Horror Express

Christopher Lee - Professor Alexander Saxton
Peter Cushing - Dr. Wells
Alberto de Mendoza - Inspector
Silvia Tortosa - Irina
Telly Savalas - Captain Kazak
Julio Peña - Mirov
Ángel del Pozo - Yevtuchenko
Helga Liné - Natasha
Georges Rigaud - Conde Petrovski
Alice Reinheart - Srta Jones

Made with Spanish input, the Benmar film, Horror Express manages to mix the bloodletting of a Spanish horror movie with the Gothic atmosphere of Hammer into a final fusion of science fiction and horror. Set on the Trans-Siberian Express rolling through China and Russia in 1906, it is the story of a fossilised primitive man discovered by scientist Dr. Wells (Peter Cushing). Inside this shell is the spark of an alien life, trapped by the cold of thousands of years. En route the ape-man defrosts and animates the corpse, and at first it appears that the prehistoric man is rampaging through the train. Professor Alexander Saxton (Christopher Lee), a colleague of Dr. Well's, is at first sceptical, but the appearance of a terrible monster suit soon convinces him otherwise. Captain Kazak (Telly Savalas) interrupts the train as a Cossack with a platoon of men.

Supposedly investigating one of the deaths on board, he merely wreaks havoc after being possessed. Also possessed is Conde Petrovski (Georges Rigaud), a Rasputin-styled monk who believes the alien is the devil, and invites him into his body. With a semi-literate script by Arnaud D'Usseau and Julian Halevy, this has the usual problems of a pan-Europe production. However, Spanish director Eugenio Martin keeps it going at a rapid pace, so the holes in the plot and some dodgy dubbing are not too noticeable.