Canadian actor Derek MacKinnon, who played the masked killer, appears in 11 scenes in "Terror Train", wearing a different costume or masked disguise in each scene, including his real character of Kenny. There was friction between director Spottiswoode and MacKinnon during the shoot, which Spottiswoode claimed was a result of his inexperience: "He wasn’t an actor," Spottiswoode recalled. "He was a transvestite from the streets of Montreal, and he wasn’t familiar with the concepts of a contract and showing up for work on time. In a strange way though he did a pretty good job. He was familiar with that world of cheap theater and was strangely effective."