ThiefHott Too much of everything

SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

manchester_england2004 DEATH LINE (aka RAW MEAT) was made when British horror was in its golden age. Hammer were producing great films such as DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE for example, Amicus were producing some of their best anthologies such as VAULT OF HORROR and FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE and Pete Walker was barely getting started, having produced his first horror film, THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW in 1972, the same year that DEATH LINE was made. Unfortunately, DEATH LINE is a very disappointing film, directed by a bloke I've never heard of (and perhaps this film is the reason why).The plot of DEATH LINE is interesting if far-fetched - a cannibal lives in a disused part of a Tube station and passengers begin to disappear, never to be seen again. A police investigator hopes to uncover the secret of the disappearances and solve the mystery.One of the problems of this film is that the characters are simply not likable or interesting. The scriptwriter seems to go out of his way to make Donald Pleasance's character as obnoxious as possible and this just doesn't work at all. In these types of films, it's important that the police inspector investigating the case is a likable bloke who you want to see do what he sets out to do.It wasn't uncommon in the 1970s to cast comedy actors in horror films (Terry-Thomas in VAULT OF HORROR and Ian Carmichael in FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE for example) but Norman Rossington is given nothing to do to liven the film up. His comic talents aren't put to use and, to be frank, any other actor could have been cast in his role and no one would have noticed the difference. For a British film that's not what I expect.The remaining characters are all mostly forgettable. I like James Cossins as an actor and the beginning of the film with him in it does look good. It's good to see him doing his thing and these scenes are the best in the film. But sadly he's written out of the film far too early.Beyond the opening scenes, the film is mostly badly scripted. The police investigation is as dull as dishwater. The underground scenes with the cannibal are even worse. And the film as a whole feels longer than it is. Freddie Francis should have been asked to direct this film and Anthony Hinds would have been a good choice to write the screenplay. We would have had a far better film if they had, of that I have no doubt at all.Overall, DEATH LINE is a very disappointing film from the golden age of British horror. Besides Donald Pleasance, there is no actor with any screen presence. The film is mostly boring and forgettable. I can only assume that the cult status it has derived stems from some people seeing it as a "so bad it's good" film. I don't see it that way, though. It's just too dull.

Scott LeBrun This movie's story: in the bowels of the Earth below the streets of London, there exists an area that had been buried in the late 19th century by a cave-in. One might not think it possible, but the people who were sealed off managed to survive. Now, 80 years later, their last living descendant (Hugh Armstrong) is about to make his existence known to the outside world. People start disappearing, but the ball only really gets rolling when a prominent public servant (top character actor James Cossins) vanishes. The chief police inspector on the case, Calhoun (Donald Pleasence), realizes that he has his hands full, but vows to stick it out, despite the matter now being more in the domain of MI5.This marked the debut fictional theatrical feature for the young American director Gary Sherman, who also came up with the story; he went on to direct such nifty 1980s pictures as "Dead & Buried" and "Vice Squad". He and his crew make excellent use of some *extremely* atmospheric locations. They're dark, they're filthy, and they're dripping with water. "Death Line" (a.k.a. "Raw Meat") can take credit for bringing horror to the London tubes almost a decade before "An American Werewolf in London". The makeup effects and gore are very well done, and this is additionally blessed with a highly offbeat music score composed by Wil Malone and Jeremy Rose. The camera-work is utterly fantastic - wait for the approximately 10 minute sequence from about 23 minutes in to 33 minutes in for a memorable tracking shot showcasing the monsters' lair.It's well worth noting that our hideous killer is far from being malicious. He's really more pitiable than anything else, especially as he goes into mourning at one point, and tries to make a connection with lovely young Patricia Wilson (Sharon Gurney), uttering the only English words that he's ever managed to learn. You really feel his despair and sadness when it comes to his companion, the Woman (June Turner).Donald Pleasence is an absolute delight in our lead role, playing the material with a heavy dose of humour. His Inspector Calhoun is hilariously surly, and witty. David Ladd (one of Alan Ladds' sons) does okay as American student Alex Campbell, but the character is pretty insensitive and hostile for a while, only earning our sympathy towards the end. Gurney is highly appealing as his girlfriend. Top notch supporting players include Norman Rossington, Clive Swift, Heather Stoney, Hugh Dickson, and Ron Pember. Sir Christopher Lee is great fun to watch, albeit kind of wasted in a cameo role as MI5 agent Stratton-Villiers.Horror fans need to add this one to their watch list, if they haven't seen it already. It's too good to pass up.Eight out of 10.

