Horror Express (1972)

In 1906, in China, a British anthropologist discovers a frozen prehistoric creature and must transport it to Europe by train.

Director:

Eugenio Martín (as Gene Martin)

Writers:

Arnaud d'Usseau (screenplay), Julian Zimet (screenplay)

Stars:

Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Alberto de Mendoza

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christopher Lee	...	Prof. Sir Alexander Saxton
Peter Cushing	...	Dr. Wells
Alberto de Mendoza	...	Father Pujardov
Silvia Tortosa	...	Countess Irina Petrovska
Julio Peña	...	Inspector Mirov
Ángel del Pozo	...	Yevtushenko (as Angel del Pozo)
Helga Liné	...	Natasha (as Helga Line)
George Rigaud	...	Count Maryan Petrovski (as Jorge Rigaud)
Alice Reinheart	...	Miss Jones
José Jaspe	...	Konev - Conductor (as Jose Jaspe)
Víctor Israel	...	Baggage Man (as Victor Israel)
Juan Olaguivel	...	Creature (as Juan Olaguibel)
Vicente Roca	...	Station Master
Barta Barri	...	First Telegraphist
José Marco	...	Vorkin (as Jose Marco)

Storyline

An English anthropologist has discovered a frozen monster in the frozen wastes of Manchuria which he believes may be the Missing Link. He brings the creature back to Europe aboard a trans-Siberian express, but during the trip the monster thaws out and starts to butcher the passengers one by one.

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Plot Keywords:

journey | train | china | monster | anthropologist | 

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Taglines:

Your Non Stop Ride to Hell Boards at 8 P.M.

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK Spain

Language:

English

Release Date:

December 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Horror Express

Filming Locations:

Estudios Madrid 70, Daganzo, Madrid, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$300,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Granada Films, Benmar Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min (Blu-ray)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Most of this movie was shot without audio recording; the soundtracks and dialogue were all added in post-production. Sir Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Telly Savalas provided their own voices for this movie's English-speaking version.

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Goofs

In a brief panning scene of the train speeding through the night in the snow immediately following the scene where the the guards force open the crate, it can be easily observed that it is actually a small scale toy train and not an actual train.

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Quotes

Dr. Wells: Miss Jones, I shall need your assistance.
Miss Jones: [eyeing Wells' dinner companion] Yes, well at your age I'm not surprised.
Dr. Wells: With an autopsy!
Miss Jones: Oh, well that's different.

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Alternate Versions

In the isolated music and effects track on the Image Entertainment DVD, the piano piece played by the Countess (which the creature whistles back to her) is completely different from what is played in the final mixed track. Oddly, while the piano piece is changed, the whistling is the same.

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Connections

Featured in Uncle Davver's Really Scary Movie Show (2003)

User Reviews

I loved it!

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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