{"id":32149,"date":"2025-10-03T01:38:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T08:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=32149"},"modified":"2025-10-03T01:38:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T08:38:26","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-4k-ultra-hd-and-blu-ray-review-raw-meat-1972-aka-death-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=32149","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray Review: RAW MEAT (1972) aka DEATH LINE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray set is currently available for\npurchase from Blue Underground. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Back in the day, Raw Meat<\/em> aka Death Line<\/em> was\none of those cult movies that more people knew about than had actually seen. If\nyou read the pages of Fangoria<\/em> magazine and other horror movie periodicals,\nyou would know that it was held in high regard. However, due to rights issues\nit was always remarkably difficult to find. It didn\u2019t help that the American\nrelease was botched by a distributor that made changes and retitled the picture\n(from Death Line<\/em> to Raw Meat<\/em>). Right around 2003, Raw Meat<\/em>\nfinally became available in North America on DVD. And while it was a thrill to\nfinally catch up with the feature, the image quality was still dark and frankly,\nmany sections of this film taking place in the dark underground tunnels of\nLondon weren\u2019t very clear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That problem has now been solved by Blue Underground, who are presenting the film on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray. They initially cleaned up the film in 2017 with a 2K restoration and released a fine Blu-ray of the picture. Now, they\u2019ve given the fully uncut original negative a 4K, 16-bit restoration of the original camera negative transfer presented in Dolby Vision. You’ll get both a 4K Ultra HD disc and a Blu-ray of the film. The results, particularly from someone like me who has only owned the DVD, are staggering to behold. This picture was largely shot in dark tunnels and has a natural (though not distracting) amount of grain, but has never looked clearer or sharper.  You can see all of the London tube posters and ads very clearly now and they a marvelous snapshot of the era. Any horror fan will be blown away by the picture quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those unfamiliar with the movie, it is set in London and\nbegins with university student Patricia Wilson (Sharon Gurney) and her\nboyfriend, American exchange student Alex Campbell (David Ladd) on the tube\nheading home. They encounter a fallen, unconscious man (James Cossins) in their\nstation tunnel. She worries that he might be diabetic or has had a stroke,\nwhile he shrugs it off. Eventually, Patricia convinces them to inform a constable,\nbut by the time everyone returns, the man has disappeared. As it turns out, the\nindividual was a noted member of the upper class and not the first to go missing\nin the subways. Grouchy Inspector Calhoun (Donald Pleasance) of Scotland Yard\nis assigned to the case and grills Alex about what he saw. But his gruff manner\nis how he treats everyone, including those above him like MI5 agent\nStratton-Villiers (Christiopher Lee) who advises that he avoid poking his nose\ninto the lives of individuals like the man who has vanished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is eventually revealed, is that the London Underground\nhas extensive areas that have been long shut down and cut off from modern tube\ntunnels. A figure credited only as \u201cThe Man\u201d (Hugh Armstrong) is lurking in\nthese areas. It is implied that he, and his spouse (Jane Turner) are living\ndescendants of Victorian railway workers who were trapped during a cave in in\n1892. They\u2019ve spent their entire lives underground and are feral cannibals,\noccasionally venturing out to grab a victim, commit murder and consume them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s a great concept and the film is full of wonderfully\ncreepy atmosphere and mood. While it\u2019s a low-budget picture, you can now\nclearly see just how impressive the locations are and the impressive lighting\nby cinematographer Alex Thompson (who would go on to shoot Excalibur, The\nKeep, Legend, Labyrinth, Alien 3, Cliffhanger<\/em> and many more). The same is\ntrue of The Man\u2019s living quarters and his horrifying collection of partially\neaten victims. Director Gary Sherman (Dead & Buried<\/em>) uses some\nimpressive long takes, including an extended, 7-minute shot that slowly shows\nall of the above. The performances are also interesting, with Pleasance really\nmaking an impression as the inspector who doesn\u2019t seem to particularly like,\nwell, anyone. His snarky sense of humor really shines too, as he makes others\naround him incredibly uncomfortable with his complaints accusatory tone. The prickliness\neven includes his superiors, which includes a polite but antagonistic t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate\nbetween himself and Stratton-Villiers, who shows little respect for him and\ntells him not to look into the personal habits of the vanished, stately man (the\nfilm clearly addresses class warfare between the characters).