[HorrorScience] Panic on the Trans-Siberian – Horror Express (1972)

Reading time: 6 minutes

Qualification

Panic on the Trans-Siberian

Year

1932

Duration

90 minutes

Director

Eugenio Muñoz

Distribution

Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Helga Liné, Alice Reinheart, Julio Peña, Silvia Tortosa, Telly Savalas, Angel del Pozo, George Rigaud

Script

John W. Campbell (original story), Arnaud d'Usseau, Julian Halevy

Today it's time to talk about a mystery and horror film produced between the United Kingdom and Spain and that, despite not being one, is quite reminiscent of Hammer Films feature films. Perhaps that feeling comes from the fact that among its actors we find the tandem formed by Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.

Panic on the Trans-Siberian is the Spanish title of this film that was renamed as Horror Express in the United Kingdom and is probably better known under that title, since once again it was more successful in markets such as the American and English markets than in Spanish.

The film begins by showing us a man named Alexander Saxton digging through the ice. After discovering something incredible, he begins a trip on the imposing Trans-Siberian train carrying a huge box inside which is his recent discovery, a fossil of a being half human and half beast.

Curiosity about the transported package was unleashed before starting the trip, as a well-known local thief try to open the box and see its contents, an action that will cause him to be found dead on the ground with his eyes blank. This tragedy will draw the attention of other passengers, especially Pujardov, a monk who accompanies some Polish Counts on their trip, because according to him, the devil is hiding in that box.

[HorrorScience] Panic on the Trans-Siberian – Horror Express (1972) — On the left Dr. Wells on the right Dr. Saxton

At the beginning of the trip, various problems and annoyances will continue to bother Alexander, since not only He has to share a cabin with his old acquaintance and rival, Dr. Wells, but will also have to put up with other companions, like the suspicious woman who asks for their help to stay in the same cabin as them.

Dr. Wells' curiosity to see what is in his rival's box will make him bribe a guard to open the box and take a look during the night. The poor unfortunate begins to dismantle the box when he sees the being inside, which not only seems to have come to life, but is also capable of opening the lock on the box using a bent nail. The next day they find the guard dead inside the box and everyone understands that the transported being is free somewhere on the train, waiting for the opportunity to kill again.

When doing the autopsy of the guard, Dr. Wells discovers that has a completely smooth brain, which relates to some type of ability to erase memories. At the same time, the police stalk the creature on the train, which ends up dying at the hands of the police chief.

By studying the creature's eyes, scientists verify that it retained and absorbed information through them, since they can see in its iris images of prehistory and even of planet Earth from space, which would confirm that It's some kind of extraterrestrial entity.

Although everything seems to end here, more people appear dead at the hands of the creature, so the protagonists suspect that it has been able to take control of a human body, so that anyone in the car can be the new guest, which unleashes hysteria inside the enormous train.

Panic on the Trans-Siberian It has been a film that has surprised me for the better, it looks remarkably modest in many aspects due to the budget, but at the same time you can see that they put a lot of care into making it (for example, in most scenes you can see how they try to recreate the movement of the train in the hanging elements, such as curtains or lights) It is one of those films whose terror increases progressively, not only at the plot level, but also at the visual level, since it is in the final part of the feature film where we will see the most terrifying scenes.

It is true that many characters seem like they are going to contribute something and really do nothing, but the truth is that that matters little, since we are faced with what reminds us (in a very weak way) of The Thing by John Carpenter and that is not saying something, in fact I am quite sure that the scriptwriters read the story that inspired that film, since some situations are too similar.

It's very nice to find movies like this, with touches of mystery and that little by little they get crazier and crazier (I assure you that the final part is quite hilarious and terrifying). I can't say that the actors shine, but they don't seem particularly bad to me either (for a film of this style), there are also some interesting dialogues and a couple of phrases from Dr. Wells and his companion that I found quite funny, I imagine because of representing English humor.

Curiosities about the film:

The budget of the film was $300,000, something tremendously low for a film of these characteristics, which also featured actors of some renown in the genre such as Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing.
The film was shot in Spain, in fact the train station seen is Delicias, in Madrid.
Cushing was on the verge of not participating in the film, as he was affected by the death of his wife, apparently it was his old friend Christopher Lee who helped him cope with the situation.
This film won the award for best screenplay at the 1972 Sitges festival.
The model train was previously used in Pancho Villa's challenge, also directed by Eugenio Martin