{"id":35016,"date":"2015-10-23T09:37:52","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T16:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=35016"},"modified":"2020-11-29T21:15:30","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T04:15:30","slug":"horror-express-panic-on-the-trans-siberian-express-1972","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=35016","title":{"rendered":"Horror Express \/ Panic on the Trans-Siberian Express (1972)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;It&#8217;s alive &#8212; it must be!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Poster-205x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"205\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-35020\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Poster-205x300.jpg 205w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Poster-87x128.jpg 87w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Poster.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 205px) 100vw, 205px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nIn 1906 China, a British anthropologist (Christopher Lee) finds a frozen prehistoric body and arranges to ship it on the Transsiberian Express &#8212; but soon he and fellow passenger Dr. Wells (Peter Cushing) realize the ancient creature is a living alien, capable of destroying people&#8217;s brains and able to transfer itself into a human body. As they work with an inspector (Julio Pena) to determine where the alien is residing, more and more passengers are brutally murdered.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Aliens<\/li>\n<li>Christopher Lee Films<\/li>\n<li>Horror<\/li>\n<li>Mind Control and Hypnosis<\/li>\n<li>Murder Mystery<\/li>\n<li>Peter Cushing Films<\/li>\n<li>Telly Savalas Films<\/li>\n<li>Trains and Subways<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary refers to this low-budget, Spanish-made sci-fi flick as a &#8220;horror gem that devotees of late-night television have kept to themselves&#8221; (though its recent release on Blu-Ray and DVD makes this a somewhat dated point). He argues that the &#8220;picture is exciting and surprisingly provocative&#8221;, and praises the direction (by Eugenio Martin), the &#8220;interesting characters&#8221;, and the &#8220;solid acting&#8221;. He notes that &#8220;like <em>2001<\/em> and <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=35736\"><em>Five Million Years to Earth<\/em><\/a>, it challenges both fundamentalist religion and theories on evolution&#8221; &#8212; a point I can&#8217;t quite agree with, given that it&#8217;s much stronger in thrills, chills, and occasional levity than meaty exploration of such topics. While I can understand this film&#8217;s cult appeal as a gruesome mash-up of numerous cinematic genres and tropes &#8212; a death-filled train ride a la <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2826\"><em>Murder on the Orient Express<\/em> (1974)<\/a>; a resuscitated frozen alien a la <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19485\"><em>The Thing<\/em> (1951)<\/a>; brain-dead victims-turned-perpetrators a la <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13027\"><em>Night of the Living Dead<\/em> (1968)<\/a> &#8212; its true calling card is the fortunate pairing of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, who have great fun working together against dark forces. Watch for Telly Savalas in a cameo role as a Cossack commander who naively believes he and his men can tame the alien. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Effective use of a claustrophobic train setting<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Trains.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Trains.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-35017\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Trains.png 480w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Trains-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Trains-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Lurid special effects<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Special-Effects.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Special-Effects.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-35021\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Special-Effects.png 480w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Special-Effects-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Special-Effects-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Atmospheric cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Cinematography1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Cinematography1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-35018\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Cinematography1.png 480w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Cinematography1-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Cinematography1-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Cinematography2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Cinematography2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-35019\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Cinematography2.png 480w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Cinematography2-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Horror-Express-Cinematography2-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, once, simply as a cult favorite. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?page_id=1784#cult\">Cult Movie<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0068713\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s3717horr.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/moria.co.nz\/horror\/horror-express-1972-panic-en-el-transiberiano.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=233&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/london\/film\/horror-express\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s alive &#8212; it must be!&#8221; Synopsis: In 1906 China, a British anthropologist (Christopher Lee) finds a frozen prehistoric body and arranges to ship it on the Transsiberian Express &#8212; but soon he and fellow passenger Dr. Wells (Peter Cushing) realize the ancient creature is a living alien, capable of destroying people&#8217;s brains and able to transfer itself into a human body. As they work with an inspector (Julio Pena) to determine where the alien is residing, more and more&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=35016\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35016"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55774,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35016\/revisions\/55774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}