Horror Express

1972, Spain/UK, Directed by Eugenio Martin
Colour, Running Time: 88 minutes
Review Source: Blu-ray/DVD, Region B/1, Severin; Video: 1.66:1 1080p 24fps, Audio: Dolby Digital Mono

This is one of those movies you're most likely to remember from late night television, and seems to have acquired a bit of cult respect over recent years - something that's at odds with the lacklustre treatment it's generally received on home video hitherto. The story of Horror Express (or Pánico en el Transiberiano as the director prefers to refer to it) goes that an anthropologist (Christopher Lee) and his team discover a frozen neanderthal in the Chinese mountainous regions once known as Manchuria and decide to cart the monstrous thing back to England. Picking up tickets for a long distance train journey (this is the early part of the twentieth century - no jets just yet) there are problems from the outset when an overly curious thief has his irises burned out while messing with the crate. Once aboard the train and trapped on the voyage it's not long before anybody coming close to the crate experiences premature sight and coronary issues. The creature has somehow returned to life and flourishes by absorbing its victims' usable brain matter through their eyes, thereby developing its own intellect and therefore chances of survival.

One of the likable aspects of the production is the infamous pairing of Peter Cushing and Lee in one of their best screen outings. They both have some great lines and their interactions in particular are frequently electric despite being simply dialogue based. Making an appearance also is Kojak's Telly Savalas as an amusing fascist despot authority figure who boards the train mid journey with a group of aggressive cronies to investigate what's going on. The train itself is a great cinematic success: ornately decorated throughout, the perpetually rocking death trap forms a prison for the clueless passengers as it hurtles onward. Imagine a groovy Agatha Christie mystery turned perversely on its head into significantly grimmer territory. Then there's the creature, whose origins push the concept into science fiction realms (although the Paul Naschy lookalike priest who graces the train with his presence has alternative theories as to the driving force that's causing the mayhem) - the exposition may present ideas that are dated and improbable nowadays but it's imaginative stuff that at least gives you something to ponder over for a while. It all ends in pretty spectacular fashion and, despite initially writing the screenplay to take advantage of another film's production, the multicultural crew would appear to have stumbled upon a concoction that's left the world with a fairly original thrill ride for fans of older genre material. To top it all, the movie plays to a cool Ennio-Morricone-esque score that could easily have been spawned by a spaghetti western.

In the past the only worthwhile home video release of this film was Image's Euroshock Collection DVD released around 2000, which presented the film in its correct 1.66:1 aspect ratio, albeit non-anamorphic, alongside separate effects/music audio track (something not present on Severin's new release) and a few other minor snippets of extra material. I think every other DVD without question has been an insulting 'public domain' turd, generally with inferior full screen transfers of questionable picture quality, both here (UK) and in the States. Luckily Severin have rescued the movie from public domain hell and put out a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack with a renovated transfer for a new era. Having read a few opinions here and there before buying this new set I was worried about the results - apparently a lower than average bitrate brought the HD image into mosquito-ridden life leaving us hungry fans with an improved but disappointing picture. I was therefore pleasantly surprised when I found, after pointlessly looking for pixel-related flaws, that the new transfer is bold and very attractive to the eye. My subjective opinion is that Horror Express looks really good on Blu-ray. Maybe the bitrate could have been bumped up and compression issues reduced, however, I think the difference would have marginal and not particularly noticeable to most viewers. I sampled comparisons between the HD version and the DVD - both sourced from the same master and thus the best possible way to compare formats. The Blu-ray has greater contrast, superior colour fidelity, increased detail - an overall much better way to experience the film. English audio is about the same and limited by the technicalities of the period (the Spanish track is also included, albeit without subtitles - not a great loss given the fact that the English-speaking actors dubbed their own voices for the English track). Both discs also contain a 7 minute piece with Fangoria editor Chris Alexander, about 45 minutes in total with the director Martin and producer Bernard Gordon, and 8 minutes or so with the composer of the wonderful Euro score (John Cacavas, who went on to compose for the lamentable Satanic Rites of Dracula before embarking on a career in TV scoring). The best extra is an audio interview with Cushing, running about 80 minutes and playing on one of the film's audio tracks, commentary-style (though this is not actually a commentary obviously). Some trailers round out the disc, one of note was the trailer for Nightmare Castle (the Barbara Steele gothic horror) - I'm sure this was of a HD source because it looks superb and whetted my appetite (the Severin DVD is already a decent release). Will this come out on Blu-ray I wonder? By the way I found a little Easter egg in the extras menu - press 'left' on the remote when you're hovering over the second option from the top and the eyes of the character to the left light up. This leads you to a one minute piece where we revisit the real and still functioning train station that formed the setting of the opening sequence in the movie.

Despite reservations caused by marginally negative on-line opinion in some quarters, I'm particularly happy to finally own a copy of this film that does it justice. This may be the best we ever get for Horror Express, so don't pass it up if you're at all interested.