I am currently unemployed but planning on putting my photography degree to good use. I enjoy the gr...
I am currently unemployed but planning on putting my photography degree to good use. I enjoy the great outdoors, wildlife and nature. Films, TV and music. Writing and film-making.
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Before Ridley Scott's Alien there was Horror Express. The claustrophobic confines of a train in place of the Nostromo as the hunting ground for a killer of extra-terrestrial origin.
This Fantastically eerie gothic horror, with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee at their British best, is only let down by some of the dubbed voices. This is a minor quibble (it was an anglo-spanish production after all!)
THE FILM Provincia de Szecuan, China, 1906. Professor Alex Caxton (Christopher Lee), a British palaeontologist, transporting the recently discovered remains of a prehistoric man-ape on the Trans-Siberian express train, is surprised when his find goes missing.
He and fellow British scientist Doctor Wells (Peter Cushing) investigate and begin to suspect foul-play when corpses begin to mount up. They begin to suspect that the frozen remains have thawed out...
The Cossack Captain Kazan (Telly Savalas) and his men, board the train, but not even their military training has prepared them for what they are to encounter on the Horror Express.
THE PRODUCTION An anglo-spanish production filmed in sumptuous Eastmancolor, made by Benmar Productions and Granada Films in Madrid, December 1971. Entitled Panico en el Transiberiano (Panic on the Trans-Siberian Express) in Spain, it is more commonly known as Horror Express.
Bernard Gordon produced with Gene Martin directing. The screenplay was written by Arnaud D'Usseau and Julian Halevy, based on a story by Gene Martin. Cinematography by Alejandro Ulloa and Special Effects by Pablo Perez.
Composer John Cacavas also wrote the music for Christopher Lee's last appearance for Hammer as Dracula in The Satanic Rites Of Dracula (1973) and Airport 77 (1977), in which Lee also appeared. Went on to compose music for many television movies, including; The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission (1987),
The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission (1988) & Kojak: None So Blind (1990) all starring Telly Savalas.
This is one of the best gothic horrors starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. The other outstanding teaming of these wonderful actors at this time was The Creeping Flesh (1972).
Horror Express and The Creeping Flesh both owed a lot to the early gothic horrors that Hammer produced in the late 50's and early 60's. However, during the 70's Hammer seemed to move away from the creativity and originality that had endeared them to the cinema going public. Although not completely abandoning originality, they did begin to churn out sequel after sequel. It was up to other film-makers to use Cushing and Lee in stories with more interesting concepts.
Saying that, Horror Express and The Creeping Flesh do share similarities beyond their cast. Both concern the discovery of ancient remains by scientists, but one is a Gothic Science-Fiction Horror and the other is more concerned with the 'super-natural' concept of Evil as a physical entity.
Peter Cushing later said of his time working on Horror Express,
"I adored that film. We did it in Spain and Christopher Lee was so kind because it was one of the first I did after I had undergone a personal trauma. It was an enjoyable film to make and Christopher Lee was marvellous during it because he's so good with languages - he speaks about ten, bless him.
It's very tricky working in a foreign country when you're so used to English ways. I can hardly speak English, much less Spanish, but they were all so sweet during the making of that. It took just a little more time, naturally, for the Spanish to get across to me what they were after - and vice versa - but Christopher was, as always, a tower of strength.
It was indeed a very happy film to make. He and I had some nice exchanges of dialogue - we always work on those together, with the director of course. And I thought it was so clever of the producer who bought the two model trains used in the film Nicholas and Alexandra, (to have built them especially would have cost a fortune) and then wrote a script around them.
It was wonderful - all they had in the studio was a carriage on one sound stage and a carriage in another sound stage, so we worked in one which was dressed up as the guard's van, and the other one would be dressed up as, say, the dining car, and when we were finished in the guard's van we went and did all the scenes in the dining car. In the meantime they altered the guard's van into something else.
It was a picture I very much wanted to see when it was completed but I was in France making another one when it came out"
THE CAST Yet again Peter Cushing & Christopher Lee (credited as Cristopher Lee in the opening titles) are paired in a superb Gothic Horror. Cushing and Lee appeared in numerous films together, although in the early days not always in the same scenes!
From Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948) and John Huston's Moulin Rouge (1952) to An Arabian Adventure (1979) and The House of Long Shadows (1982).
