{"id":17763,"date":"2019-02-09T16:25:51","date_gmt":"2019-02-10T00:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=17763"},"modified":"2019-02-09T16:25:51","modified_gmt":"2019-02-10T00:25:51","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-horror-express-1972","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=17763","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: HORROR EXPRESS (1972)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cSpecial Edition\u201d Blu-ray release from\nArrow Video will be available for purchase (www.arrowvideo.com \u2013\nwww.facebook.com\/ArrowVideo\/) on February 12th.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For some movie fans out there, the early 80s involved\nheading out to the video store and renting VHS tapes of just about any horror\nflick you could get your hands on. One of the titles commonly available was Horror\nExpress<\/em>, an English-language Spanish production featuring a monster\nmurdering passengers on the Trans-Siberian Express. For many of us (myself\nincluded), it was a surprisingly entertaining effort, boasting above average\nproduction value, and as well as plenty of unexpected story twists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem with this title has always been that it was in\nthe public domain. That meant that anyone with a copy of the print could put it\nout on tape. As a result, the feature always looked grainy and hard to make\nout… sometimes bits of scenes were excised. I wrote this movie up for a book\nproject. For the longest time, I had difficulty understanding exactly who and\nwhat one of the character’s identity was, due to some unfortunate print cuts\nand the awful transfer. Horror Express<\/em> was eventually released on DVD,\nbut the print quality and image issues remained unsolved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thankfully, that has all changed thanks to Arrow Video. They\nhave given the original film elements of this chiller a 2K restoration. I now\nknow the job of that mystery character, the movie itself looks wonderful and\nthe overall disc will please both fans and anyone curious about the feature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story begins with the “Missing Link” being\ndiscovered in the snowy mountains of Manchuria. Archeologist\nProfessor Saxton (Christopher Lee) decides to pack up the frozen body and take\nit with him on the Trans-Siberian Express to his lab. However, things quickly go\nhaywire when the creature thaws out and begins murdering passengers. Saxton\nteams up with fellow passenger Dr. Wells (Peter Cushing) to try and stop the\nbeast. They soon learn that a supernatural psychic alien might be to blame, controlling\nthe killer and moving from victim to victim. As the heroes try to figure out\nhow to identify and stop the creature, they must also contend with a crazed monk\n(Alberto de Mendoza) and threatening Cossack, Capt. Kazan (Telly Savalas), a\nman who presents mortal danger to anyone that irks him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This movie has plenty of ridiculous elements, from a\nthawed-out undead caveman, to several possessions and some zombies. But that’s\npart of the movie’s charm. It is well-paced and moves from reveal to reveal\nwith life and energy. The trains sets are detailed and eye-catching, and the monster\nitself looks frightening. Its strange psychic powers cause people’s eyes to\nturn white, bleed, and become vibrant red (when possessed) are a striking\nchoice. The eyes are a unique and spine-chilling feature that serves the film\nwell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing (this is one of the only\nmovies in which they play friends) ground the events nicely, never winking or\nacknowledging just how crazy everything is. And when an over-the-top Savalas\nshows up, it pitches the movie up to another heightened level of fun. Savalas\nis clearly going all out in playing a heavy, wandering around a train\ncompartment and threatening the passengers. This all leads to a big climax in\nwhich the evil force raise the dead and sends them on a rampage through the\ntrain cars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There’s plenty of monster movie mayhem occurring over the 88\nminute running time. The action is surprisingly well-handled and even exciting.\nThis may be due to the fact that Spanish director Eugenio Martin had a varied\ncareer. The filmmaker’s expertise was in handling westerns, which means he was\nadept at shooting speeding trains, as well as the action onboard. This movie\nalso benefits from a strong and very memorable score from first time composer\nJohn Cacavas (who would go on to do the music for TV series like Kojak<\/em>,\n Hawaii<\/em> Five-O<\/em> and The\nEqualizer<\/em> as well as the movies Airport<\/em>\n1975<\/em> and Airport ’77<\/em>). The main theme, which incorporates whistles\nand train sounds, sticks in the head long after the end credits have rolled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/em> magazine founder Chris Alexander, who details how he discovered the film early in life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is also a detailed critic commentary that goes into\nfacts about the making-of the movie, as well as an appreciation with filmmaker Steve\nHaberman. Documentarian Ted Newsom also talks in a clip about his friend and the\nmovie’s producer, Bernard Gordon. The release includes archived interviews with\ndirector Eugenio Martin and with producer Gordon himself, who also goes into\ngreat detail about being blacklisted in the US during the McCarthy era and\nmoving to Europe, where he put together this film and many others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The information provided is interesting. Remarkably, the\npicture almost didn’t come together after the unexpected death of co-star\nCushing’s wife. Feeling unable to work, the actor arrived in Spain\nto announce he was leaving, but according to stories told in the extras, Christopher\nLee managed to talk his friend into staying around. Of course, the production\nwasn’t shut down and the two men’s relationship in the film benefits greatly\nfrom their off-screen camaraderie. The interview with composer John Cacavas is\nalso fun; the musician explains how Telly Savalas got him the job and then\nhired him to write the score for his TV show, Kojak<\/em>. He shares plenty of\nfun details about the actor and his personality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The extras also detail that the film was very well received\nupon its release, making it all the more disappointed how badly it was handled\nby distributors. They put no effort into promoting it, causing in part the\nstrange “public domain” limbo that the film has been trapped in for\ndecades. One supposes that upside is that it has since become a cult item for\nhorror movie fans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the end, this Special Edition Blu-ray finally allows\npeople to see just how entertaining and well shot Horror Express<\/em> is.\nIt’s a great release that has a bit of everything in it, and will please anyone\nwho gets a kick out of cult, monster, sci-fi movies and thrillers. This release\nis well worth the ticket price. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cSpecial Edition\u201d Blu-ray release from Arrow Video will be available for purchase (www.arrowvideo.com \u2013 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":17768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[103,1047,1836,2928,3067,4375,9319,9323,9324,9325,14065,14186,15969,17772,18803,19704,23192,23201,24791],"class_list":["post-17763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-103","tag-alien","tag-arrow-video","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review","tag-blu-ray","tag-christopher-lee","tag-horror","tag-horror-express","tag-horror-express-blu-ray-review","tag-horror-express-review","tag-missing-link","tag-monster","tag-peter-cushing","tag-sci-fi","tag-special-edition","tag-telly-savalas","tag-train","tag-trans-siberian-express","tag-zombie"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17763\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}