31 Days of Halloween: Horror Express
Day 5 of 31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEEEEN!
An anthropologist smuggles his latest find, a frozen prehistoric ape, aboard the Trans-Siberian Express. They have a pleasant trip and everything goes smooth as oil on glass. Just kidding! The ape thaws out and starts killing the passengers.
Also known as The Possessor, Horror Express is a 1974 Sci Fi/Horror film from director Eugenio Martin. A joint Spanish/English production, it was shot in Madrid, Spain on a budget of an estimated $300,000. It stars both Peter Cushing and Sir Christopher Lee in one of the few films where they don’t play against each other. Also, a wild Telly Sevalas appears toward the end of the movie to chew the heck out of every available bit of scenery like it was a tough steak.
Apparently, Peter Cushing had a terrible time working on this movie. This was the first movie Peter Cushing worked on after the death of his wife a few months before. When he got to Spain to begin filming, the first thing he did was tell the producer that he wasn’t feeling up to it. However, Christopher Lee, his lifelong friend, talked him into staying on. They had first met while filming The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957. Lee also had Cushing celebrate Christmas with him and his family, as the filming started in December. Peter Cushing also suffered night terrors while filming, so Christopher Lee actually slept in the same bed with him. The two of them remained best friends up until Peter Cushing’s death in 1994.
We should all be so lucky as to have a friend like Christopher Lee.
Also, $22,000 of the movie’s estimated $300,000 budget went to getting Telly Sevalas. He doesn’t appear in the movie until almost an hour in, and then he’s only on the screen for roughly twenty minutes or so. He used the money to get his girlfriend an apartment in London’s West End. Good work if you can get it, I guess.
I thought I’d recommend something a little lighter after yesterday. You could probably get away with watching this one with the older kids if you have a mind to. It’s not really any more graphic than any of the Cushing/Lee Hammer Horror movies, though there are some effects that might be a bit much for the younger ones.
Check it out!