Terreur dans le Shanghaï-Express

An intriguing idea of a "spirit" of pure evil with the ability to jump from body to body aboard a trans-siberian train. Well done considering budget constraints, and claustrophobic. Lee and Cushing are fine, but it's Telly Savales who chews the scenery to good effect. He is an unexpected treat as a bullying cossack officer and good counterpoint to Lee and Cushing as civilized gentlemen. Don't expect a slick Hollywood production and you won't be disappointed. I watched this on late night TV spookfests everytime it was on during the late 70s and saw something new each time. It's something like a cross between Hammer and Argento, and a little bit of Corman, too.

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.

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!

HORROR EXPRESS stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee as rival scientists, Dr. Wells and Sir Alexander Saxton, respectively. 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 with its beastie!

EXTRA POINTS: For the Rasputin-like Father Pujardov (Alberto del Mendoza), who adds a heavy dose of hyper-religious blather and outright madness to the proceedings. Also, Telly Savalas makes a perfectly intimidating Cossack!

A unique and very influential horror film...

All aboard the Trans-Siberian Express - non stop to the shores of hell. That's the interpretation of the priest character on board. But he's off-base; it's an alien monster that's causing all the trouble - a monster derivative of "The Thing" story, but about 10 years before John Carpenter presented his version. The creature is literally millions of years old, having passed through various forms as life evolved on Earth; then someone makes the mistake of storing it on board in a frozen apelike fossil. Next thing you know, certain individuals are behaving strangely, with glowing red eyes, and others turn up dead with eyes whited out (and brains drained). This, of course, benefits from the umpteenth pairing of Lee and Cushing; Lee is the arrogant scientist here and Cushing is again a doctor. Much of the entertaining dialogue stems from the conflict between science and religion, during the transitional phase of the early 20th century. The priest rants on about Satan; Lee calls it rubbish. Here's a typical quote from the priest: 'There's the stench of death on board this train; even the dog knows it.' The dog belongs to a couple of aristocratic Russians on board.

At the one hour mark, Savalas shows up as a power-mad Cossack with his soldiers, ready to kick everyone to hell and back. He manages to make quite an impression in the next 15 minutes as the death toll escalates. He and the two leads (British all the way) sort of ham it up, as if knowing they're in some crackerjack cheesy horror material, but there's also quite a bit of eeriness to the proceedings. The filmmakers managed to get the nice train set from an earlier big budget production and made good use of it. The train itself becomes nearly another character, hurtling through the dark with snow and a chill wind all around, and the interior set design is quite good. The musical score is also unusual; when one expects ominous tones during some sequences, instead we get a kind of tuneful melody. But the best thing about this is the concept itself - this thing, this form of energy, having been around forever and theoretically capable of curing all our ills, contents itself with the easy kill. Boy, does it like to drain brains.