Robert J. Maxwell American International Pictures. Directed by someone you never heard of. One recognizable name in the cast. Minuscule budget. Title: "Raw Meat." Sounds pretty bad.And it is, in some ways, which is too bad because it's quite entertaining in other ways.Getting the weaknesses out of the way, in 1892 an isolated portion of the London underground collapsed, trapping a couple of men and women who survived in air pockets and became cannibals to survive. Now they kidnap and eat the occasional passenger from the adjoining Russell Square station. Ho hum. Usually the monsters aren't human but rather some kind of insect. There are verrry sloowww pans across the half-eaten bodies slung from meat hooks. Lots of blood and raw meat. Skeletons litter the filthy floor. It's enough to keep you out of subways. But the population of cannibals has been reduced over the years to one couple, a disheveled man whose wife dies in childbirth.A young couple -- David Ladd (Alan's son) and the attractive Sharon Gurney -- discover an unconscious man at the deserted station. By the time they get a cop on the scene, the body is gone. Ladd and Gurney make their report at the police station.This is where the movie takes on some life. The Inspector is Donald Pleasance in one of his best roles. He's like Inspector Moss on speed, and he has his Sergeant Lewis, whom he is always chewing out. Pleasance is always so snotty and irritable. Every time he tells his desk sergeant to bring him a cup of tea he must now cope with "tea bags" that are now standard issue, instead of the old-fashioned tea leaves that he's accustomed to. The tea bags disgust him. For the rest of the movie, he's constantly probing around in his cup, trying to extract the hated pouch, throwing it over his shoulder with careless abandon. He and his subordinate have some sparkling conversational exchanges too. And Pleasance is warned off the case by Christopher Lee, in a brief appearance, who tells him, "Your delicate footsteps are being heard in places where cautious people tread lightly." But the movie spends too much time down in the chill, black, dripping tunnels of the underground and not enough with the police. Pleasance is told by the medical examiner that the blood found at the scene contained Pasturella pestis, the black plague, Pleasance replies, "He sounds poorly." And much later, out of nowhere, he inquires, "Sergeant, have you ever had a case of Pastorina pelvis?" It's funnier in context than in print.Alas, the story is drawn -- presumably by commercial necessity -- back into the world of monsters and slashers. And there are loopholes in the plot that you could drive a Lincoln Navigator through. For instance, the plague plays no part in the story.I enjoyed the cops. I read a magazine during the monster intervals.

Paul Andrews Death Line is set in London & starts as British minster & OBE no less James Manfred (James Cossins) finds himself on the platform for Russell Square Underground train station where he is attacked, the last train from the station drops off American students Alex Campbell (David Ladd) & Patricia Wilson (Sharon Gurney) who find Manfred laying down on the floor. Patricia wants to help Manfred but her boyfriend Alex is reluctant, eventually they agree to leave him & seek help but upon their return with the police Manfred has gone. Inspector Calhoun (Donald Pleasence) is interested in the case because of who Manfred was & starts an investigation & discovers that other's have also mysteriously disappeared at the station, unknown to Calhoun an inbred cannibalistic man lives in the Underground tunnels of an uncompleted station & likes to take unsuspecting train passengers & kill them...More widely known as Raw Meat in the US this British production was directed by Gary Sherman & produced by Paul Maslansky who went on to produced the Police Academy series of films & subsequent television show & gets points for being the first horror film to use the dark, grime filled tunnels of the London Underground as it's main setting the likes of Creep (2004) would go on replicate. Death Line has it's fair share of positives & negatives, it's a nice claustrophobic story & has a great moody atmosphere but the story is rather fragmented with little connecting narrative & it's just too slow. Things are introduced but then go nowhere, the importance of Manfred & MI6 sniffing around is completely abandoned, the point raised about the inbred killer having a disease is mentioned a couple of times but again nothing becomes of it & the police investigation seems rather half hearted (two people are brutally murdered & they don't even close the station?). However the more defined than usual character's help carry it, the working class Inspector Calhoun played by Pleasence in particular is great to watch & listen to as he makes constant sarcastic remarks while a great intelligence & cool personality occasionally comes through. The script tries to give inbred killer a sympathetic side & tries to make us feel sorry for what he is rather than make us despise him for what he does to survive. The one main killer is the slow pace, at almost an hour & a half long virtually nothing happens, there's lots of talking & while I appreciate a good build-up as anyone else there's not much tension or suspense & it feels very laboured. Death Line certainly has it's moments, there's a few nicely humorous moments, there are some surprisingly gory moments & it tells a story competently enough but you have to sit through a lot of forgettable padding to get to the good stuff. Despite all the reviews & the US title Raw meat suggesting that the inbred killer is a cannibal he is never shown eating any human flesh, maybe the implication is that he is a cannibal but it's never shown on screen that he is. Good overall but not great.Death Line manages to really the early 70's London feel, the dirty Underground tunnels with the dripping water a constant motif are used to very good effect. Well made with one particularly impressive panning shot of the killers hideout that starts on a Rat nibbling a severed arm & continues as the camera pans round to reveal dead mutilated bodies & the killer for the first time. It's a very slow moving & long shot that set the tone & layout of the setting very nicely. There's some good gore here too, a man gets a shovel in his head, someone in impaled on a broom handle, various dead & decaying bodies are seen, there's a slit throat & a Rat's head is bitten off.Filmed in London in the UK apparently the Underground station Aldwych was used to double up for Russell Square. The acting is pretty good, this is easily one of Donald Pleasence's best roles & he gives his character a lot of life in what could have been a very one dimensional & routine part. Christopher Lee makes a small cameo appearance in one scene.Death Line, or Raw Meat, is a good early 70's British horror set on the grimy London Underground that is maybe a little slow, it has some good moments including some good gore & a great tracking shot but there's a lot of padding to sit through to get to them.