Raw Meat

Death Line is an effectively creepy low-budget horror film made with heart and wit. While the film suffers from uneven performances (David Ladd, in particular, is a bit of a stiff), director Gary Sherman gets a great darkly comic performance from horror stalwart Donald Pleasence. Pleasence bites into his role as an acerbic, class-conscious Cockney police inspector with tremendous gusto. He invigorates what would otherwise be a somewhat dour film. Hugh Armstrong generates surprising pathos as "the Man," a scabby, slimy denizen of an abandoned subway tunnel. Having been birthed and raised in the Underground, the only words that the pathetic, but dangerous creature knows are, "Mind the doors!" Sure, he's dirty and brutal, and he kills and eats human flesh, but the film cannily suggests that his life is much more honorable than that led by many of his victims. Much of the film was shot in an actual abandoned train tunnel, and one can practically smell his dark, dank underground lair, littered with body parts. At one point, Sherman and director of photography Alex Thomson deliver a bravura eight-minute tracking shot of the creepy lodgings. Thomson would go on to shoot films for John Boorman, Ridley Scott, Michael Mann, Nicolas Roeg, and David Fincher, and he demonstrates tremendous talent here, as does Sherman, who did not have much commercial success after this promising feature debut. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide