DEATH LINE (A.K.A. RAW MEAT) (1972)

DIRECTED by Gary Sherman

SCREENPLAY by Ceri Jones from a story by Gary Sherman

STARRING  - Donald Pleasance as Inspector Calhoun,  Norman Rossington as Detective Sargeant Rogers,  David Ladd as Alex Campbell,  Sharon Gurney as Patricia Wilson,  Hugh Armstrong as "The Man",  Jane Turner as "The Woman",  Clive Swift as Inspector Richardson,  James Cossins as James Manfred O.B.E.,  Heathr Stoney as W.P.C. Alex Marshall, Hugh Dickson as Dr. Bacon...and Christopher Lee as Stratton-Villiers - MI5.

PLOT - In the darkest depths of the London Underground something sinister is lurking. People have been going missing in the shadowy recesses of the Underground's tunnels for a while now, but it's not until a prominent government minister - James Manfred OBE - disappears one night that the authorities begin to take notice.

Assigned to investigate the case of Manfred's disappearance is Inspector Calhoun and his assistant D.S. Rogers. Assisting them with thier enquiries are two students - Alex and Patricia - who where the last people to see Manfred alive.

As the investigation continues Calhoun learns of a disaster that occurred in the Underground station many years ago in which there was a cave-in that caused a group of male and female underground workers to be buried alive. Is it just possible that they survived and bred in the cramped confines of thier subterranean prison? Is it just possible that the final descendant of this lost tribe is even now wandering the deserted tunnels at night, preying on unsuspecting travellers and using them to satisfy his cravings for raw human meat ?

DIALOUGE  - The Man - "Mind the doors !"

PERFORMANCES  - Donald Pleasance as Inspector Calhoun is absolutely brilliant, in fact its probably his best role...yes, even better than Dr. Loomis in the Halloween movies. This is a bold statement I know but hear me out. The character of Calhoun is this grumpy, snarky, old school copper. He's sexist, he's sarcastic, he's patronising, he's cynical, he's unpleasant to 90 per cent of the people he meets, he probably wouldn't be above planting fake evidence on you if he suspected you of a crime, in short - the man's a total arse BUT he's also bloody funny and REALLY entertaining to watch in action. His assistant D.S. Rogers (Norman Rossington) doesn't even bother to put up any resistance against him (clearly he knows he wouldn't win anyway), instead he just trails along in Calhoun's wake, looking slightly embarrassed as he apologises on his boss's behalf.

Yet despite his (many) faults Calhoun is a dedicated lawman, determined to defend his "manor" from crime. He launches into the case to solve James Manfred's disappearance with a steely determination despite his previously jaded attitude. Its like this strange case awakens something in him and he won't take any crap off anybody until its all sorted. Donald Pleasance makes this film and it would have been great to see Calhoun in action in more films (with the faithful and hapless Rogers by his side).

The other two leading characters are Alex (David Ladd) and Patricia (Sharon Gurney) - a young pair of students who are the last people to see Manfred alive. Alex is an American and seems like quite an angry young man, naturally this leads him into conflict with Calhoun for much of the film, Calhoun pretty much outright accuses Alex of murdering Manfred at one point (although whether this is a genuine suspicion or Calhoun just putting the cocky student in his place is left for the viewer to decide, personally I suspect the latter option). 

Patricia on the other hand is a lot more laid back and caring than her boyfriend, she genuinely worries about Manfred's fate and wellbeing and is a lot less antagonistic towards the police. Later on, in the film's final few scenes, Patricia is taken captive by the lonely cannibal who stalks the underground tunnels and I've got to say that Sharon Gurney REALLY sells Patricia's fear, horror and sheer physical repulsion of her captor. You can really feel this terrified young woman's fear. Up to this point her performance had been pretty average but she really knocks it out of the park in these final scenes.

Aside from Pleasance as Calhoun, the other truly great performance in this film comes from Hugh Armstrong as "The Man" - the inbred, mentally retarded, final descendant of the trapped railworkers. Here is a man who has lived his entire life in the Underground's abandoned tunnels. He knows nothing of the outside world, only venturing out from his lair at night to grab unsuspecting, lonely travellers to kill and eat as food (Manfred being his latest - and most prolific - addition to his larder). Obviously what the "man" is doing is wrong on many levels, but he's not evil...he just doesn't know any better...he's like an animal just trying to survive in the only way he knows how to.

