Horror Express is a 1972 horror movie directed by Eugenio Martin and starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas.
In China, 1906, a man called Saxton(Lee) is in Manchuria. He finds a frozen skeleton in a cave. He takes it away with him. He is an anthropologist and he wants to study it. In Peking, he wants to take the Trans-Siberian Express to Russia. He meets a colleague called Dr. Wells(Cushing). They both are going to travel on the same Train. The crate will be stored on the train. A man opens it and he ends up dead.Saxton finds that the crate is open. The police question him about it. He tells them that it is fossils. A strange monk called Pujardov(Alberto de Mendoza) appears on the scene and he says that the crate contains evil. Wells is curious about what is in the box. Saxton will not tell him. He meets a Countess and her husband. She is very interested about what is in the box also.
The train porter has a look in the crate. He disturbs the Creature and he starts to bleed from the eyes and the mouth. The police inform Saxton about what has happened. They want him to open the crate.
They break the lock and they discover the dead porter inside. The creature has escaped. It kills another man. Wells does an autopsy on one of the dead men and he finds that the man's brain has been altered. A thief had stowed away on the train. She meets the creature but a policeman shoots at it. They think that it is dead. Wells and Saxton study the dead bodies and find that the creature is some sort of alien. It seems to have jumped from the creature into the inspector.
The weird priest decides that he wants to serve the creature. The inspector starts to kill people. The passengers want to get off of the train. The inspector won't let it stop. He wants Wells and Saxton.
They check everyone's eyes to see if they are white, as that is what the creature does. There are none.
Captain Kazan(Savalas) is waiting with his men. They get on the train. They know something has been happening. Saxton tells him what has been happening and, when he sees it for himself, he believes the story of an alien being. He shoots the inspector when they find out that he is the host for the creature. The being goes into the mad monk next. The monk sets to work killing.
The creature has been absorbing memories from it's victims. It's knowledge is vast and it wants to create a vessel so it can go back to where it came from. Saxton realises that bright light stops it. It kills the Count and his wife has to go with Saxton to escape the creature. When Saxton pulls a gun on it, it pleads with him for mercy. He relents a little, but then it reanimates the body of the Count,who attacks. They get away and make their way to a carriage where some survivors are. They need to separate the carriage from the rest of the train. The Russians are going to derail the train and destroy it. Wells and Saxton manage to get the carriage away from the train. The alien is on the train alone and he crashes and burns. The survivors watch him as he burns.
This was a fun movie. The cast are great and the story has enough to keep you interested. I enjoyed it and found it entertaining. I like that there are few dull moments and the pairing of Lee and Cushing makes for a good movie. It is worth watching if you enjoy those actors or if you are in the mood for a 1970's horror movie. I will give this one a 7/10. Recommended.
