Death Line
Reviewed By : AVL

Release Year : 1972

AKA : Raw Meat

Directed By : Gary Sherman

Written By : Gary Sherman, Ceri Jones

Starring : Donald Pleasance, Sharon Gurney, David Ladd

Related Links : IMDB

 

Freaks living in tunnels at the local underground tube station abduct stray train passengers. Why? Because stray passengers blood tastes nice and has medicinal properties, that's why!

A few missing passengers isn't really a problem, but then when some big wig posh git goes missing, the inimitable Donald Pleasance in Columbo mode gets on the case. Christopher Lee gets in on the action too, as some kind of posh civil servant/MI5 type dude, glaring intensely and delivering those posh monologues we all know and love.

It's slow, ponderous, fun that's at least a good watch. The main freak looks like a hippy with dual infestations of scabies and syphilis, and grunts a lot. He's got a desperately human side though, and does elicit some sympathy as he bleeds his victims in the vain hopes of restoring his beloved fellow freak chick to good health. One certainly can't despise him, there's an all too believable compassion underlying his brutal and cold blooded actions.

As a horror come detective movie, it's well worth a look, the freak is far deeper and better portrayed than in many films of the ilk, he doesn't lose his humanity and become a mere killing machine without any depth. Although paced slowly, boredom of loss of interest didn't become a factor for me, the plot and cast both sustained attention throughout.

Watch it yerself if you haven't already, it's definitely good enough for a nights entertainment.