Ed. note: this review first appeared in slightly modified form in a different post on this site.
Death Line, also known as Raw Meat for American audiences (and re-promoted with this title for Blue Underground’s 4K UHD, so that’s what we’ll use in this review), was released in 1972 as director Gary Sherman’s premiere film. Sherman would subsequently go on to direct Dead & Buried and the unfortunate Poltergeist III, but his debut featured a strange storyline about subterranean subway dwellers that was decidedly British and aided by a young Donald Pleasence chewing scenery at every turn. While Death Line is tortured by unnecessarily elongated scenes and endless amounts of dialogue, it also manages to infuse some humanity into its monstrous and diseased antagonist.
The film follows Pleasence as Inspector Calhoun, a grumpy tea-guzzling man who gets roped into investigating a series of disappearances at the Russell Square tube station when Alex (David Ladd) and Patricia (Sharon Gurney) report the death of an OBE member, only to find him missing later on. Calhoun and his partner Rogers (Norman Rossington) eventually uncover an entire subway station left to rot after a cave-in trapped a bunch of people down there; and those people not only lived, they repopulated until a plague wiped most of them out. Only The Man (Hugh Armstrong) is left alive, and he’s hungry for human flesh.
Raw Meat’s idea – written by Ceri Jones from an original story by Sherman – is quite simple, and for the most part the film progresses naturally from the initial murder in the tube station to Calhoun’s involvement. Alex and Patricia are reoccurring characters only because they witnessed the events, and while Alex is notably meant to be an exaggerated American character displaced in a London setting, the couple isn’t truly the main focus of the film. Instead, Sherman centers on Pleasence’s character, often surly and offputting despite a sarcastic and wry wit that helps to shape the tone of the film.
Pleasence is the best part of Raw Meat, and he steals every scene. Even a very small appearance by Christopher Lee as MI5 agent Stratton-Villiers is overshadowed by the Inspector Calhoun character; Sherman gives Pleasence ample room in this over-the-top and comedic role, and he runs with it.
Raw Meat is lucky to have Pleasence, too, because the majority of the film is overloaded with dialogue and a tediously slow plot delivery. Sherman focuses far too much attention on a lackluster police investigation, one that reveals very little throughout the film. Alex and Patricia are really the ones figuring out most of the case – with Patricia’s eventual kidnapping in the tube the main crux of the climax – but their characters are too underutilized to really generate much suspense. Likewise, Sherman’s attempts to characterize The Man, the trapped tube-dweller, fall short; there’s not much emotional connection besides Armstrong’s grunts and groans after his lover dies, and Raw Meat simply doesn’t dig deep enough into the motivations of the man. His rape attempt at the end of the film doesn’t exactly heighten the viewer’s sympathies either.
Still, Sherman shows some creative muscle in his directorial debut. There’s an eight-minute unbroken shot of the Man’s lair, which – while interesting from a cinematic standpoint – actually does very little for the plot itself and plays out fair too long. Raw Meat‘s thematic ideas are a bit stronger; clearly Jones and Sherman want the audience to recognize the inhumanity of the film’s human characters, most notably Alex and the bureaucratic decisions that led to the Man’s imprisonment under London. While it’s a strong attempt, that cultural criticism is lessened because of the film’s slow and meandering plot.
Raw Meat is an interesting and sometimes visually complex film, but it suffers for its slow pacing despite a solid performance from most of its cast and, more specifically, Donald Pleasence. Interestingly, anyone hoping that Raw Meat mimics the poster will be terribly disappointed; the film has almost nothing in common with the promised monsters and nudity. Sherman’s film doesn’t run off the tracks, but its appeal is questionable 53(!) years later.
