Perhaps because it came at the tail end of the disaster movie cycle, this paranoia-thriller about a plague-stricken train that is quarantined and then purposefully directed toward a failing bridge by shady government operatives is perhaps the most brutally cynical of the bunch—an object lesson in just how despondent a mainstream thriller in the post-Watergate ’70s could get. Cosmatos, who is ably helped by Jerry Goldsmith’s creepy-metallic score, if not by his stable of matinee stars and aging icons, certainly punches up the tension, which makes the inevitably gruesome ending seem all the more shocking. (Turner Classic Movies)