Death Line [VHS] [1972]

The plot revolves around a turn of the century cave-in on the London Underground, a string of modern day (1973) murders and a distinct lack of corpses.

Plesance is on unusally good form as the Working class 'it doesn't matter if we don't solve the case as long as MI5 don't get it' Inspector and Lee delivers a fine cameo as his MI5 nemisis.

The film does wander in places. It could have done without the young couple, who the audience totally fail to empathise with up to, and during, the set peice ending; and the element of scandel and corruption hinted at in the opening credits is never fully expounded. But this is not the point of the film.

What really elevates the film above its genre contemporaries is an original, or atleast unexplored on film, idea and Gary A Shermans fine and explict directing. It is a shame that Sherman directed so little, and nothing remotly as good, after Death Line, because he shows real promise and flair in his debut feature.

The film that this is closest to, in terms of era and general mood, is Black Christmas. If you are a horror fan and want to get away from the endless sequel mania of modern horror films (Urban Legend 3 anyone?) then this film is definatly for you.

Unlike another reviewer on this site, I really didn't mind them all that much. After all, the viewers sympathy, in my opinion at least, should ultimately lie with the character known simply as "The Man" - the cannibal of the movie - and while he is initially seen as a monster, in reality he is nothing more than a poor soul who has realised that, against his better efforts, has now become the last of his kind.

Good photography goes a long way in helping this movie stir up some chills and the music score by Wil Malone is excellent, from the funky Soho opening to desolate underground passages...

The video presentation is acceptable. For a movie which spends most of it's time in the dark, the VHS does a reasonable job with the most of the underground scenes. There is some grain in a couple of the shadowy scenes but nothing much to worry about. Ideally though, a nice cleaned-up DVD job on "DeathLine" would go down a treat but until then, this VHS is a must-buy! The movie even has the original 'X' certificate card at the beginning....!

Much like "An American Werewolf in London", this movie will most definately have you looking over your shoulder the next time you should find yourself travelling alone, late at night on one of the quieter stretches of the London Underground.

But as the film critic Nigel Floyd suggests, 'the film's great achievement is in eliciting sympathy for a creature whose residual capacity for human feeling [tending to his dying wife] is ultimately more moving than horrifying.' The sequences that take us slowly but surely through the dank and horrific underworld inhabited by our pathetic 'monster' never fail to unnerve me. I've never seen anything like it before or since.