~Spoiler~
The tagline for The Sleeping Car reads "Forget Freddy, Forget Jason, here comes The Mister!" What are execs thinking? Don't compare your cheesy little movie to icons. It's never true. The Sleeping Car is a movie that could have worked. David Naughton plays a man getting over a hellish marriage and trying to go back to school. He rents a railway passenger car that used to belong to The Mister. The Mister (played by effects man John Carl Beuchler) is a deceased railroad worker with a shady past who doesn't like sex, drugs, or rock and roll. As you probably guessed, he haunts the "sleeping car." Judi Aronson also stars as a saucy, young co-ed and Kevin McCarthy plays Vincent Tuttle, Naughton's bizarre neighbor. The plot is a bit clichéd but when has that ever stopped a horror movie from being good? The main thing holding it back, as others have pointed out, is the humor. There are way too many wisecracks during tense moments in the film. The Naughton character is cracking jokes during the final showdown with the ghost. If he's not scared, how am I supposed to scared for him? It just doesn't work. The special effects, which Beuchler also had a hand in, are really good (I also spied Wayne Toth's name in the credits). One death by couch springs is particularly cool. The Mister himself is also sporting a really creepy and badass look. But he's no Freddy and certainly no Jason. The Sleeping Car is the type of movie that could benefit from a remake.
The tagline for The Sleeping Car reads "Forget Freddy, Forget Jason, here comes The Mister!" What are execs thinking? Don't compare your cheesy little movie to icons. It's never true. The Sleeping Car is a movie that could have worked. David Naughton plays a man getting over a hellish marriage and trying to go back to school. He rents a railway passenger car that used to belong to The Mister. The Mister (played by effects man John Carl Beuchler) is a deceased railroad worker with a shady past who doesn't like sex, drugs, or rock and roll. As you probably guessed, he haunts the "sleeping car." Judi Aronson also stars as a saucy, young co-ed and Kevin McCarthy plays Vincent Tuttle, Naughton's bizarre neighbor. The plot is a bit clichéd but when has that ever stopped a horror movie from being good? The main thing holding it back, as others have pointed out, is the humor. There are way too many wisecracks during tense moments in the film. The Naughton character is cracking jokes during the final showdown with the ghost. If he's not scared, how am I supposed to scared for him? It just doesn't work. The special effects, which Beuchler also had a hand in, are really good (I also spied Wayne Toth's name in the credits). One death by couch springs is particularly cool. The Mister himself is also sporting a really creepy and badass look. But he's no Freddy and certainly no Jason. The Sleeping Car is the type of movie that could benefit from a remake.