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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
(aka "Panic in the Trans-Siberian Train" )
directed by Eugenio Martin
Spain/UK 1972
In 1906, British anthropologist
Sir Alexander Saxton (Christopher Lee,
HORROR OF DRACULA) discovers the frozen remains of what
he believes to be a missing evolutionary link, and crates it to
take it back to England with him aboard the Tran-Siberian
Express. The crate arouses curiosity and suspicion when a thief
who tried to break into it turns up dead (with blank eyes). Also
on board the train is Saxton's colleague Dr. Wells (Peter
Cushing, THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN), his assistant Mrs.
Jones (Alice Reinheart, RAT FINK), the Count Petrovski
(George Rigaud, MURDER MANSION), his young wife Irina
(Silvia Tortosa, THE LORELEY'S GRASP), their confessor
Pujardov (Alberto De Mendoza,
A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN), engineer Yevtushenko (Angel
del Pozo,
THE PASSENGER), slinky stowaway spy Natasha (Helga Line,
HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB). Curious Dr. Wells - never
averse to bribery - pays the baggage man (Victor Israel,
THE DEVIL'S KISS) to take a peak inside Saxton's crate,
only for the attendant to also wind up a blank-eyed corpse while
the defrosted and ambulatory ape man is on the loose. More
deaths follow before the creature is shot down by Inspector
Mirov (Julio Peña,
CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT). The British scientists make the
discovery that the creature was able to absorb the contents of
its victims' brains through its eyes - indeed the fluid from its
eyes contains pictures of the Earth as seen from space - and
Saxton wonders how such a creature could ever die. When more
passengers continue to die, Saxton and Wells realize that the
creature has managed to transfer itself into one of the
passengers and has plans that include keeping the train from
making its appointed stop. Telly Savalas gives a showy "special
guest star" performance as the ruthless Captain Kazan, and the
film also features Spanish horror regular Barta Barri (THE
DRACULA SAGA) and Jess Franco alumnus Vicente Roca (LUCKY
THE INSCRUTABLE). |
Posters
Theatrical Release: January 1974 (USA)
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Comparison:
Image Entertainment (Euroshock Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Severin Films (Dual Format) - Region FREE - Blu-ray vs. Arrow - Region FREE - Blu-ray |
Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for all the DVD Screen Caps!
Box Covers |
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Coming to Blu-ray in Double Feature with Curse of The Crimson Altar in May 2022: |
Distribution |
Image Entertainment Region 0 - NTSC |
Severin Films Region FREE - Blu-ray |
Arrow Films Region FREE - Blu-ray |
Runtime | 1:28:06 | 1:27:39 / 1:27:45.000 | 1:27:46.261 |
Video |
1.62:1 Original Aspect Ratio |
1.62:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 40,848,354,487 bytes Feature: 25,645,071,552 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.65 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video |
1080P Single-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 22,580,564,800 bytesFeature: 12,584,325,120 bytes Video Bitrate: 17.58 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate:
Image Entertainment (Euroshock Collection)
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Bitrate:
Severin Films (DVD edition)
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Bitrate:
Severin Films (Blu-ray)
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Bitrate:
Arow (Blu-ray)
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Audio | English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono; Spanish Dolby Digital 1.0 mono |
DVD: English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono; Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 mono |
LPCM Audio English 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps |
Blu-ray:
Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps |
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Subtitles | none | none | English (SDH), none |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Image Entertainment Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 18 |
Release Information: Studio: Severin Films Aspect Ratio:
1080P Single-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 22,580,564,800 bytesFeature: 12,584,325,120 bytes Video Bitrate: 17.58 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Edition Details:
Blu-ray
Release Date: November
29th, 2011 Chapters 17 |
Release Information: Studio: Arrow
1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 40,848,354,487 bytes Feature: 25,645,071,552 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.65 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Edition Details: • Brand new audio commentary with Stephen Jones and Kim Newman • Introduction to the film by film journalist and Horror Express super-fan Chris Alexander (6:50) • Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express an interview with director Eugenio Martin (14:03) • Ticket to Die - Steven Haberman (8:31) • Ted Newsome (15:08) • Notes from the Blacklist Horror Express producer Bernard Gordon on working in Hollywood during the McCarthy Era (30:30) • Telly and Me an interview with composer John Cacavas (8:09) • Original Theatrical Trailer (2:57) • Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys • FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Fully-illustrated collector s booklet with new writing by Adam Scovell)
Blu-ray
Release Date: February 11th, 2019 Chapters 12 |
Comments |
NOTE: These Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.
ADDITION: Arrow - Region FREE - Blu-ray (February 19'): Thankfully, Arrow bring this rich genre mix of mystery, science-fiction, spy, pulp and horror, entitled Horror Express, to their diverse catalogue of Blu-rays. It is on a dual-layered disc and doubles the bitrate of the 2011 Severin Blu-ray. The superiority of the Arrow is evident in the colors - oranges-to-rich-reds and skin tones lose the yellow-orange hue returning to a more realistic balance. The Arrow is darker and shows more information in the frame and, side by side, it seems to indicate a ratio issue with the Severin. Overall, the Arrow is the, vastly, more film-like representation.
