Horror Express

Picture a frozen ape man discovered by a British archeologist and scientist at the turn of the century, and being placed aboard a Trans-Siberian railway from China to Russia..and you have the beginning of Horror Express. Christopher Lee plays the man who finds this fossil, as he calls it, which turns out to be so much more. The film itself is beautiful as we see this elegant train traveling across snow-covered terrain(actually filmed in Spain). The cast of characters aboard are of equal interest. Peter Cushing plays a scientist named Dr. Wells. For Cushing, this is a fine performance of a scientist less hypnotized by the ethic of science and more worldly. He bribes officials to get train tickets, has a baggage man drill holes in Professor Saxton's(Lee's) discovery, flirts with both his manly lady assistant and a beautiful stow-a-way, and in general seems less serious than many of his former roles. Nice to see him occasionally smile. Lee's professor is quite typical of Lee, burly, officious, obnoxious, and willful. Both Cushing and Lee are extraordinary and sights to behold as they waltz through the script of finding the creature which is wiping the minds of various peoples. The rest of the cast is also very good with a Rasputin-like monk stealing scene after scene. Horror Express is fast-paced action, inventive science fiction, gory thrills, and chilling horror. Indeed it is worth a look!

When you get two grandmasters of horror, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee together in a film, you know you're in for a good ride, and that on the Trans-Siberian Express with a monster on the loose.

In 1906, Professor Sir Alexander Saxton( Christopher Lee, a renowned British anthropologist, is returning to Europe by the Trans-Siberian Express from Shanghai to Moscow. With him is a crate containing the frozen remains of a primitive humanoid creature that he discovered in a cave in Manchuria. Along for the ride is Doctor Wells, who doesn't get along with Saxton, but when the creature escapes from the box, and with the bodies piling up with their eyes turned white they have to act fast to stop it - but already the creature has found a new host ...

Not your typical monster on the spree romp, Horror express is sprinkled with some intelligence. The monster is curious about the earth. A brisk direction and elevated tension keeps this film simmering, but it's Cushing and Lee that add high credentials to this chiller. Telly Savalas has a small cameo. Silvia Tortosa and Helga Line provide eye candy.

The first halve of this movie is pretty standard seventies horror stuff like featured in most of the old Hammer movies. The second halve however really surprised and impressed me. I loved it!

I really love old-horror movies with both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in it. In this movie they are better than ever together. Their acting is superb and so is the rest of the cast even though it is a bit strange that almost all of the Russians are played by Spanish people. Telly Savalas also shows up in a fun role. Savalas is probably best known for portraying Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" but he also played in classics like: "Cape Fear" (1962), "Kelly's Heroes", "Capricorn One" and "The Dirty Dozen". It's wonderful to see such fine acting in one movie because normally mainly it are just only Cushing and Lee who are the only good actors in a movie like this.

Also this movie is actually scary and gory and it has a really good atmosphere. It starts like some kind of monster movie like "Creature From the Black Lagoon" but the second halve of the movie is more like a Zombie movie like "Lifeforce" (which is an underrated horror classic in my opinion with a great soundtrack). A combination that worked really well for me.

The story stays simple and of course ridicules but it still is better than 90% of the other movies from the same genre and it actually goes deeper in trying to explain some of the things.

In my opinion a real horror classic!

8/10

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Spanish-British co-production that is one of the most representative exponents of Spanish horror cinema, gaining great popularity in the early seventies. The film contains an atmospheric mix of hair-raising thrills and surprising chills, combined with a fantastic ending, though most of the action revolves around the attempts to chase and kill this strange creature.1906, in the remote Manchuria, professor Alexander encounters a long frozen corpse. When he smuggles it aboard the Transiberian train, then the monster is awakened and coming to life, breaking out, running rampant around the train and making a killing rampage. Meanwhile, archaeologist Alexander Saxton (Christopher Lee) meets professor Welles(Peter Cushing). Both join forces against the weirdo creature. The movie depicts the havoc and killing that begin when the monster escapes, lurks and terrorizes. The bulk of action surrounds their attempts to chase and intent on killing this bizarre creature. Meantime, the passengers and crew run afoul, they're forced to fight their lives and pursued by the killer beast which is making a brutal slaughter.

The film was a surprise at its premiere, getting a large international cast, starring the two most representative actors of Hammer Films and obtaining great success at the global box office, dealing with a ferocious prehistoric monster that is transported on the Trans-Siberian train, when the monster awakens and comes to life, subsequently running rampant around the train and causing an astonishing carnage. Well directed by Eugenio Martin, specialized in this type of genre productions, he makes an impressive film, knowing how to use very well the train where the action takes place, the models, the characterizations of the actors, as well as the special effects with lots of guts and gore. The film not only has nothing to envy, but also resembles the Hammer productions at the time. It displays lots of guts and blood but it seems pretty mild compared to today's gore feasts. It's an unrelenting shock-feast laced with nice acting by the two Hammer genre's stars that deserves its cult status. Furthermore, magnificent Telly Savalas , before Kojak, as a crazed Cossack commander and Alberto De Menzoza as a Rasputin-style monk. Lively secondary cast is frankly cool, so the supporting cast is downright great, made up of well-known Spanish actors, such as: Alberto De Mendoza, Silvia Tortosa, Angel Del Pozo, Víctor Israel, Helga Liné, José Jaspe, José Canalejas, José Marco, Barta Barri, Jorge Rigaud, among others.

This unfolds a bone-chilling and suspenseful musical score by John Cavacas. Next to a lush photograph with juicy atmosphere by Alejandro Ulloa, but unfortunately it becomes too murky in some edited prints. Good work by makeup supervisor Julián Ruiz and evocative sets by Ramiro Gómez. The film was well and competently directed by Eugenio Martin or Gene Martin. He was an expert in horror films (Hypnosis, A Candle for the Devil, The Fourth Mrs. Anderson) and Spaghetti Westerns (Pancho Villa, Bounty Hunter, The Bad River Man). Rating: 7/10. Above average. It is a relentless feast of shocks with enjoyable performances by the two stars of the Hammer genre, well worth seeing. A very decent horror film that seems pretty tame compared to today's gore feasts.

I have vivid childhood memories of "Horror Express." When I watched the film as a young 'un, I was vaguely traumatized by its imagery of dead people with white, blank, blood-leaking eyes. Creepy stuff, for a kid.

Now that I'm an adult, with plenty of gory movies under my belt, I've largely gotten over my childhood dread of this odd little film. And yet, "Horror Express" still packs a scary punch for me during its best scenes. The train setting is both romantic and claustrophobic, and the monster is effective in both its human and creature forms.

The script blends science fiction and horror to interesting effect, suggesting that the monster is some kind of "unholy" alien. I've seen a lot of horror/sci-fi hybrid stories on TV (in Kolchak, The X-Files, Doctor Who, etc.), but not too many in the movies - so "Horror Express" is fairly unique in its blending of genres for the silver screen.

This movie is also noteworthy for its first-rate genre cast. Of course, horror icons Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee are on hand (unusually, Lee has more dialog than Cushing - the reverse is usually true). But the really noteworthy piece of casting is Telly "Kojak" Savalas as a loud, bossy Cossack captain. To be honest, I think his glorified cameo is a little outrageous, and temporarily threatens to derail the film (pun entirely intended, I'm afraid), but ultimately he doesn't distract too much from the other, better-established characters.

Of course this is no masterpiece, but fans of what I call "good little horror films" should enjoy it immensely. It's got good ideas, scares, gore, eye candy, and cool actors - what more do you need, right?