4K UHD
Blue Underground has released Raw Meat on 4K UHD with a new 4K 16-bit scan from the original camera negative, including Dolby Vision as well as HDR-1o for unsupported devices. The results are phenomenal here, really improving from the picture quality seen on their previous Blu-ray release of the film as Death Line back in 2017. The UHD in particular reveals an exceptional amount of detail in backgrounds – which are used quite prevalently throughout, with tube posters and advertisements seen in nearly every scene – thanks to better resolving of grain. Here, the grain is still on the heavier side but is now less obstructive, revealing depth in facial and clothing textures as well as improving on the darker visuals. Specifically with the color grading, the Dolby Vision/HDR inclusion on the UHD is far superior, adding warmth to the previously cooler transfer as well as accentuating the contrast of light and dark in underground sequences. Blacks are extremely deep and highlight the intentional choices of cinematographer Alex Thomson’s lighting techniques. There is virtually no damage on display from the negative either. Ultimately, fans of Raw Meat/Death Line will find Blue Underground’s new 4K transfer to be a noticeable upgrade from past releases.
Blue Underground’s new release also includes a fresh Dolby Atmos track as the primary listening experience. This is similar to the included DTS-HD 5.1 surround sound offering, although many of the ambient sound effects – like the sound of the tube and other atmospherics – are much more encompassing through the satellite and overhead speakers. Dialogue is kept front and center and remains prominent and voluminous. For those that can’t take advantage of Atmos, the 5.1 option is also very nice; and for those looking for a more authentic listening experience, the original 1.0 mono is included here with a DTS-HD Master Audio track. All are good options without issues. English, French, and Spanish subtitles are also included.
For extras, Blue Underground have ported all of their previous supplemental featurettes to this new release, along with a new audio commentary from Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth. Since this makes up the sole new offering here, it’s one that we’ll focus on for extras. As usual, both Howarth and Thompson provide a great commentary accompaniment to the film that may help enhance the film itself; the two run through character actors and their filmography, talk extensively about the film’s swanky opening soundtrack number, and discuss the dialogue that often feels ad libbed even though it’s native to the script. This is an excellent addition to the previously available audio commentary by Gary Sherman, producer Paul Maslansky, and assistant director Lewis More O’Ferrall which is included on both the UHD and Blu-ray discs in this release.
The rest of the featurettes are the one included on the past Blu-ray; however, this release offers a newly expanded poster and still gallery featuring chapter breaks that runs almost 3 minutes long with hundreds of shots. See the extras list for the full offering. Notably, this new release is missing the essay booklet featured in the past release, but does contain a new slipcover and reversible cover artwork.
Extra Features
Disc 1 (4K UHD Blu-ray) Feature Film + Extras
- NEW 4K 16-bit scan from the uncut negative with Dolby Vision
- NEW Dolby Atmos & DTS-HD MA 5.1 track
- Audio Commentary #1 with Co-Writer/Director Gary Sherman, Producer Paul Maslansky, and Assistant Director Lewis More O’Ferrall
- NEW Audio Commentary #2 with Film Historians Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth
- Raw Meat trailer (2160p; 2:07)
- Death Line trailer (2160p; 2:06)
- TV Spots (1080p; 2:01)
- Radio Spots (2:00)
Disc 2 (Blu-ray) Feature Film + Extras
- NEW 4K 16-bit scan from the uncut negative
- NEW Dolby Atmos & DTS-HD MA 5.1 track
- Audio Commentary #1 with Co-Writer/Director Gary Sherman, Producer Paul Maslansky, and Assistant Director Lewis More O’Ferrall
- NEW Audio Commentary #2 with Film Historians Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth
- Tales From The Tube – Interview with Co-Writer/Director Gary Sherman and Executive Producers Jay Kanter & Alan Ladd Jr. (1080p: 18:51)
- From The Depths – Interview with Star David Ladd and Producer Paul (1080p; 12:41)
- Mind the Doors – Interview with Star Hugh Armstrong (1080p; 15:35)
- NEW Expanded Poster & Still Gallery (chapter breaks; 2:49)
- Raw Meat trailer (1080p; 2:07)
- Death Line trailer (1080p; 2:06)
- TV spots (1080p; 2:01)
- Radio spots (2:00)
- NEW Slipcover
- NEW Reversible cover artwork
Verdict
While Raw Meat may be a slow-moving train, this new 4K UHD release from Blue Underground improves on the video and audio front considerably with an excellent new transfer and Dolby Atmos sound. Limited new extras are added, but those looking for an upgrade will want to mark this as a next stop.
![Raw Meat (aka Death Line) [4K UHD + Blu-ray]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51t29K-9xTL.jpg)
