Horror Express, also known as Pánico en el Transiberiano/Panic on the Trans-Siberian Express, is a 1972 Spanish/British horror film directed by Eugenio Martín and starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Alberto de Mendoza and Telly Savalas. It was produced by Bernard Gordon and written by Arnaud d'Usseau and Julian Zimet (credited as Julian Halevy).
Prologue
The story opens with narration;
"The following report to the Royal Geological Society by the
undersigned Alexander Saxton is a true and faithful account of the
events that befell the society's expedition in Manchuria.
As the leader of the expedition, I must accept the responsibility for
its ending in disaster. But I will leave, to the judgement of the
honorable members, the decision as to where the blame for the
catastrophe lies..."
Plot
In 1906, Professor Alexander Saxton (Christopher Lee), a renowned British anthropologist, is returning to Europe by the Trans-Siberian Express from China to Moscow. With him is a crate containing the frozen remains of a primitive humanoid creature that he discovered in a cave in Manchuria. He hopes it is a missing link in human evolution. Doctor Wells (Peter Cushing), Saxton's friendly rival and Royal Society colleague, is also on-board but travelling separately. Before the train departs Shanghai,
a thief is found dead on the platform. His eyes are completely white
and without irises or pupils, and a bystander initially mistakes him for
a blind man. A monk named Father Pujardov (Alberto de Mendoza), the spiritual advisor to a Polish
Count and Countess who are also waiting to board the train, proclaims
the contents of the crate to be evil. Saxton furiously dismisses this as
superstition. Saxton's eagerness to keep his scientific find secret
arouses the suspicion of Wells, who bribes a porter to investigate the
crate. The porter is killed by the ape-like creature within, which then
escapes the crate by picking the lock.
The creature finds more victims as it roams the moving train, each victim being found with the same opaque, white eyes. An autopsy
suggests that the brains of the victims are being drained of memories
and knowledge. When the creature is gunned down by police Inspector
Mirov, the threat seems to have been vanquished. Saxton and Wells
discover that images are retained in a liquid found inside the eyeball
of the corpse, which reveal a prehistoric Earth and a view of the planet seen from space. They deduce that the real threat is somehow a formless extra-terrestrial
that inhabited the body of the creature and now resides within the
Inspector. Father Pujardov, sensing the greater presence inside the
Inspector and believing it to be that of Satan, renounces his faith to pledge allegiance to the mysterious entity.
News of the murders is wired to the Russian authorities. An intimidating Cossack officer, Captain Kazan (Telly Savalas),
boards the train with a handful of his men. Kazan believes the train is
transporting rebels; he is only convinced of the alien's existence when
Mirov is discovered to be the creature's host when Saxton switches off
the lights and Mirov's eyes glow. The creature has absorbed the memories
of Wells' assistant, an engineer, and others. It seeks the Polish
Count's metallurgical
knowledge too, in order to build a vessel to escape Earth. Kazan
fatally shoots Mirov, and the alien transfers itself to the deranged
Pujardov.
The passengers flee to the freight car while Pujardov murders Kazan,
his men, and the Count, draining all their minds. Saxton rescues the
Countess and holds Pujardov at gunpoint. Saxton, having discovered that
bright light prevents the entity from draining minds or transferring to
another body, forces Pujardov into a brightly lit area. The
creature/Pujardov explains that it is a collective form of energy from
another galaxy.
Trapped on Earth in the distant past after being left behind in an
accident, it survived for millions of years in the bodies of protozoa,
fish and other animals, but cannot live outside a living being longer
than a few moments. The creature begs to be spared, tempting Saxton with
its advanced knowledge of technology and cures for diseases. While
Saxton is distracted by the offer, the creature resurrects the Count's
corpse which attacks Saxton.
Saxton and the Countess flee the creature, but it now resurrects all of its victims as zombies. Battling their way through, Saxton and the Countess eventually reach the caboose,
where the other survivors have taken refuge. Once there, Saxton and
Wells work desperately to uncouple themselves from the rest of the
train. The Russian government sends a telegram
to a dispatch station ahead, instructing them to destroy the train by
sending it down a dead-end spur. Speculating that it must be war, the
station staff switch the points.
The creature takes control of the train as it enters the spur. Saxton
and Wells manage separate the last car from the rest of the train just
before the train jumps the track and tumbles to the bottom of a deep
ravine. The caboose rolls precariously to the end of the track before
stopping, inches away from the edge of the cliff.
The survivors quickly depart from the van while Saxton, Wells and the
Countess gaze over the ravine to witness the inferno consuming the
train and its unearthly inhabitants.
Cast
- Christopher Lee ... Professor Sir Alexander Saxton
- Peter Cushing ... Dr. Wells
- Alberto de Mendoza ... Father Pujardov
- Telly Savalas ... Captain Kazan
- Julio Peña ... Inspector Mirov
- Silvia Tortosa ... Countess Irina Petrovski
- Ángel del Pozo ... Yevtushenko
- Helga Liné ... Natasha
- Alice Reinheart ... Miss Jones
- José Jaspe ... Conductor Konev
- George Rigaud ... Count Marion Petrovski
- Víctor Israel ... Maletero – the Baggage Man
- Faith Clift ... American Passenger (credited as Faith Swift)
- Juan Olaguivel ... the Creature (credited as Juan Olaguibel)
- Barta Barri ... First Telegraphist
Production
Horror Express was filmed in Madrid
between 1971 and 1972, produced on a low budget of $300,000 with the
luxury of having three familiar genre actors in the lead. The film was
co-produced by American screenwriter/producer Bernard Gordon, who had collaborated with Martin on the 1972 film Pancho Villa (which featured Savalas in the title role). Though it was believed that as Bernard Gordon had acquired the train model used in Nicholas and Alexandra and he commissioned a script for its use, Gordon denied it, saying the model had been constructed for Pancho Villa. Filmmakers used the mock-up from Pancho Villa
as the interior for all train cars during production since no further
room was available on stage. All scenes within each train car were shot
consecutively, the set then modified and shot for the next car.
The film had the train station sequences shot at the 1880 Railway Museum (Madrid) designed by Gustave Eiffel.
Securing Lee and Cushing was a coup for Gordon, since it lent a certain atmosphere reminiscent of Hammer Films,
many of which starred both of the actors. However, when Cushing arrived
in Madrid to begin work on the picture, he was still distraught over
the recent death of his wife, and announced to Gordon that he could not
do the film. With Gordon desperate over the idea of losing one of his
important stars, Lee stepped in and put Cushing at ease simply by
talking to his old friend about some of their previous work together.
Cushing changed his mind and stayed on.
Like all the Italian and Spanish films of the period, Horror Express
was filmed mostly without sound, with effects and voices dubbed into
the film later. Lee, Cushing and Savalas all provided their own voices
for the English market.
Release and reception
The film generally received mixed reviews, with a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 57%.
This film was first titled Pánico en el Transiberiano and first released as an officially selected film of 1972 Sitges Film Festival.[5] Eugenio Martín won Critic's Award Best Script for this film.
According to director Eugenio Martín, his native country of Spain was where the film fared worst, both critically and in terms of box office revenue. The film was received more positively in other markets where the
audience was more familiar with low-budget horror films, such as Great
Britain, the United States and Australia.
It was released in the third quarter of 2010 on DVD and Blu-ray Disc.