Our movie opens with Lee finding the frozen remains of what he believes to be a missing link in Manchuria. He makes preparations to board a train, taking the remains with him. In the meantime a man picks the lock which secures the frozen remains and later turns up dead, his eyes completely vacant of color.
Once the train gets moving and all our characters become acquainted Cushing's character pays a man to take a peak at whatever is in Lee's deadly crate. The man looks in, sees the frozen remains and leaves...but later a hand reaches out and picks the lock. Hearing a noise the man returns to investigate, only to be seized by the hand. He looks into the red eye of the monster and his eyes turn white, blood runs from them, and falls dead.
When the man is discovered missing Lee is confronted and ordered to turn over the key. He simply tosses it out a window. The crate is eventually broken into and they find the body of the dead man. Soldiers begin searching for the monster and one eventually finds it...but is killed. Lee and his assistant perform an autopsy on one of the dead men. They find the victim's brain is completely smooth. Drained of his memory.
The monster claims another victim, a beautiful redhead who was attempting to rob a safe. She was using Cushing anyway so I don't feel all that sorry to see her go. Other than she was a redhead. Love redheads. Which, I feel compelled to point out...this movie has three of them. In searching for the girl Cushing is seized by the monster but is saved by one of the soldiers. The monster attempts to kill him from afar, using only its gaze to make his blood run...but the monster is shot several times and falls dead.
Lee theorizes that the creature is able to absorb peoples minds, their memories, through the eyes somehow. Lee and Cushing examine the monster's eye and see things from its perspective. They see dinosaurs and the Earth as seen from space. Is the monster a demon or an alien?
The monster, who jumped into the body of the man that killed its body, kills Cushing's assistant. When the passengers become nervous about all the goings on they demand action. Lee and Cushing begin to examine everyone's eyes, attempting to spot the monster, but this fails. Later on Lee tells us that the monster arrived from another planet and was able to adapt itself to life on Earth.
Suddenly the train stops at a depot and soldiers rush into the train. Telly Savalas leads the soldiers and takes charge. Eventually Lee exposes the monster to everyone and Telly not only stabs it in the back but puts a few bullets in it as well. Wounded, the monster transfers its essence into a mad monk. The monster cuts the lights and manages to kill most of Telly's soldiers and eventually, Telly himself.
Lee confronts the monster who tells us he is a form of energy from another galaxy. The monster goes into this weird trance and brings all his victims back to life. Working together Lee and Cushing manage to separate the last car where all the survivors are huddled together just moments before the train dives off a huge cliff. The survivors watch the wreckage burn and we have...
Though this film is Spanish made it could quite easily fit in with the Hammer horror films. If certain elements of this film feel familiar its because inspiration was taken from the novel Who Goes There? which was eventually put to film twice: The Thing From Another World and its remake The Thing. This film also goes against type, having Lee and Cushing act as allies instead of enemies.
The only negative aspect of this film is Telly Savalas. He simply shows up far too late in the film. Though he's wonderful in his scene chewing role of Kazan it's as though he shows up, acts absurd and is then killed off. Well, at least he wasn't killed by a talking doll this time. Ultimately though, Horror Express is a nice little horror movie and, if you're a fan of Hammer movies then this is right up your alley.
No comments:
Post a Comment