This “Special Edition” Blu-ray release from Arrow Video will be available for purchase (www.arrowvideo.com – www.facebook.com/ArrowVideo/) on February 12th.
For some movie fans out there, the early 80s involved heading out to the video store and renting VHS tapes of just about any horror flick you could get your hands on. One of the titles commonly available was Horror Express, an English-language Spanish production featuring a monster murdering passengers on the Trans-Siberian Express. For many of us (myself included), it was a surprisingly entertaining effort, boasting above average production value, and as well as plenty of unexpected story twists.
The problem with this title has always been that it was in the public domain. That meant that anyone with a copy of the print could put it out on tape. As a result, the feature always looked grainy and hard to make out… sometimes bits of scenes were excised. I wrote this movie up for a book project. For the longest time, I had difficulty understanding exactly who and what one of the character’s identity was, due to some unfortunate print cuts and the awful transfer. Horror Express was eventually released on DVD, but the print quality and image issues remained unsolved.
Thankfully, that has all changed thanks to Arrow Video. They have given the original film elements of this chiller a 2K restoration. I now know the job of that mystery character, the movie itself looks wonderful and the overall disc will please both fans and anyone curious about the feature.
The story begins with the “Missing Link” being discovered in the snowy mountains of Manchuria. Archeologist Professor Saxton (Christopher Lee) decides to pack up the frozen body and take it with him on the Trans-Siberian Express to his lab. However, things quickly go haywire when the creature thaws out and begins murdering passengers. Saxton teams up with fellow passenger Dr. Wells (Peter Cushing) to try and stop the beast. They soon learn that a supernatural psychic alien might be to blame, controlling the killer and moving from victim to victim. As the heroes try to figure out how to identify and stop the creature, they must also contend with a crazed monk (Alberto de Mendoza) and threatening Cossack, Capt. Kazan (Telly Savalas), a man who presents mortal danger to anyone that irks him.
This movie has plenty of ridiculous elements, from a thawed-out undead caveman, to several possessions and some zombies. But that’s part of the movie’s charm. It is well-paced and moves from reveal to reveal with life and energy. The trains sets are detailed and eye-catching, and the monster itself looks frightening. Its strange psychic powers cause people’s eyes to turn white, bleed, and become vibrant red (when possessed) are a striking choice. The eyes are a unique and spine-chilling feature that serves the film well.
Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing (this is one of the only movies in which they play friends) ground the events nicely, never winking or acknowledging just how crazy everything is. And when an over-the-top Savalas shows up, it pitches the movie up to another heightened level of fun. Savalas is clearly going all out in playing a heavy, wandering around a train compartment and threatening the passengers. This all leads to a big climax in which the evil force raise the dead and sends them on a rampage through the train cars.
There’s plenty of monster movie mayhem occurring over the 88 minute running time. The action is surprisingly well-handled and even exciting. This may be due to the fact that Spanish director Eugenio Martin had a varied career. The filmmaker’s expertise was in handling westerns, which means he was adept at shooting speeding trains, as well as the action onboard. This movie also benefits from a strong and very memorable score from first time composer John Cacavas (who would go on to do the music for TV series like Kojak, Hawaii Five-O and The Equalizer as well as the movies Airport 1975 and Airport ’77). The main theme, which incorporates whistles and train sounds, sticks in the head long after the end credits have rolled.
This is a really fun little horror movie that bests a lot of the product being released at the same time from studios like Hammer Films. From this viewer’s perspective, the improved picture quality is a marvel, almost making it look brand new compared to its previous releases. And anyone who watches this disc be thrilled by the added bonuses that add insight into how it all came together. They include an intro by super-fan and Rue Morgue magazine founder Chris Alexander, who details how he discovered the film early in life.
There is also a detailed critic commentary that goes into facts about the making-of the movie, as well as an appreciation with filmmaker Steve Haberman. Documentarian Ted Newsom also talks in a clip about his friend and the movie’s producer, Bernard Gordon. The release includes archived interviews with director Eugenio Martin and with producer Gordon himself, who also goes into great detail about being blacklisted in the US during the McCarthy era and moving to Europe, where he put together this film and many others.
The information provided is interesting. Remarkably, the picture almost didn’t come together after the unexpected death of co-star Cushing’s wife. Feeling unable to work, the actor arrived in Spain to announce he was leaving, but according to stories told in the extras, Christopher Lee managed to talk his friend into staying around. Of course, the production wasn’t shut down and the two men’s relationship in the film benefits greatly from their off-screen camaraderie. The interview with composer John Cacavas is also fun; the musician explains how Telly Savalas got him the job and then hired him to write the score for his TV show, Kojak. He shares plenty of fun details about the actor and his personality.
The extras also detail that the film was very well received upon its release, making it all the more disappointed how badly it was handled by distributors. They put no effort into promoting it, causing in part the strange “public domain” limbo that the film has been trapped in for decades. One supposes that upside is that it has since become a cult item for horror movie fans.
In the end, this Special Edition Blu-ray finally allows people to see just how entertaining and well shot Horror Express is. It’s a great release that has a bit of everything in it, and will please anyone who gets a kick out of cult, monster, sci-fi movies and thrillers. This release is well worth the ticket price.