''Train Ride'' is a feature

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

written and directed by

Rel Dowdell Rel J. Dowdell is an American screenwriter, film director, film producer, and film studies/screenwriting/English educator. Born and raised in Philadelphia, after graduating from the prestigious Central High School (Philadelphia), Central High S ...

and Executive Produced by Rich Murray. It was released in 2005 by Murray's RuffNation Films via Sony Entertainment. It revolves around the consequences of an incident of

date rape Date rape is a form of acquaintance rape and dating violence. The two phrases are often used interchangeably, but date rape specifically refers to a rape in which there has been some sort of romantic or potentially sexual relationship between ...

on a college campus in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

(Cheyney University of Pa.), and stars

Wood Harris Sherwin David "Wood" Harris (born October 17, 1969) is an American actor. He first garnered attention for his role as Motaw in the Jeff Pollack film '' Above the Rim'' (1994), prior to portraying high school football player Julius Campbell in t ...

MC Lyte Lana Michele Moorer (born October 11, 1970), better known by her stage name MC Lyte, is an American rapper. Considered one of the pioneers of female rap, MC Lyte first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first female rapper to release a ...

Russell Hornsby Russell Hornsby (born May 15, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Edward "Eddie" Sutton on ABC Family's '' Lincoln Heights'', as Luke on the HBO drama ''In Treatment'', as Detective Hank Griffin on the NBC series ''Grimm'', a ...

, Thomas Braxton Jr., Guru,

Joe Clair Joe Clair (born February 13, 1969), also known by the nickname "Joe Cleezy", is an American stand-up comedian, radio personality, VJ and actor. A native of the Seat Pleasant, Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., Career Clair is best known as ...

, KaDee Strickland, and Emmy Award–winning actress Esther Rolle. The film was shot in 1998, though financing problems derailed the

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

process. Philadelphia company RuffNation Films supervised and funded the films completion. It debuted theatrically in Philadelphia in 2005 to positive reviews and a very successful DVD release followed. ''Train Ride'' was

Esther Rolle Esther Elizabeth Rolle (November 8, 1920 – November 17, 1998) was an American actress. She is best known for her role as Florida Evans, on the CBS television sitcom '' Maude,'' for two seasons (1972–1974), and its spin-off series '' Good ...

's last film before her death on November 17, 1998, and the film is dedicated to her. ''Train Ride'' was shot on the campus of

Cheyney University Cheyney University of Pennsylvania is a public historically black university in Cheyney, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1837 as the Institute for Colored Youth, it is the oldest of all historically black colleges and universities (HBCU ...

, which is the oldest African American college in the United States. The film recently got high praise by noted film historian/critic Irv Slifkin in his best-selling book ''Filmadelphia: A Celebration of a City's Movies,'' which was published by Middle Atlantic Press in 2006. In addition, the film recently ranked #5 in the top ten "Best College Movies" on BET.COM.

References

External links

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''Train Ride'' wins Best Feature at 2005 American Theatre of Harlem Film Festival
2005 films 2005 thriller films 2000s hood films Films set in Philadelphia 2005 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films English-language crime films English-language thriller films {{2000s-thriller-film-stub