Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Panico en el Transiberiano

...otherwise known as Horror Express.

This movie from 1972 stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Telly Savalas. All three of them really give it their all. Guy and I watched this movie the other night and it truly delivers. This is a summary from IMDB:

"In 1906, in China, Professor Alexander Saxton discovers an ancient frozen fossil in the remote Province of Szechuan. He brings the remains of the being in a box to Shanghai and boards a trans-Siberian train, where he meets his acquaintance Dr. Wells. During the trip, a life force trapped in the frozen creature is released, killing the passengers."

Sounds dumb, no? But, surprisingly, there are many cool reveals and interesting ideas in this film. The pacing is excellent too. It's action-packed all the way through, but the plot builds somewhat slowly and spookily at first, as the mystery deepens and the action begins to accelerate. By the end of the movie, it's an all-out zombie fest, but it takes a while to get there.

7 comments:

  1. Ah! Thanks for picking up the Halloween movie recapping where Foulard Failed. That movie was quite awesome and surprising. I'm glad you liked it so much.

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  2. I loved it! It was totally entertaining!

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  3. You know, I think it should actually be the Trans-Manchurian or Trans-Mongolian that they're taking, since they start in Peking. Maybe the film makers thought Trans-Siberian was more evocative.

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  4. ..but it joins the main line at Ulan Ude, so it makes sense.

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  5. Yes, Trans-Siberian is more immediately evocative.

    If they called it Trans-Manchurian, maybe people would think it was a sequel to the Manchurian candidate...or was that movie afterwards?

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  6. That movie was earlier (1962), but people might think it was about Laurence Harvey cross-dressing in a hurry, ha ha.
    I posted a map of the route on my blahg. :)

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  7. Hey, I want to see that cross-dressed Laurence Harvey movie, that sounds entertaining. :P

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