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Horror Express (1972 England/Spain)

 
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 8:30 pm    Post subject: Horror Express (1972 England/Spain) Reply with quote

________________________________________

"There's the stink of hell on this train; even the dog knows it," says a monk.

Anyone else here favor this Spanish sci-fi/horror production which throws a lot of stuff into the mix, topped by a haunting music score?



The credits are overlaid with an eerie, almost mournful melody (which will return at key points in the film) and an approaching train in the night suggests a straight-up horror story.

However, there are definite sci-fi aspects to the story, similar to The Thing concept (based on the famous "Who Goes There" story, remade a decade after this by John Carpenter).

In fact, much of the conflict here, between some of the characters and the general atmosphere, transpires to be between science & religion, during the transitional phase of the early 20th century (this film takes place in 1906).



Most of this story occurs aboard the Trans-Siberian Express and involves a creature which is millions of years old, having passed through various lifeforms as life evolved on Earth.

Professor Saxton (Lee) makes the mistake of bringing it aboard the train as an apelike fossil; of course, it's not just a fossil.

Soon, people are turning up dead, their eyes boiled and their brains drained — the thing turns its evil red eye on them and gains their information. Efficient, no?

A priest character rants on about Satan. Saxton calls this "rubbish" — he's right, of course. It's an alien monster, not a supernatural being.

This benefits from the umpteenth pairing of Lee and Cushing; Lee is the arrogant scientist here and Cushing is again a doctor. They had about 15 years in films behind them at this point, playing together and off each other, and it shows here.

Then, Telly Savalas shows up as a power-mad captain of the Cossacks at the 1-hour point and takes over the film for about 15 minutes.



Savalas and the two leads (both playing up their British airs) ham it up as if they know they're in a crackerjack cheesy horror sci-fi stew, but the film is surprisingly strong in style (claustrophobic mostly), pace (swift) and unexpected plot turns — which may be why it has its share of fans.

The train itself, borrowed from another larger production, becomes almost another character, hurtling through the dark and the snow for most of the film. The interior set design is also quite good (one train compartment was thought to be redressed many times for different scenes, but I sure never noticed).



The alien creature, as a concept, also touches on a few aspects and possibilities not ventured in The Thing movies. This thing has been around forever and is theoretically capable of curing all our ills with its vast store of knowledge. The alien voices this possibility near the end. Yet it contents itself with merely the easy kill — it really, really likes to drain brains. Is that an addictive process?

Written by Arnaud D'Usseau and Julian Halevy (Psychomania/1970).

Directed by Eugenio Martin.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 11:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another wonderful Bogmeister post which is more fun to read than watching the movie it describes.

Okay, to be absolutely fair, I'm not into horror. So, movies like this don't exactly thrill me. But reading Bog's reviews of them is more fun than eating a corn dog at the county fair
. Very Happy
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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Fri Jan 22, 2016 11:25 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Bongopete
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 1:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

To be fair though...it really isn't scary..it's more a fun thing. Lee and Cushing are almost always a treat when working together.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 11:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm downloading this one from Stagevu at the link below.

http://stagevu.com/video/oaokmzflrztf


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MetroPolly
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 10:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is one of the first horror movies I ever saw. Love at first viewing. I've always considered it a mix of the Thing, Murder on the Orient Express, and a bit of NIght of the Living Dead. But that's just me.
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tmlindsey
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 11, 2022 11:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is one my favorite films. The concept alone is fascinating and I didn't even realize, when I first saw it as a kid, that it had more of a science fiction plot than horror. It's too bad all of the copies I've found are poor quality.

This is also another prime example, IMO, of a film that could be remade with a better budget and production values and be quite good.

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