- Directed by Eugenio Martin
- Written by Arnaud d’Usseau, Julian Zimet
- Stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Telly Savalas, Alberto de Mendoza, Silvia Tortosa
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 28 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvedYIHHlHY
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s a good and fun horror film, helped a great deal by the performances from Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Telly Savalas – as well as an overall good cast. It’s one you don’t want to think about too deeply though, there are some plot holes and bad science and a pretty abrupt ending. All in all though, we still give it a thumbs up.
Synopsis
We begin in China in 1906. Sir Alexander Saxton narrates his failed expedition. He and his men explore a cave system up in the snow-covered mountains. He finds an old mummy frozen in the ice. They pack it up and carry it down to civilization, where it’s loaded onto a train bound for Russia. It turns out that was the easy part.
Dr. Wells meets up with him as he boards the train. Saxton isn’t particularly happy to see him. While they argue about the tickets, a local thief tries to break into the package and dies in the attempt. Father Pujardov – a guy who seems to be channeling Rasputin – calls it “the work of the devil.” The box is very obviously sealed with a chain and strong padlock. The train finally departs. Sexten tells Wells that his fossil inside is more than two million years old.
Natasha asks Sexton about the box, but he’s vague about the contents. She’s from Polcand and finds English people fascinating. Wells pays one of the porters to drill a hole in the box after dark to see what’s inside. Saxton and Wells turn up to be unexpected roommates. Natasha demands to stay in their room, as she can’t afford her own ticket. She also admits that she’s an international spy.
The porter drills the hole in the box as instructed. As soon as he leaves for other things, the mummy reaches out and picks the lock with a bent nail. His eyes glow red and the porter dies. The mummy seems to like to whistle a little tune.
The Count and Countess talk to Father Pujardov, whom they have brought along as a guest and spiritual advisor. The inspector calls Sexton and Wells about the missing baggage man, and Sexton is ordered to open the box. Sexton throws the key out the window, so they break into the box. Inside, they find the baggage man’s body. Sexton says his two-million-year-old monkey-man hybrid mummy is alive on the train. For some reason, the inspector chooses not to believe this.
The inspector asks Wells to do an autopsy on the dead baggage man. He saws open the dead man’s head with a hacksaw. The man’s brain has no wrinkles, which he says means the man’s memories have been drained away. Natasha asks Sexton if his fossil killed the man, and he says “Probably.” in a very matter of fact way. He doesn’t really care. A little later, Natasha goes to the freight car to open her safe, and the mummy kills her as well.
Wells and the inspector encounter the mummy, and the inspector shoots it dead… before he passes out himself. The autopsy on Natasha shows a smooth brain as well. Sexton thinks the mummy was able to absorb other people’s minds and memories, including their education. They find out that they can see the creature’s own memories by looking at his eyes under a microscope. The creature seems to have come from outer space in the time of the dinosaurs.
Father Pujardov confronts the inspector, and he acts like he knows something. The inspector has been acting a little strangely since his encounter with the now-dead mummy.
Pujardov calls it “the eye of Satan” and steals the mummy’s eye. He hides in the freight car, where he sees the inspector steal Mrs. Jones’ mind just like the mummy had been doing. The inspector is the mummy! Pujardov offers the eye to the inspector, who simply burns it. Pujardov offers to serve the inspector as his servant.
Sexton and Wells start to examine all the passengers’ eyes, but that doesn’t turn up anything. The inspector asks the engineer about overcoming gravity, and since it’s 1906, the engineer says they can’t do much right now. The inspector sucks out the engineer’s knowledge.
Captain Kazan is waiting at the next train station. We see that he’s… weird. But very good at his job.
Sexton explains his theory to the inspector that the alien was only using the mummy as a host, and now has moved on to someone else. Kazan and his soldiers board the train to find out who the killer is. Kazan whips Pujardov until he passes out. Both Kazan and Sexton start to suspect the inspector is the creature. There’s a quick battle, and the inspector is killed. The creature then goes into Pujardov.
Somehow, Pujardov gets behind the soldiers and kills them all, Kazan included. The passengers panic, but Sexton and Wells grab a gun and go after the monster themselves. Pujardov confronts the Count and kills him. Sexton comes in, and the creature explains everything; he was accidentally left behind before there was even life on Earth. He offers to teach humanity how to end disease and hunger if only Sexton will let him go.
Elsewhere on the train, all the dead bodies get up; he can control them like zombies. Sexton and the Countess fight them off and run to the rear of the train. They disconnect their car from the rest of the train, which leaves them behind as they coast free. The front of the train falls off a cliff, because someone in Moscow knew what was happening and ordered the track to be switched to the side track that goes right off a cliff. Because that’s a thing that all trains should have. The car with all the passengers coasts to a stop just inches from the cliff. Happy ending for the survivors!
Commentary
How does a two-million-year-old mummy know how to pick a lock? He’s probably never even seen metal before.
The external shots of the train show four passenger cars and one freight car at the end. Some shots show more; some less– they aren’t all the same train. We see a bunch of interiors, however, so this train may be bigger on the inside.
There are decent performances from both Lee and Cushing, and oh boy, can Telly Savalas chew the scenery.
The ending though. How did Moscow have any idea what was happening on board the train? Why was the railroad built to allow a train to drive off a cliff? Yeah, that ending was very rushed and out of the blue, but overall, it’s a good, fun horror film.