RETRO MOVIE REVIEW: HORROR EXPRESS, 1972

HORROR EXPRESS, 1972. Written by Arnaud d’Usseau and Jullian Zimet. Directed by Eugenio Martín (THE UGLY ONES, 1966; PONCHO VILLA, 1972). Starring the legendary Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.

This is an American, Italian, Spain production inspired and based on the classic novella WHO GOES THERE by John W. Campbell Jr. This is the second film based on the book; the first was Howard Hawks’ THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD, 1951. It is said that John Carpenter was very influenced by HORROR EXPRESS for a third adaptation, THE THING, 1982.

In 1906, Professor Sir Alexander Saxton (Lee) discovers a frozen humanoid that he believes might be a possible missing link of human evolution in the frosty, desolate mountains of Manchuria. Encased in a block of ice, the Professor crates up his discovery with the plan of transporting his it by Trans-Siberian Express to Europe for further examination. Trouble begins at the railway station as the humanoid begins to thaw. A nosy thief discovers the crate and while trying to discover the contents, he looks into the glowing red eye of the humanoid and has his life sucked out of him. This creates quite a stir at the railway station with local authorities and a fanatic Orthodox Monk, who wants to know what’s in the crate. The Professor shrugs off suspicion by stating that his find is nothing more than frozen fossils.

The thawing humanoid is loaded onto the train and the trek begins across the frozen wasteland during a violent blizzard. The mystery of the crate gets the best of certain passengers that dare to take a peek and face the same fate as the thief at the railway station. The Professor employs Dr. Wells (Cushing), a friendly scientific rival aboard the train, to help him figure out the cause of the mysterious deaths.

Meanwhile, the humanoid escapes from the crate and begins to secretly murder one passenger after another. Eventually, the humanoid is able to transfer its essence from one person to another, hiding its identity in each host it consumes. It turns out the alien can take a life form’s energy and intelligents, thus growing stronger and smarter as it passes from host to host. As the body count piles up, the Professor and the Doctor discover that the frozen humanoid, a prehistoric ape man, was playing host to an alien entity that crashed on Earth ages ago. Now, it’s up to them to try and destroy the monster as they travel at top speed through the night over a frozen wasteland.

The film did not have a big budget, but that did not stop the ambitious filmmakers from pulling out all the necessary techniques. The makeup, costumes, practical effects, and optics are spot on for the time. The miniature train speeding through a miniature frozen landscape is really cool. Simple lighting and camera tricks create a wonderful mood. Where special effect can’t do the job, Lee and Cushing take over with brilliant performances fueled by clever storytelling.

I believe HORROR EXPRESS finds perfect middle ground between THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD, 1951 and THE THING, 1982. It’s worth checking out!