Their last work together was as narrators on the two part Hammer documentary, Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror (1994). Cushing died before the second installment aired and after its screening the BBC screened a specially edited montage of clips from his film and television career.
Peter Cushing's early film work included roles in James Whale productions The Man In The Iron Mask (1939) and They Dare Not Love (1941). The rarely seen drama Vigil In The Night (1940), and alongside Hollywood legends in The Howard's of Virginia (1940) with Cary Grant and A Chump At Oxford (1940) with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
In later life he worked on films such as Star Wars (1977), The Uncanny (1978), Top Secret! (1984) and Biggles (1985).
Christopher Lee made many uncredited appearances in black and white films in the 50's. Including as a German Officer in both Private's Progress (1956) and Ill Met By Moonlight (1957).
In the 1970's, wanting to shed his feared typecasting as Dracula, Lee starred in films as diverse as Death Line (1972), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Wicker Man (1973) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).
More recently Lee starred in television productions of Ivanhoe (1997) and Gormenghast (2000). On the big screen he appeared in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow (1999) and played Saruman the White in the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03) and Count Dooku (Darth Tyrannus) in the second and third episodes of the Star Wars prequels, Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005).
More recently he has played Willy Wonka's father, Dr. Wilbur Wonka, in Tim Burton's version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), and provided the voice of Pastor Galswell in Burton's animated Corpse Bride (2005). Soon to be seen in Sweeney Todd (2007).
Telly Savalas' appeared in numerous films and television series. He turns up in such films as, Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Cape Fear (1962), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Genghis Kahn (1965), Battle of the Bulge (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Capricorn One (1978), Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979), The Muppet Movie (1979), Escape to Athena (1979), Cannonball Run II (1984), and leant his voice to the animated, Gobots: Battle of the Rock Lords (1985).
He appeared on American television in the 60's in such shows as; The Twilight Zone, The Fugtive, Bonanza, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Most people recognise Savalas from his lollipop sucking television cop role of Kojak, which he played during the seventies. He returned to the role in a number of television movies based on the series.
Inspector Mirov, played by Alberto de Mendoza (the Spanish 'star-name' of the film) crossed over again into English speaking cinema in the Agatha Christie who-dunnit, And Then There Were None (1975). Which also starred Oliver Reed, Elke Sommer, Richard Attenborough, Gert Frobe, Herbert Lom, Orson Welles and Charles Aznavour.
Most of the Horror Express cast seem to have worked almost exclusively on Spanish productions. Only Angel del Povo and Jose Marco having appeared in other English language pictures, The Three Musketeers (Starring; Christopher Lee, Richard Chamberlain, Michael York, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay and Charlton Heston) and Romeo & Juliet respectively.
CONCLUSION The story, setting, cast and special effects, are all brilliant, and it's rather a gruesome and creepy film too. The opening title sequence of glaring light and the sound of the train in motion, accompanied by Cacavas' whistling composition is fantastically atmospheric. They introduce you nicely and set the mood for the rest of the picture.
The setting is ingenious, and extremely atmospheric. The tension and horror heightened by the cramped confines of the train.
A tale of ancient remains, invasion and possession. An alien being stalking the dark confines of the Trans-Siberian Express with one thought on its mind. One by one the passengers succumb to its evil control until no-one is sure who they can trust.
So if you're in need of a little break, purchase a ticket and take a ride on the Trans-Siberian HORROR Express. Just make sure you know who, or what, you'll be sharing a carriage with…
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 1998 - Horror - Director: Steve Miner - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Williams, Adam Arkin, Adam Hann-Byrd, Janet Leigh, L.L. Cool J.
Re-rated based on Ciao's insistence that such reviews are no longer considered "Off Topic"
Soho_Black 08.04.2008 15:04
I see you've posted this as a DVD review, but you've not mentioned the DVD features. Are there any extras? If so, what are they and are they any good? If you add to this, or if you change it to be posted as a "Film Only" review, which can be done by accessing "edit review" above the review and changing the drop down menu under the "Which format are you reviewing?" question at the bottom, please let me know and I'll re-rate.
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the scientific find of the new century: the centuries-old frozen body of a gigantic ape-like man, a veritable missing link. Aiming to bring the monster back to Euro...
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what he believes to be the scientific find of the new century: the centuries-old frozen body of a gigantic ape-like man a veritable "missing link." Booking a ticke...
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![Horror Express [DVD] [1972]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78474473.jpg "Horror Express [DVD] [1972]")
Jul 18th, 2007
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