Witchfinder General 666
DEATH LINE aka. RAW MEAT (1973) is an unusual and genuinely disturbing British 70s Savagery/Cannibal Horror film that no true genre lover should miss. The film by American director Gary Sherman (who is also known for the 80s Horror classic DEAD & BURIED of 1981) is an adaptation of an original story written by Sherman himself, which was allegedly loosely based on the real-life case of the cannibalistic Beane family in 16th century Scotland.Set in contemporary (70s) London, DEATH LINE is about a cannibal fiend who dwells in the Underground tunnel system. A young couple stumble over an unconscious man on the stairs of an Underground station; when they come back with a police officer in order to help, the man is gone. Shortly thereafter, more people disappear from the same Underground station by night...The film's premise and its execution are exceptionally disturbing. The gory makeup effects are very grisly, and the Underground tunnel system is a genuinely creepy and unsettling Horror location. The menacing and truly scary fiend's persona which is something in-between cannibalistic monster, human being and animal is maybe the most disturbing aspect of the movie.The performances are very good, especially the magnificent Donald Pleasence is once again great in the role of the eccentric and overall not very friendly investigating Scotland Yard Inspector. The Inspector's cynicism and eccentricities provide some humor in the otherwise disturbing film. Sharon Gurney, who plays the female lead, is also known for another British Horror film, THE CORPSE of 1971. Horror icon Christopher Lee has a cameo as an MI5 agent. Hugh Armstrong is incredibly creepy as the Cannibal fiend. His role reminded me of the Italian Gore-classic ANTROPOPHAGUS (1980), to which it may or may not have been inspirational; while I love ANTROPHAGUS, DEATH LINE is much more subtle and intellectual in its explanation of the reasons for people turning to Cannibalism.DEATH LINE is a highly disturbing and unsettling film that nobody who likes true Horror should miss. Highly recommended.
Joshua Brown
The more I watch horror movies, the more I look for old, hidden gems to watch. While I don't think this is a finely polished ruby, it certainly has some moments, and the atmosphere I felt was really good. Despite some odd pacing, I would recommend it to horror fans for certain.One thing I loved was Inspector Calhoun- Donald plays him with such a biting, cynical tone that you find yourself looking forward to the next time he'll berate someone. The supporting inspector characters are suitably amused by him, and it was nice to see Clive Swift, long before playing poor Richard on "Keeping up Appearances".The underground dwellers were also fascinating characters, with 'The Man' being an interesting mix of vicious cannibal and sympathetic victim.The characters that really seem lost and uninteresting are the young hero and his gal. Alex just comes across as annoying, while she is too wishy-washy to be genuinely interesting.But finally, a few things that stood out. One was the quality of the makeup and gore effects- for 1972, these are tremendously effective and fun to watch. The second thing I really enjoyed is the atmosphere, especially in the underground setting- creepy! And last, we get treated to a fantastic, single reveal shot in the early goings, which circles the entire room filled with corpses and pieces. That single shot, which wheels about the whole room continuously and slowly, establishes more creepiness than in entire films made these days.Again, I recommend this to anyone who loves old horror movies. Enjoy!
