Death Line: Collector's Edition

Police procedural horror/thrillers have been a staple for the horror genre since the very beginning, yet I always go into them with a bit of hesitation. To me, it needs to be a perfect balance of thrills (detectives solving the case), and horror (the killer). The best example is the classic, Silence of the Lambs. But far too often, that balance usually skews so far into thriller territory that I tend to lose the horror element. That is exactly my problem with Death Line.

Previously known as Raw Meat in the States, Death Line is a British production starring Donald Pleasence as Inspector Calhoun, a bumbling British detective investigating suspicious deaths in a London subway station. Now, I say he is bumbling because of the fact that he is constantly on the wrong side of the tracks when it comes to the case. Though his different theories are all wrong, Calhoun seems largely unfazed by his every wrong turn. Pleasence's approach to the character is kind of aloof and unfazed, leading me to believe it was meant to be more of a comedic performance, which tonally doesn’t gel with the rest of the movie. 

Calhoun's biggest and only lead comes in the form of two witnesses who saw a mysterious dead body on the subway stairs. Alex Campbell (David Ladd) and Patricia Wilson (Sharon Gurney) are those leads, but unfortunately, they feel a bit extra here. They provide very little insight to Calhoun other than the evidence that people are being killed and dragged into the depths of the subway by a mysterious figure they call "The Man" (Hugh Armstrong). We learn this man was part of a digging expedition many years ago, when he and his family were buried deep within the subway station. The family had no choice but to turn to cannibalism to survive. Now, he is the only one still alive, capturing people from the subway to feed his cravings and revive his family.  This revelation comes early on in the film and that is for a very specific reason. Unlike most films featuring cannibalism, we are meant to sympathize with this man’s plight and see how necessity and pain fuel his actions. Though this ultimately ends with an unsatisfactory conclusion, I did appreciate the effort to show the pain behind this man.

It all comes down to balance and tone for me with Death Line. We spend far too long with our aloof Inspector Calhoun, who takes the long road to discovering what was right in front of him the whole time. Where was the quintessential old newspaper scene where he does his research and learns the history of our killer? That scene never happens. The reveal comes across as circumstantial, and as a result, it feels perfunctory and tonally off. In the end, I actually found Death Line to be engaging because of the way it deals with cannibalism, despite some tonal inconsistencies.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray

Blue Underground brings Death Line to Blu-ray in an impressive package that sets itself apart from the rest. We get a white hardcover with a double-sided cover that reveals the original Raw Meat cover art. Inside contains a BD-50 Blu-ray, DVD copy that features the Raw Meat artwork, and a collectible booklet featuring an essay written by Michael Gingold titled Minding the Doors: Getting Down with "Death Line," and a bio about the life of Donald Pleasence written by Christopher Gullo. Once popped in, we are brought straight to the main menu with a clip background.