What? Two Peter Cushing movies in a row? Joe Dante, you're spoiling me. Next up: the French/Italian co-production HORROR EXPRESS, from 1972.
Where there's a Cushing that means Christopher Lee can't be far, and here he is, as an anthropologist who has discovered the remains of a heretofore unknown prehistoric ancestor of mankind, and is returning with it from China to Europe on the Trans-Siberian Express.
Also on the train are Lee's colleague, Cushing, a Rasputin-esque mad monk (Alberto de Mendoza) and a police inspector (Julio Pena). It isn't long before bodies start piling up, and at first it seems somehow Lee's primitive man has returned to life and gone on a killing spree, but it eventually turns out that an other-worldly being was buried with the primitive man, has now thawed out and escaped, and is jumping from one train passenger's mind to another, killing along the way.
As if the cast couldn't get any better, the train stops just long enough for a Cossack Captain to board with his army. It's Telly Savalas! He's determined to put a stop to the murders, but things only get worse from there. Just like in LISA AND THE DEVIL, he's entertaining as hell. The movie has a nice long build up until he shows up, and then he has a great entrance and a great exit.
The whodunit-on-a-train aspect (as well as the title) obviously pays homage to THE ORIENT EXPRESS, as does the overt Englishness of Lee and Cushing's scientist characters. At one point the inspector points out Cushing or Lee could be the monster, to which Cushing replies, "Monster? We're British, you know."
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