ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - December 3rd
"PANICO EN EL TRANSIBERIANO
"PANICO EN EL TRANSIBERIANO
aka HORROR EXPRESS" released in 1972
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In 1906, Professor Alexander Saxton (Christopher Lee), a renowned British anthropologist, is returning to Europe by the Trans-Siberian Express from China to Moscow. With him is a crate containing the frozen remains of a primitive humanoid creature that he discovered in a cave in Manchuria. He hopes it is a missing link in human evolution. Doctor Wells (Peter Cushing), Saxton's friendly rival and Royal Society colleague, is also on board but travelling separately. Before the train departs Shanghai, a thief is found dead on the platform. His eyes are completely white without irises or pupils, and a bystander initially mistakes him for a blind man. A monk named Father Pujardov (Alberto de Mendoza), the spiritual advisor to the Polish Count Marion Petrovski (George Rigaud) and Countess Irina Petrovski (Silvia Tortosa), who are also waiting to board the train, proclaims the contents of the crate to be evil. Saxton furiously dismisses this as superstition. Saxton's eagerness to keep his scientific find secret arouses the suspicion of Wells, who bribes a porter to investigate the crate. The porter is killed by the ape-like creature (Juan Olaguivel) within, which then escapes the crate by picking the lock.
The creature finds more victims as it roams the moving train, each victim being found with the same opaque, white eyes. An autopsy suggests that the brains of the victims are being drained of memories and knowledge. When the creature is gunned down by police Inspector Mirov (Julio Peña), the threat seems to have been vanquished. Saxton and Wells discover that images are retained in a liquid found inside the eyeball of the corpse, which reveal a prehistoric Earth and a view of the planet seen from space. They deduce that the real threat is somehow a formless extraterrestrial that inhabited the body of the creature and now resides within the inspector. Father Pujardov, sensing the greater presence inside the inspector and believing it to be that of Satan, renounces his faith to pledge allegiance to the mysterious entity.
News of the murders is wired to the Russian authorities and an intimidating Cossack officer, Captain Kazan (Telly Savalas), boards the train with a handful of his men. Kazan believes the train is transporting rebels; he is only convinced of the alien's existence when Saxton switches off the lights and Mirov's eyes glow, revealing him to be the creature's host. As the creature has absorbed the memories of Wells' assistant, an engineer, and others, it now seeks the Polish count's metallurgical knowledge too, in order to build a vessel to escape Earth. Saxton and Wells form an uneasy alliance with Kazan to stop the alien, as it transfers itself to the deranged Pujardov and resurrects it's previous victims as zombies!
The creature finds more victims as it roams the moving train, each victim being found with the same opaque, white eyes. An autopsy suggests that the brains of the victims are being drained of memories and knowledge. When the creature is gunned down by police Inspector Mirov (Julio Peña), the threat seems to have been vanquished. Saxton and Wells discover that images are retained in a liquid found inside the eyeball of the corpse, which reveal a prehistoric Earth and a view of the planet seen from space. They deduce that the real threat is somehow a formless extraterrestrial that inhabited the body of the creature and now resides within the inspector. Father Pujardov, sensing the greater presence inside the inspector and believing it to be that of Satan, renounces his faith to pledge allegiance to the mysterious entity.
News of the murders is wired to the Russian authorities and an intimidating Cossack officer, Captain Kazan (Telly Savalas), boards the train with a handful of his men. Kazan believes the train is transporting rebels; he is only convinced of the alien's existence when Saxton switches off the lights and Mirov's eyes glow, revealing him to be the creature's host. As the creature has absorbed the memories of Wells' assistant, an engineer, and others, it now seeks the Polish count's metallurgical knowledge too, in order to build a vessel to escape Earth. Saxton and Wells form an uneasy alliance with Kazan to stop the alien, as it transfers itself to the deranged Pujardov and resurrects it's previous victims as zombies!
[opening narration]
Professor Alexander Saxton: The following report to the Royal Geological Society by the undersigned Alexander Saxton is a true and faithful account of the events that befell the society's expedition in Manchuria. As the leader of the expedition, I must accept the responsibility for its ending in disaster. But I will leave, to the judgment of the honorable members, the decision as to where the blame for the catastrophe lies
Top: Colleagues professor Saxton (Christopher Lee) and Doctor Wells (Peter Cushing);
Above: Countess Irina Petrovski (Silvia Tortosa)
Developed as a joint Spanish-British co-production with American producer/writer Bernard Gordon, Pánico en el Transiberiano (Panic on the Trans-Siberian Express) was to the second adaptation of John W. Campbell's novella "Who Goes There?", the first being The Thing From Another World (1951). The Spanish version attributes the screenplay to the director, Eugenio Martín, and Arnaud d'Usseau - while the English version mentions Arnaud d'Usseau and Julian Zimet (credited as Julian Halevy) instead. Produced on a low budget of $300,000 with the luxury of having three familiar genre actors in the lead roles - Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas. Savalas having been cast after his previous collaboration with Martin and Gordon on Pancho Villa filmed earlier in the year. Renowned Argentine actor Alberto de Mendoza was later cast as the deranged monk Father Pujardov, with the stunning Silvia Tortosa cast as Countess Irina Petrovski.
