With a lesser pair of actors at the forefront, this film would suffer immensely.
Professor Alexander Saxton (Christopher Lee) has made a the scientific discovery of a lifetime in the frozen wilderness of Manchuria. Encased in ice are the fossilized remains of what could be the “missing link” between human and ape. He arranges for the transport of the remains back to Europe via crate on the Trans-Siberian Express.
Soon after the crate’s arrival at the train station, odd things begin to happen. A thief attempts to break into it and ends up dead on the station platform with his eyes turned white. Once the train leaves the station, more people are murdered, exhibiting the same symptoms.
One of Professor Saxton’s rivals, Doctor Wells (Peter Cushing), is coincidentally onboard the train and the two must pair up to determine how a two million year old corpse could be murdering people.
Horror Express is a low-budget Spanish/British co-production that attempts to capture some of the Hammer Studios magic by pairing Christopher Lee with Peter Cushing. And, honestly, it works. The movie is more than the sum of its parts due to their involvement. With a lesser pair of actors at the forefront, this film would suffer immensely.
The script is overly ambitious with its reach into the scientific realm for a possible explanation for the creature’s reanimation. Without spoiling anything, there’s a scene with a microscope that is laugh-out-loud ridiculous but the idea would have been hard to illustrate any other way. So, I wrote it off as justifiable and Lee and Cushing’s straight-faced performances helped sell it to me.
I appreciated the film’s humor as well. Cushing has a few throwaway lines that are quite funny. One scene with his assistant, Miss Jones (Alice Reinheart), is actually a bit bawdy but only if you’re paying attention. Throw in Telly Savalas as a scene-chewing, vodka swilling Cossack captain and things get even more interesting.
For having such a low budget, the train sets are impressive. I believe they were constructed for another movie and borrowed for this one. The special effects, though, aren’t as successful. Aside from its glowing eyes, the creature looks like it was assembled with parts from a dime store makeup kit.
Thankfully, though, the pacing is excellent and the concept is a lot of fun if you shut your brain off for an hour and a half. Horror Express is ultimately forgettable but it’s an entertaining exercise in 1970s horror.
3.5 out of 5.0 stars
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