Ali Catterall
The British horror scene looked pretty moribund when Gary Sherman's Death Line pulled into UK cinemas in 1972. Placed alongside the new wave of US horrors, the hip and socially relevant likes of Rosemary's Baby, Night Of The Living Dead, or Last House On The Left, Hammer's Dracula and Frankenstein's monster seemed about as bloodcurdling as Hinge and Brackett.Unlike their US counterparts, Brit-horrors also endured disastrous relations with everybody from distributors downward. As with Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man, Sherman's debut feature was left to rot by its own distributor Rank, after almost uniformly negative reviews. It's been argued that had it been produced in the States, subject to the same hell-for-leather marketing campaign enjoyed by Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, it would doubtless now occupy some benighted place in the horror pantheon. Well, possibly.Chicago-born Sherman had in fact found it difficult to get backing for the project in the States, and hauled production over to London. Drawing inspiration from the legend of the inter-breeding Sawney Bean clan, the 18th-century Scottish brigands who robbed and ate passing travellers, Death Line sees Inspector Calhoun (Pleasence) and Sergeant Rogers (Rossington) investigating disappearances in Russell Square tube station. Prominent among these is one James Manfred OBE, whose unconscious body - which later disappears - is discovered lying on the station's steps by a student couple, American Alex, an economics student, and his British girlfriend Patricia.Courtesy of an extraordinary seven-minute tracking shot, we shortly discover Manfred's fate: deep within the bowels of the station, a bearded 'thing' riddled with open sores and trailing ropes of drool, is feasting on passengers - a food supply for him and his heavily pregnant 'wife'. This wordless, unbroken shot of his lair, filled with half-glimpsed skulls, crawling maggots, scuttling rats and meat-hooked cadavers is mostly the reason the critics got their knickers in such a twist; it's a truly nightmarish vision, intensely claustrophobic - but offset by the Man and his lover's pitiful circumstance.Though slow to act in the face of previous vanishings (including a Jewish dentist, and a Polish grocer from Kilburn), Calhoun is rather more receptive to the issue of missing English diplomats. He soon uncovers a possible explanation behind the phenomenon. It transpires that in 1892, 12 Victorian underground workers (eight men and four women) were left for dead after the section of tunnel they were working on collapsed. As London Transport CID man Bacon tells the bemused inspector, "The company went bankrupt. There was a bit of a stir at the time because no effort was made to rescue the trapped workers."Interbreeding for several generations, the survivors staved off their hunger through a unique protein diet. Following the pathetic death of his wife, the Man - whose dialogue consists of whines, grunts, and his learned cry of "Mind the doors!" has become the last remnant of this betrayed and forgotten humanity.Stratton-Villiers from MI5, played by a bowler-hatted Christopher Lee wants a cover-up. The reason Manfred had been travelling by tube was because he'd been caught short after visiting the vice-pits of Soho; while no government wants to admit culpability for deliberately abandoning its workers, however long ago. Cocky Alex, therefore, becomes a potential scapegoat for Calhoun, even after Pat is abducted by the murderous Man, looking for another dietary supplement - or a new mate to breed with.As with a select handful of Brit horrors from the era - From Beyond The Grave; The Abominable Dr Phibes; Psychomania; The Wicker Man; and the wonderful Theatre Of Blood, Death Line these days enjoys something of a modest but rabid cult following, especially in America. Its influence on John Landis' An American Werewolf In London and (especially) London Underground shocker Creep is clear.Shot exclusively on location in the UK, including Aldwych Tube Station, it's one of the few UK horrors of the period focusing squarely on the national heritage and identity, and its sophisticated, political themes - the (literal) collapse of Empire, class segregation and exploitation, and high level corruption - were particularly relevant in the early 1970s, an era mired in financial and vice-based scandals.It's also one of the few horror films in which our sympathies lie with the 'Monster'; the Man can't help his animal instincts, but 'humanity' comes off the worst. Civilisation is seen throughout to be lacking in comparison - a mildewed nation of racist, sexist, hypocritical bureaucrats, bent coppers and jobsworths, and in Alex's case, totally lacking in compassion. On first discovering Manfred's prone body Alex advises Pat to simply step over it, as he does back home on the New York subway. His chilly demeanour will drive Pat to temporarily split up with him, a negative of the scenes played out 'down below', in which the Man displays a genuine, heartbreaking grief following his wife's death.The dialogue is a joy, and stems mostly from Pleasence's interplay with everyone within a 10-yard scowling distance; the kind of senior working-class copper who instinctively mistrusts anyone he thinks is putting on airs and graces, like educated Alex or his more refined underling Rossington. Courtesy of his antics, we're propelled right back into the unreconstructed 1970s of 'The Sweeney' and 'Love Thy Neighbour' - with cultural conventions Sherman both acknowledges and deliciously sends up.And Pleasence is by far the most enjoyable thing in this; a snuffling misanthrope, constantly bawling for "more tea!" from his underemployed secretary, and contemptuously flicking tea bags into the bin. If he's not advising Alex to "hurry back to school - there might be a protest march for you to join", he's shirking his duty and getting drunk down the pub with Rossington. "Are you aware that our gracious Majesty is overseas in the far-flung Empire flogging her pretty little guts out so you can live in a democracy?" he drunkenly berates a publican trying to turf him out at closing time. It's totally hilarious.
