Horror Express (1973)

HORROR EXPRESS stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee as rival scientists, Dr. Wells (Cushing) and Sir Alexander Saxton. When Saxton uncovers a frozen specimen in China, he must transport it back to England via train. Unfortunately, said specimen is far more than just some fossil! Apparent supernatural mayhem and death ensue. Cushing and Lee are at their best, playing off each other like the twin horror icons they are! The story-line is intriguing and quite original, providing an atmosphere of creeping dread to go along w/ its beastie! EXTRA POINTS: For the Rasputin-like Father Pujardov (Alberto del Mendoza- A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN), who adds a heavy dose of hyper-religious blather and outright madness to the proceedings. Also, Telly Savalas (LISA AND THE DEVIL) makes a perfectly intimidating Cossack! A unique and very influential horror film...

Clever horror/ thriller/ monster movie, about a demonic yeti-type of creature, buried in subarctic tundra for millennia, being transported via railway, accidentally thawing out, and wreaking havoc on board the train, barrelling through the frozen Russian Arctic.Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing are both on the same side here, working together to stop this creature, whose eyes absorb what its victims have seen, as it travels from one victim to another, possibly revealing how it can be defeated.Film effectively captures the claustrophobic look and feel of the confines of the train, where the majority of its plot occurs, and its trio of leads (Lee, Cushing, and Telly Savalas) all do well, and the plot is well written, but, as overly technical as this sounds, the dull, flat lighting in most scenes make this look like a photographed stageplay. Still recommended, though.

This superb Spanish horror-cum-thriller features one of my very favourite pairings of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, in one of the rare instances where they team up on the same side and fight for good together! Other than that, this film has an original and interesting plot which is totally at odds from the kinds of Gothic films that Hammer and other European film companies were making at the same time. The setting of a high-speed train is a good one, and there are lots of scenes in murky carriages which bring out the claustrophobia of the situation.The other main areas of horror that the film taps into are fear of the unknown (you never know the location of the killer, or what he/it/she is doing) and paranoia. Paranoia because halfway through the film becomes a kind of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS variant, with the alien intelligence swapping bodies at the point of death. One of this film's key highlights is the eerie whistling on the soundtrack which is repeated throughout the film - this serves to make the hairs rise up on the back of your neck every time it pops up and is one of the spookiest sound effects I've ever heard in a film.The cast is a varied one. Aside from the three imported stars, the supporting cast is composed of Spanish actors and actresses who are all believable and act well in their roles. However acting honours must of course go to the inimitable team of Cushing and Lee who are once again excellent here. Cushing plays a gentle-mannered doctor on the train who is required to perform a couple of autopsies in the baggage carriage! This leads to some classic scenes which recall his old Frankenstein days as he carefully saws the heads off corpses and examines their brains! Lee, on the other hand, is very good as the arrogant professor, in a role which I feel is well-suited to his personality! If Lee is a little stiff (but still great) as the professor, then Telly Savalas occupies the other end of the spectrum with his hilariously over-the-top role of the cossack leader who beats and shoots his way through a number of suspects! His performance is aptly described by the phrase "scenery chewing". I love the moment where he throws a knife in a victim's back before shooting him twice just to make sure he's dead! One other actor of note is the one playing the mad monk, who makes Rasputin look sane in comparison! For the time this was made, this seems to be a fairly grisly little chiller. Aside from the aforementioned brain removals, the numerous victims suffer bleeding from the eyes, nose, and mouth, and have their eyeballs turn white (they've been boiled you see). On top of all this, there is some ludicrous mock science which reaches a laughable high-point when Cushing and Lee discover an image of the Earth from space imprinted in the creature's eyeball fluid! This film's low budget (most of which probably went on getting Cushing and Lee all the way to Spain from Britiain) is cleverly hidden via the use of plenty of simplistic yet startlingly effective special effects. The simple white contact lenses give the dead bodies a really macabre look, while the killer's glowing red eye seems to have been a definite inspiration for the look of THE TERMINATOR. And of course, there's the use of the model train which is shown repeatedly throughout the film, and crashes and explodes at the very end - they certainly wring every penny out of it, that's for sure! The biggest complaint about this film seems to be that it has pacing problems, but after watching a number of films from this era which are much worse, this doesn't bother me at all - especially when horror legends Cushing and Lee are on screen and giving it their all.At the film's very end, it changes track (rather like the train itself...) and becomes a zombie movie, with all the dead bodies of the cossacks coming back to life and seeking victims! This is a pretty scary scene, only hampered by some slapdash editing in the moments where Lee and his pretty female accomplice have to fight their way through the zombies. The ending ties everything up nicely, too. With an intelligent, original plot, great acting and effects (aside from the rather dodgy ape man suit!) this is one of my very favourite horror/science fiction B-movies and should be seen by all fans of older horror films. It's downright classic!

A nice classic horror movie which I was able to catch on BBC recently, some late night. The story combines an age old legend themed horror with some sci-fi elements. The combination struck me as pretty original - especially for its time... and I'm pretty much convinced I saw the prototype of The Terminator (yes, the 1984 one!) here...?!The story is one of many mysterious incidents and deaths and investigations on a moving train, with some scientists, a priest, some Tsarist Russians and miscellaneous victims ready to be mauled by the one who should never have been awakened... The horror elements are relatively convincing, though perhaps a little cheesy at the same time. The acting is pretty good, but with Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee ánd Telly Savalas you've got a good bunch. Ángel del Pozo played really well as the priest as well. Silvia Tortosa and Helga Liné were the designated female beauties to be gazed upon with delight. As I did.A good 7 out of 10.