Securing Lee and Cushing was a coup for Gordon, since it lent an atmosphere reminiscent of Hammer Films, many of which starred both of the actors. Sadly, that period was a particularly difficult time for Cushing, who was still grieving the loss of his wife of 28-years, Violet Helene Beck, the year before. Having arrived in Spain to begin production, it would turn out to be the first Christmas for Cushing since Violet's death, and immediately told producer Gordon that he could not do the picture as he felt it was too soon to return to work. Lee, Cushing's lifelong friend, and his family made it as warm an affair as possible for Cushing, and eventually convinced him to stay. Despite the freezing working conditions and "abominable" food, this film provided one of the few co-starring roles where the two actors get to work in unison, rather than opposing one another, with Cushing getting the most amusing lines.
Securing Lee and Cushing was a coup for Gordon, since it lent an atmosphere reminiscent of Hammer Films, many of which starred both of the actors. Sadly, that period was a particularly difficult time for Cushing, who was still grieving the loss of his wife of 28-years, Violet Helene Beck, the year before. Having arrived in Spain to begin production, it would turn out to be the first Christmas for Cushing since Violet's death, and immediately told producer Gordon that he could not do the picture as he felt it was too soon to return to work. Lee, Cushing's lifelong friend, and his family made it as warm an affair as possible for Cushing, and eventually convinced him to stay. Despite the freezing working conditions and "abominable" food, this film provided one of the few co-starring roles where the two actors get to work in unison, rather than opposing one another, with Cushing getting the most amusing lines.
TRIVIA: Telly Savalas was paid $ 22,000 for his short stint on this movie in Madrid. Producer Bernard Gordon was delighted to get him for such a low price; Telly Savalas was equally delighted as he used the cash to get a 7 year lease on a West End apartment for his then girlfriend.
Top: Cossack officer, Captain Kazan (Telly Savalas) interrogates Saxton and Wells;
Above: Deranged monk Father Pujardov (Alberto de Mendoza), pledges his allegiance to the creature
Filmed in Madrid from 1971-1972, rumors that the train sets were acquired from the production of Doctor Zhivago were refuted by Gordon, who said in a 2000 interview that the train model and sets had been constructed for Pancho Villa. However, having only one set available for the interior of the train cars, all of the scenes for each train car had to be shot at once and then the set would have to be reconstructed for the next train car. Like all the Italian and Spanish films of the period, Horror Express was filmed mostly without sound, with effects and voices dubbed into the film later, with Lee, Cushing and Savalas all providing their own voices for the English market.
Pánico en el Transiberiano was first released as an officially selected film of the 1972 Sitges Film Festival, with director Eugenio Martín winning the Critic's Award Best Script for this film. According to Martín, his native country of Spain was where the film fared worst, both critically and in terms of box office revenue, and was received much more positively in Great Britain, the United States and Australia ( markets where the audience was more familiar with low-budget horror films) and the title changed to Horror Express. Brett Gallman, reviewing for the website Oh, the Horror! wrote, "Horror Express has a great climax that’s reminiscent of a zombie flick. Director Eugenio Martin didn’t dabble in horror a whole lot, but he certainly could have if this is any indication. Featuring a nice mix of gore and atmosphere, Horror Express feels like it owes a lot to its British brethren of the era due to its slightly gothic undercurrent. Dead Central writer Steve "Uncle Creepy" Barton described Horror Express as, "delightful, spooky, and sleazy fun and should NOT be missed by anyone. Do not hesitate a second."
Pánico en el Transiberiano was first released as an officially selected film of the 1972 Sitges Film Festival, with director Eugenio Martín winning the Critic's Award Best Script for this film. According to Martín, his native country of Spain was where the film fared worst, both critically and in terms of box office revenue, and was received much more positively in Great Britain, the United States and Australia ( markets where the audience was more familiar with low-budget horror films) and the title changed to Horror Express. Brett Gallman, reviewing for the website Oh, the Horror! wrote, "Horror Express has a great climax that’s reminiscent of a zombie flick. Director Eugenio Martin didn’t dabble in horror a whole lot, but he certainly could have if this is any indication. Featuring a nice mix of gore and atmosphere, Horror Express feels like it owes a lot to its British brethren of the era due to its slightly gothic undercurrent. Dead Central writer Steve "Uncle Creepy" Barton described Horror Express as, "delightful, spooky, and sleazy fun and should NOT be missed by anyone. Do not hesitate a second."
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 57%
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