John Landis' "An American Werewolf in London", which also starred Naughton.

Greg O'Neill's flippant and unpretentious script is refreshing, giving Naughton plenty of tongue-in-cheek rejoinders to lighten up the film and establish a tone early on that's amplified by Conaway' "everything is everything" approach.

Judie Aronson, who made a nice impression in a small role in "Cool Blue", is an unusual looking beauty who is arresting as the sexually liberated romantic lead. Effects by Buechler and others are solid.