Horror Express

Horror Express (Panico en el Transsiberia) (1972)

Runtime: 87 minutes

Directed by: Eugenio Martin

Starring: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Alberto de Mendoza, Silvia Tortosa, Telly Savalas

From: Several UK/Spanish companies

This was not my first choice for programming tonight but as this fit my schedule better (long story) and I hadn’t seen something on Shudder in far too long, I went with something I’ve known of for years so it was about damn time I got to this. The fact that Peter Cushing was born on May 26 and Christopher Lee on May 27 made the timing perfect.

The setting is 1906 and a long miserable train ride from China back to Europe; turns out, finding a frozen Neanderthal then transporting the corpse was a bad idea. In various ways the viewer (including me) will be reminded of The Thing-for good reason as both were based on the John W. Campbell story Who Goes There?-as rivals Lee & Cushing-Christopher’s character being the more haughty of the two-have to work together to deal with an ancient menace that among other things gives people glowing red eyes.

While admitting that this strains credulity at times, overall this was still a pretty good time. It chugs along at a pretty good pace and has several memorable setpieces, whether or not they are filled with blood and/or carnage. Of course the presence of Lee/Cushing is a huge asset (the bon mots delivered between the two were simply delightful) although the most memorable performance was Telly Savalas as a Cossack officer who devours the scenery as an OOT character. It was a more peculiar tale than I expected and even if it’s not The Thing in total awesomeness, no regrets on purchasing a ticket for this ride.