Arrow use a linear PCM mono (24-bit) track in the original English language. There are some effects with depth as well as the impacting score by John Cacavas (The Satanic Rites of Dracula,, Hangar 18) that offers some intensity. It obviously advances upon the loss Severin audio transfer. There are optional English subtitles (SDH) on the Region FREE Blu-ray.
Fans will appreciate the new audio commentary with Stephen Jones and Kim Newman who share their enthusiasm for Horror Express. They bounce off each other with informative details including its resemblance to a Hammer effort. It's great. Arrow include the same 7-minute introduction to the film by film journalist and Horror Express super-fan Chris Alexander as found on previous digital releases as well as the 1/4 hour Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express interview with director Eugenio Martin. Also repeated is Notes from the Blacklist Horror Express producer Bernard Gordon on working in Hollywood during the McCarthy Era and the Telly and Me interview with composer John Cacavas. New are Ticket to Die with Steven Haberman discussing the film for almost 9-minutes and 15-minutes with Ted Newsome talking about his friend producer/writer Bernard Gordon. There is an original theatrical trailer and the Blu-ray package has a reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys and a fully-illustrated collector's booklet with new writing by Adam Scovell.
I like Horror Express more and more each time I see it. I'm thrilled that this has been given the Arrow-treatment (the film deserves it!) with a spanking new and advanced Blu-ray transfer, wonderful commentary and more extras. You can watch this film anytime but I prefer late Saturday nights. Strongly recommended!
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ADDITION: Severin - Region FREE - Blu-ray (November 11'): This is a dual-format package with the film, Horror Express, offered in both DVD (reviewed by Eric below) and Blu-ray transfers. The 1080P rendition is fairly modest being shy of 3X the bitrate of the included SD. It has less noise and things tighten up very marginally - it is also in the same approx 1.66:1 aspect ratio. Frankly it's a puny Blu-ray that exports a modicum of depth but still gave me a decent, if lackluster, presentation. As opposed to the two discs - I'd have preferred a more robust, lone Blu-ray.
Severin have not taken advantage of the new format not including an uncompressed audio track - it appears to be exactly the same as the quality as the DVD - as are the menus and added extras including the audio interview and 1/2 hour Notes from the Blacklist with producer Bernard Gordon - as discussed by Eric below - although two of the supplement pieces (interview with director Eugenio Martin and interview with composer John Cacavas) and the trailer are in HD. Like the DVD the Blu-ray is also region FREE.
I really loved this - Lee and Cushing are perfect and it's a very cool build. It's one of the better of the genre that I have seen this year. The Blu-ray is not top-shelf but fans of Horror Express will appreciate it anyway. Lastly, its a great price and for a solid nostalgic film experience - we recommend! Gary Tooze
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ON THE DVDs:
Released officially on VHS in the
United States by both Media Home Entertainment and Prism
Entertainment (in a clamshell case with beautiful artwork),
HORROR EXPRESS made its widescreen digital debut as part of
Image's Euroshock Collection. The non-anamorphic letterboxed
transfer - which is a couple seconds longer due to the TV
Matters logo at the start - was given an interlaced encoding and
offered only a Spanish dub track and an isolated music and
effects track as extras. The transfer was a great upgrade to the
many PD VHS and DVD releases, but the colors were somewhat faded
and the image was featured occasional rainbow moire patterning
on the check patterns of some of the period clothing. The
snapper case artwork did feature a fold-out section containing
liner notes by Marc Walkow. |
Menus
(Image Entertainment (Euroshock
Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Severin Films (DVD
edition) - Region 0 - NTSC - RIGHT)
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Severin - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Arrow Films Region FREE - Blu-ray
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Subtitle Sample Arrow Films Region FREE - Blu-ray
1) Image Entertainment (Euroshock Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP2) Severin Films (DVD edition) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND3) Severin - Region FREE - Blu-ray THIRD4) Arrow Films Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM
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1) Image Entertainment (Euroshock Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP2) Severin Films (DVD edition) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND3) Severin - Region FREE - Blu-ray THIRD4) Arrow Films Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM
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1) Image Entertainment (Euroshock Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP2) Severin Films (DVD edition) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND3) Severin - Region FREE - Blu-ray THIRD4) Arrow Films Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM
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1) Image Entertainment (Euroshock Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP2) Severin Films (DVD edition) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND3) Severin - Region FREE - Blu-ray THIRD4) Arrow Films Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM
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1) Image Entertainment (Euroshock Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP2) Severin Films (DVD edition) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND3) Severin - Region FREE - Blu-ray THIRD4) Arrow Films Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM
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1) Image Entertainment (Euroshock Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP2) Severin Films (DVD edition) - Region 0 - NTSC - SECOND3) Severin - Region FREE - Blu-ray THIRD4) Arrow Films Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM
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More Blu-ray Captures
1) Severin - Region FREE - Blu-ray TOP2) Arrow Films Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM
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Report Card:
Image: |
Arrow Blu-ray |
Sound: |
Arrow Blu-ray |
Extras: | Arrow Blu-ray |
Box Covers |
|
|
Coming to
Blu-ray
in Double Feature with
Curse of The Crimson Altar in May 2022: |
Distribution |
Image Entertainment Region 0 - NTSC |
Severin Films Region FREE - Blu-ray |
Arrow Films Region FREE - Blu-ray |