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s a lot of great stuff in this little picture on a\ntechnical level, as well as with performances. And of course, the horror bits\nare quite shocking, with The Man appearing out of the darkness and attacking various\nunsuspecting individuals in the tunnels. The movie is very chilling and earns\nits reputation as an above-average British shocker. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This Blue Underground\u2019s bonus features are no less\nimpressive. In addition to the impressive picture (which one can assume looks\neven better than the movie looked during its brief theatrical run), there is a\nnew film historian commentary that offers a lot of fascinating information\nabout the movie and those involved. The speakers go into director Gary Sherman,\nnoting that he was an American who had become disillusioned with the US and\nmoved to the UK. He worked largely in commercials during the early 70s, even\nforming a production company specializing in ads along with Jonathan Demme and\nMichael Mann (whom he didn\u2019t get on well with). There are many fascinating stories\nabout the production and the experts go into just how little the movie was made\nfor. They discuss the various themes and go into further details about cast and\ncrew members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another great story involves how Christopher Lee came to\nappear in the movie. He had worked with producer Paul Maslansky in the past, had\nheard about the movie, and wanted to work with Pleasance. So, he agreed to work\nfor scale, and appeared on location one Saturday morning, shooting his role in\na couple of hours show up and, in the process, got his opportunity to perform\nwith Pleasance. It\u2019s a very good scene that adds an extra layer of dark fun to\nthe proceedings. The commentary is an informative one that will please those\nwho enjoy the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like all commentary tracks, the best source is usually the\ndirector. This disc contains an archival commentary track with Sherman,\nproducer Maslansky, and assistant director Lewis More O\u2019Ferrall that get into\nthe fine details of how the story came about, how they shot the film on a tiny\nbudget and their experiences on set (as well as their issues with the distribution).\nFirst-hand knowledge of what went down is always the best and most enlightening,\nwith Sherman and Maslansky delivering fascinating facts about the movie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are more archival bonuses including another excellent interview\nwith Sherman, as well as co-star David Ladd and Maslansky, not to mention Hugh\nArmstrong, and his work to make The Man both frightening while creating a bit\nof sympathy for him and his tragic existence, all with only one line of\ndialogue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll also get promo materials like trailers, TV spots,\nradio spots, and a newly expanded poster and still gallery for the movie. The\nfirst pressing of the title comes with an embossed, foil-highlighted slipcover\nand reversible sleeve with alternate artwork for the picture under its original\ntitle, Death Line<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Raw Meat<\/em>, or Death Line<\/em>, is an indie horror\neffort that only gets better with age. It\u2019s still shocking, but also possesses\nmore depth and layers, not to mention style, than most horror pictures. The new\nBlue Underground presentation of the film comes very highly recommended to any genre\nfan. This is a fantastic release and one that I was thrilled to not only revisit,\nbut find even more appreciation for. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray set is currently available for purchase from Blue Underground. Back in the day, Raw Meat aka Death Line was one of those cult movies that more people knew about than had actually seen. If you read the pages of Fangoria magazine and other horror movie periodicals, you would know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[103,300,301,2923,2936,3202,3837,4248,4375,5315,5484,5485,5486,5487,5488,6124,8125,9319,9459,12578,12585,16682,16683,16684,16685,16686,18182,18297,23194,23341],"class_list":["post-32149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-103","tag-4k-ultra-hd","tag-4k-ultra-hd-and-blu-ray","tag-blasts-from-the-past","tag-blasts-from-the-past-4k-ultra-hd-review","tag-blue-underground","tag-cannibals","tag-chiller","tag-christopher-lee","tag-david-ladd","tag-death-line","tag-death-line-4k-ultra-hd","tag-death-line-4k-ultra-hd-review","tag-death-line-movie-review","tag-death-line-review","tag-donald-pleasance","tag-gary-sherman","tag-horror","tag-hugh-armstrong","tag-london","tag-london-underground","tag-raw-meat","tag-raw-meat-4k-ultra-hd-review","tag-raw-meat-film-review","tag-raw-meat-movie-review","tag-raw-meat-review","tag-sharon-gurney","tag-shocker","tag-trains","tag-tube"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}