The "man" is also in the depths of grief. His mate (billed as "The Woman") has just died, from the looks of her she was pregnant at the time, obviously whatever hideously inbred child she was carrying inside her was too much for her body to take. Now that his "wife"/sister has gone the "man" is completely alone, this is why he kidnaps Patricia - he's just looking for a new companion. 

The "man" tries to communicate with Patricia -and this is where the real genius of the script and Armstrong's performance comes into play - the only words that he can speak are words that he's heared many times before issuing from the loudspeakers of the London Underground - "Mind the doors". Armed with just these three words of dialogue, Armstrong is able to convey a whole range of emotions - hope at potentialy finding a new mate, frustration when she rejects him, anger, lust and fear - all this is conveyed via those three words. We are repulsed by the "man" but we also pity him. In the "sympathetic monster" stakes Armstrong as the "man" is up there with Karloff as Frankenstein's monster. Allegedly Marlon Brando was originally going to play the "man" but had to turn the role down at the last minute due to a scheduling clash. As great and legendary an actor as Brando was as I really don't think he would have done any better at playing this character than Armstrong did.

No mention of the acting in this film is complete without talking about Christopher Lee in his role of Stratton-Villiers, a high-up member of MI5. Lee receives equal top billing with Pleasance but is literally only in the film for two minutes. Stratton-Villiers turns up out of the blue and warns Calhoun to back off from his investigation. Calhoun, naturally, is having none of this. You can tell the two have clashed before and exactly what Villiers has to gain from covering up the story is never made clear (presumably he wants to avoid a scandal as Manfred was propositioning prostitutes and visiting Soho sex clubs shortly before his disappearance). Lee is great in his two minutes here - Stratton-Villiers is both mysterious and enigmatic and also as funny as Calhoun in his way. He's incredibly supercilious and patronising towards Calhoun as he issues his veiled threat and he has this permanent smug grin on his face at all times...

Absolutely great.

SFX - we get some pretty convincing (and gory looking) decomposing corpses in the "man's" underground lair.

Armstrong gets quite a good makeup job as the "man" with his hideous oozing boils and blisters - he's a puss-filled shambling wreck...

The "Woman" doesn't look much healthier either...

VIOLENCE  - Manfred gets his throat ripped out by the "man" as he attempts to feed his dying partner one last time. 

Three Underground tube workers die at the "man's" hands when he goes on a grief filled rampage shortly after the "woman's" death. One man gets a new centre parting courtesy of his own shovel...

Of the other two men - one gets impaled on a broken wooden broom handle and the other gets beaten to death. In a nice touch, seconds before this massacre one of the soon to be victims is telling the other two what he got up to on his day off work - he apparently got up, had some Ham and Eggs, went to the park, had a snooze and then went to "the pictures" with "that bird". This serves to give us an insight into this man's everyday life and makes him feel a bit more three-dimensional and real than your average cannon fodder slasher victim. Nicely done.

Eventually the "man" is beaten up by Alex when he's rescuing Patricia and he dies from his wounds (head injuries), this is my only problem with the film as previously we'd seen the "man" take out three full grown men without even breaking a sweat and now this weedy looking student is able to kill him ? It's implied that the "man" has bubonic plague and is dying anyway but it still seems a bit of a stretch, not to say a little anticlimactic.

RATING  - Death Line is a memorable entry into the ranks of 70's British horror films. It's brilliantly acted and scripted and has a nice dark sleazy atmosphere that really captures the grimy underbelly of 70's London. This is a city of strip bars, brothels and sex workers. A city of dark, hidden secrets where everything seems coated in a sheen of filth. The entire film has an oppressive feel to it, you really feel like you need a shower after watching it. This is a film where the biggest monsters aren't sad, lonely lost souls eking out a miserable existence in cold, dank tunnels but men in suits with respectability and money on thier side. Its their kind that sealed the unfortunate workers underground in the first place (it was deemed too expensive to rescue them so the tunnels where sealed instead) and its thier kind who continue to deny them.

5 inbred cannibals out of 5. A classic.

ART -