Horror Express by John Connolly.

PS Publishing, 2018

ISBN-13: 978-1786364098

Available: Hardcover

Non-fiction books in horror tend to be labors of love. Look to Stephen King’s Danse Macabre and Grady Hendrix’s Paperbacks from Hell for two amazing examples of examining the macro side of the horror genre. Then there are those authors who prefer to hone in on a single topic. John Connolly has done so here in Horror Express from the always quality PS Publishing. Connolly has long been a force in the thriller genre, especially with his dark thriller series starring PI Charlie Parker, ,the classic The Book of Lost Things and its successors.

Curiously, Connolly admits that he hadn’t watched the movie since he was a child. Why focus on a little known movie that he saw so long ago? Psychologically speaking, that’s a bit fascinating and intriguing, if a bit of a head-scratcher, since the film isn’t a classic either in cult status or in popular circles. but it will likely cause many to seek out the lost film.

Filmed in 1972, Horror Express is a Spanish film that stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, usually enough reason to watch. Set in 1906, the iconic pair discover a strange humanoid in the ice, and have to transport it across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Express. As it evokes both the best of Hammer movies and John Carpenter’s The Thing, it’s easy to see why Connelly has this movie stuck in his craw. Even though it may not be well-known, countless gems do exist, and those of us who were weaned on horror films understand the passion for movies such as this.

Connolly separates the book into four sections, each chronicling his experience with the movie. They are: “The Excavation”; “The Protagonists”; “The Autopsy”; and “The Afterlife”.  What is most impressive is the way Connolly delves into the relationship between the two stars, and how they worked on this odd piece. Upon closer inspection, one can begin to draw parallels between his own dark novels and see how Horror Express  may have influenced him as an author. That section is a piece worth the purchase for diehard Connolly fans alone. His work has, in turn, influenced countless writers in the past twenty years so to dissect how an iconic member of the thriller/horror community was shaped is something that readers rarely get to experience. Recommended for film fans and those who can’t get enough of this fine author.

Reviewed by Dave Simms

Editor’s note: Horror Express is a nominee on the final ballot for the 2018 Bram Stoker Awards in the category of Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction.