Horror Express (Spanish: Pánico en el Transiberiano, lit. “Panic on the Trans-Siberian Express”) is a 1972 science fiction-horror film, produced by Bernard Gordon and Gregorio Sacristan, directed by Eugenio Martín, that stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Alberto de Mendoza, Silvia Tortosa, and Telly Savalas. The screenplay was written by Arnaud d’Usseau and Julian Zimet (credited as Julian Halevy).

Plot
In 1906, Saxton (Lee), a renowned British anthropologist, is returning to Europe by the Trans-Siberian Express from China to Moscow. With him is a crate containing the frozen remains of a primitive humanoid creature that he discovered in a cave in Manchuria. He hopes it is a missing link in human evolution. Doctor Wells (Peter Cushing), Saxton’s friendly rival and Royal Geological Society colleague, is also on board but travelling separately. Before the train departs Shanghai, a thief is found dead on the platform. His eyes are completely white, without irises or pupils, and a bystander initially mistakes him for a blind man. The Polish Count Marion Petrovski (George Rigaud) and Countess Irina Petrovski (Silvia Tortosa) are also waiting to board the train with their spiritual advisor, an Eastern Orthodox monk named Father Pujardov (Alberto de Mendoza), who proclaims the contents of the crate to be evil. Saxton furiously dismisses this as superstition. Saxton’s eagerness to keep his scientific find secret arouses the suspicion of Wells, who bribes a porter to investigate the crate. The porter is killed by the defrosted humanoid (Juan Olaguivel) within. It then escapes the crate by picking the lock.

The humanoid finds more victims as it roams the moving train. Each is found with the same opaque, white eyes. Autopsies suggest that the brains of the victims are being drained of memories and knowledge. One of the victims is a spy sent to find out the secrets behind by Count Petrovski, who has invented a type of rocket capable of reaching outer space. When the humanoid is gunned down by police Inspector Mirov (Julio Peña), the threat seems to have been eliminated. Saxton and Wells discover that external images are retained by a liquid found inside the corpses’ eyeballs, which reveal a prehistoric Earth and a planetary view as seen from space. They deduce that the real threat is somehow a formless extraterrestrial that inhabited the body of the humanoid and now resides inside the inspector. Pujardov, sensing the greater presence within the inspector and believing it to be that of Satan, renounces his faith, pledging allegiance to the entity.

News of the murders is wired to the Russian authorities. An intimidating, xenophobic and power-crazed Cossack officer, Captain Kazan (Telly Savalas), boards with a handful of his men. Kazan believes the train is transporting rebels; he is only convinced of the alien’s existence when Saxton switches off the lights and Mirov’s eyes glow, revealing him to be the alien’s host. It has absorbed the memories of Wells’ assistant, the train driver, and others aboard, and now seeks the Polish count’s metallurgical knowledge in order to build a vessel to escape Earth. Kazan stabs Mirov with his shashka (the distinctive sword of the Cossacks) and then shoots him. With Mirov dying, the alien transfers itself to the deranged Pujardov. When Wells is concerned that Pujardov may not be controlled by the alien, Kazan dismisses his concerns, saying: “Ah, we got a lot of innocent monks!”

The passengers flee to the caboose while Pujardov murders Kazan, his men, and the count, draining all of their memories. Saxton rescues the countess and holds Pujardov at gunpoint. Saxton, having discovered that bright light prevents the alien from draining minds or transferring to another body, forces Pujardov into a brightly lit area. The alien Pujardov explains that it is a collective form of energy from another galaxy. Trapped on Earth in the distant past after being left behind in an accident, it survived for millions of years in the bodies of protozoa, fish, and other animals. It cannot live outside a living being longer than a few moments. The alien begs to be spared, tempting Saxton with its advanced knowledge of technology and cures for diseases. While Saxton is distracted by the offer, the alien resurrects the count’s corpse and attacks him with it.

Saxton and the countess flee, but the alien resurrects all of its victims as zombies. Battling their way through the train, Saxton and the countess eventually reach the guard’s van where the other survivors have taken refuge. Saxton and Wells work desperately to uncouple the caboose from the rest of the train. Kazan’s superiors sends a telegram to a dispatch station ahead, instructing them to destroy the train by sending it down a dead-end spur. Speculating that war has broken out, the station staff switch the track points.

The alien takes control of the train as it enters the spur. Saxton and Wells finally manage to separate the caboose. The alien tries to find the brakes but fails to slow down the train. It rams through the end of spur barrier and plunges down the deep cliff and is destroyed after it hits bottom. The caboose rolls precariously to the end of the track before stopping, inches away from the cliff. The survivors quickly leave, while Saxton, Wells, and the countess gaze over the ravine and witness an inferno engulfing the train and its unearthly inhabitant.

Cast
Christopher Lee as Professor Sir Alexander Saxton
Peter Cushing as Dr. Wells
Silvia Tortosa as Countess Irina Petrovski (dubbed by Olive Gregg)
Telly Savalas as Captain Kazan
Alberto de Mendoza as Father Pujardov (dubbed by Robert Rietti)
Helga Liné as Natasha (dubbed by Olive Gregg)
Alice Reinheart as Miss Jones (dubbed by Olive Gregg)
Julio Peña as Inspector Mirov (dubbed by Roger Delgado)
Ángel del Pozo as Yevtushenko
José Jaspe as Conductor Konev
George Rigaud as Count Marion Petrovski
Víctor Israel as Maletero the baggage man
Faith Clift as American passenger (credited as Faith Swift)
Juan Olaguivel as the Creature (credited as Juan Olaguibel)
Barta Barri as First telegraphist