Pánico en el Transiberiano

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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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!

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.

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...

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?