It helps to have Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing along for the ride as rival anthropologists.

This Spanish production is one of the most entertaining and well-plotted horror films of the 1970s, boasts great acting, plenty of gruesome gore and%u2014best yet%u2014Telly Savalas.

Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing are two of the most recognizable and venerated horror icons of the 50's and 60's. Their reunion in the 70's should be cause for a jubilant celebration from genre enthusiasts but 'Horror Express' is a senselessly shoddy vehicle for them. The film begins in highbrow HP Lovecraft fashion with Lee spelunking into a cave and unearthing a Neanderthal creature encased in ice (which resembles a frugal Halloween Adventure costume with vermilion-red glowing eyes). The rivalry between Lee and Cushing is amiably funny with Lee scoffing at the pompous Cushing's bribery for a luxurious seat aboard the locomotive. Cushing is so consumed with status that he nefariously pays a train attendant to drill into Lee's crate to inspect the contents. Unfortunately the score is more appropriate for a Russian espionage picture than a sinister murder-mystery. Instead of viciously massacring the passengers, the creature's gaze is the catalyst for embolisms and that truly saps the attacks of any feral appeal. The silliest motive behind the creature is its appetite for absorbing knowledge. For a film with such a short running time, the stalking-the-prey scenes drag on and ultimately that is exactly the effect of 'Horror Express' as a whole: an interminable, rudderless ship with no thrust behind it.

An archeologist packs a frozen caveman head into a crate to ship it from China to Europe, but it comes to life and starts killing passengers on the trans-Siberian express. With Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Telly Savalas. This Hammer-style mix of Old World elegance and goofy-assed pseudoscience makes for a tolerable ride.