Professor Sir Alexander Saxton — or is that Sir Professor, anyway, he’s played by Christopher Lee — is a British anthropologist taking the Trans-Siberian Express from Shanghai to Moscow. He’s not alone. He has the frozen remains of a caveman he found in Manchuria, which he believes are the missing link. Peter Cushing plays his rival, Dr. Wells, who is also on board, as is Count Marion Petrovski (George Rigaud), his wife, Countess Irina (Silvia Tortosa), their spiritual advisor, Father Pujardov (Alberto de Mendoza), and Inspector Mirov (Julio Peña). 

What no one knows is that the caveman also has an evil alien inside him, one that starts moving from person to person. While it’s been on Earth for millions of years, the monster wants to repair its ship and go back home. Captain Kazan (Telly Savalas) is able to stop it for some time, but Pujardov believes that the alien is Satan and pledges his soul to it, allowing himself to be possessed. Then, it raises all of the past victims as zombies.

Phillip Yordan supposedly made this movie because he had bought the miniature train from the film Nicholas and Alexandra. Director Eugenio Martín said,  “He came up with the idea of writing a script just so he would be able to use this prop. Now, at that time, Phil was in the habit of buying up loads of short stories to adapt into screenplays, and the story for Horror Express was originally based on a tale written by a little-known American scriptwriter and playwright.”

However, producer Bernard Gordon, who also worked with Martin and Savalas on Pancho Villa, claimed that the train was made for that movie.

Lee and Cushing were the big draw for this movie, but Cushing nearly quit, as this was made during the first holiday season since the loss of his wife, Helen. According to an article by Ted Newsome, “Hollywood Exile: Bernard Gordon, Sci Fi’s Secret Screenwriter,” Lee fixed this by placing Cushing at ease, “talking to his old friend about some of their previous work together; Cushing changed his mind and stayed on.” It’s also said that he suffered from night terrors, so Lee would sleep in the same bed as him.

Strangely, when the U.S. rights were sold to Scotia International, the proceeds were $50,000 short of the budget. This led to the original camera negative being impounded. The theatrical prints show in America had to be struck from the workprint, which is why 70s TV and 80s VHS prints looked so dark.

Of all the great things about this movie, the fact that they can look inside a caveman’s mind and see dinosaurs is the most charming.

Also: As we all know, Phillip Yordan also made the best train movie of all time, Night Train to Terror.

You can watch this on YouTube.