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Summary: Even rocket scientists couldn't calculate how bad it is.
Review: On par with the dismal rejects "Devil's Rain" and "Wicker Man," this movie is arguably the [worst] movie in the history of the universe now or ever. Acting? Except for Lee and Cushing, there was none. Sound quality? Fair to poor. Video quality? Fair to poor. Mood and atmosphere? Well, I guess in some countries they still hadn't figured out that synthesizer disco music really isn't congruent with serious horror. Even the opening credits are bad with the treat of getting to stare at the train's headlight whilst suffering, you guessed it, more canned synthesizer music. Truly an AWFUL movie. Rocket scientists couldn't calculate how truly AWFUL this movie is....What on earth were these people THINKING!
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Summary: Telly Savalas is a great Russian leader!
Review: Overstated elegance, brooding music, a Russian monk, Russian cross, Russian icons; the snowy, blanketed countryside, richly brocaded draperies, and Telly Savalas as the perfect Russian leader, all combine to offer a richly authentic backdrop. Christopher Lee tempers Savalas' keen domination. Mr. Savalas is a man many Russian women have salivated over. Having been born into nobility, Mr. Lee's authentic demeanor suits his character portrayal entirely, as only a true nobleman's can.
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Summary: get this version Don't get the canadian version.
Review: picture quality was good and in widescreen.
Don't buy the cheaper canadian version pict was poor broke up into squares looked like came from video tape.This is the better version worth the price .
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Summary: Fun Hammer horror casts Lee & Cushing as reluctant allies.
Review: Possibly among Hammer's very best productions, HORROR EXPRESS is notable for casting Christopher Lee & Peter Cushing as (reluctant) allies for once, & also for "co-starring" Telly Savalas pre-KOJAK; who previously worked with director Eugenio Martin on the film PANCHO VILLA. Scripted by Arnaud D'Usseau & Julian Halevy from a story by Gene Martin, the film is also known as PANIC ON THE TRANS-SIBERIAN EXPRESS.
Alexander Saxton (Lee) is a scientist who leads an expedition into the mountains where he discovers the frozen body of a huge ape-like man (No, it's not Tor Johnson). The valuable fi(e)nd is shipped aboard a train bound for Europe, where Saxton plans to conduct research that could establish the "missing link" between humans and primates. But to Saxton's annoyance his rival Dr. Wells (Cushing) and his assistant are also passengers on the train.
Matters soon get hairy (quite literally) when a potential thief picks the lock on the crate; resulting in the ape-man being let loose aboard the train- but not before hypnotizing the culprit & sucking all information & memories from his brain, leaving him with hemhorraging eyeballs that resemble bloodied boiled eggs and a brain smoother & whiter than Telly Savalas's head.Another passenger on the train is a wacko hippie priest who believes this is the work of the devil and that the contents of the crate is "unholy", as all uninformed nincompoops do when confronted with things they don't understand or that don't conform to their personal belief system. The preacher presents a rock solid argument in his favor when he remarks "There is the stink of hell on this train. Even the dog knows it". (NB: There IS in fact a dog on board too, who is obviously smarter than the Hellfire Hippie.)
Also amusing is the following exchange between Cushing & Lee when the creature escapes:
Cushing: "Are you telling me that an ape that lived two million years ago got out of that crate, killed the baggage man and put him in there; then loaded everything up neat and tidy, and got away?"
Lee: "YES! I AM!".
In case you're wondering, I haven't forgotten about Telly Savalas. In spite of his co-star billing he doesn't appear in his role as Captain Kazak until the last third of the movie; unless as I also mentioned, the film makers used his dome for "brain" close-ups.
DVD extras include trailers and a bio and filmography for Lee, but none for Cushing, which is odd. This DVD obviously offers nothing special in terms of special features but it's loads of fun and a good bargain for collectors.
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Summary: Last of the Greats - Lee and Cushing!!!!!
Review: Probably the last great horror film to come out of the 70's before the invasion of excessive gore. I love both these actors. They never fail to give a great performance. This one is great because it has everything - aliens, runaway trains, crazy cossaks. The effects are terrific and the plot moves along a swift pace. Get this and you'll thank yourself for it.
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Summary: I love the movie...wish the DVD was better.
Review: Somehow the film and score managed to raise the hairs on my neck for practically the entire length of the picture. It is a great old fashioned horror film done in the 70's really made to look as though it were shot at the turn of the 20th century. Sort of right there with Nosferatu on my list of all time creepers. Worth having in your collection if you are a horror film buff. I think this will be a classic if it isn't one already.
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Summary: Horror Express
Review: Super Good vary well madeand the story is vary well acted out one of the old time best in the 70's
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Summary: Cushing and Lee on a Russian Train with an Alien Monster!
Review: The main attraction in this 1972 Spanish film is the cast, since not only do we get Christopher Lee as Professor Alexander Saxton and Peter Cushing as Dr. Welles, but Telly Savalas as Captain Kazan. Apparently, before there was life on earth an energy being ended up on Earth and was patiently possessing various life forms wanting for man to develop. Unfortunately, the primitive man inhabited by the alien being was trapped in a glacier. Jump ahead to 1906, and Professor Saxon discovers the frozen being and is transporting it back to civilization on the Trans-Siberian Railroad (think "Murder on the Orient Express" meets "The Thing"). The creature escapes and starts killing, jumping bodies as its host is killed. That is when things start getting weird. How weird? Well, the alien's victims become zombies, which happens after it absorbs their memories through a process that, ah, boils their eyeballs (you cannot make this stuff up). Meanwhile, the Professor and the Doctor have discovered that the eyeball fluid of the thawed corpse primitive man (remember him?) contains microscopic pictures of his memories, which means pictures of dinosaurs and earth from space. But before we can get too excited about that the movie gets back to the slaughter. This plot by director Eugenio Martin and Arnaud D'Usseau is just so audacious you have to enjoy it. But actually the main treat is Cushing and Lee, finally freed from the constraints of their Hammer characters and just having a good old time acting their way through this mess. Of course the supporting cast look like refugees from a spaghetti western, which certainly makes sense. "Horror Express" is certainly a lot better than most of the Hammer films Cushing and Lee made during the last half of the Sixties. Track down this film and screen it for your next Friday Night Horror Flick party, maybe as a double-bill with "Terror Train"? You could do worse.
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Summary: Great Film, Okay DVD
Review: The Trans-Siberian Express, filled with people who least expect the missing link to be on the train. However, Alexander Saxton (Christopher Lee) has found it, not knowing it's alive, ready to ravage the brains of those who see its eyes. On board for the horror is Saxton and his rival Wells (Peter Cushing) to sotp it. This is a genuine classic euro-horror film. Good humor, good thrills, good performance by Telly Savalas. As a DVD, it's a little up there in the price range for a minimal DVD. I'm glad to see that it's at least in print on DVD.
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Summary: The Kitchen Sink.
Review: There was a line from and Orson Welles bio that Mr. Welles promised everything including the kitchen sink at a Boston Premier. Well, the curtain rose that evening only to reveal " The Kitchen Sink" That is what "Horror Express "delivers in a most macabre way. Mix horror greats Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee with Telly Savalas and you have it all. The Express is a real thilller if you can follow bizzare plot twists and metaphors..but its loads of fun and by the end your eyes will be burning or bleeding as the case may be.
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