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Raw Meat
[Blu-ray 4K]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Blue Underground Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (24th September 2025). |
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The Film
 Golden Scroll (Best Horror Film): Raw Meat (nominee) - Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, 1975 When American student Alex (The Day of the Locust's David Ladd) and his British girlfriend Patricia (Crucible of Horror's Sharon Gurney) get off the tube one night at Russell Square Station, they nearly step over the body of a man (Blood from the Mummy's Tomb's James Cossins) on the stairs. Alex assumes he is a drunk but Patricia thinks he might be a diabetic. They check his wallet and discover he is James Manfred, OBE and tell a policeman up top but when they return to the scene, the man's body is gone. That seems to be the end of it until the report lands on the desk of Inspector Calhoun (The Flesh and the Fiends' Donald Pleasance) who wonders what someone like Manfred was doing on public transportation. His investigation is hindered by the intervention of MI-5's Stratton-Villiers (Horror Express' Christopher Lee) who insists that there is no case and that Manfred is not missing; however, Calhoun learns that this is just one of a number of disappearances of people over the years where Russell Square Tube Station was the last reported sighting. Colleague Richardson (Frenzy's Clive Swift) reveals that the station intersects with an unfinished line that was abandoned at the end of the last century after a catastrophic cave-in where it was rumored that the company did not bother to try to rescue any of the buried men, women, and children workers even though it was believed that some could have survived in air pockets and would have had to resort to cannibalism. Little do they know that this is indeed the case, and that generations of cannibalistic human underground dwellers in the rabbit warren of tunnels have dwindled down to just one man (Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly's Hugh Armstong) and one woman (June Turner). When the woman dies, the man goes out in search of a new partner. While Calhoun and his sergeant Rogers (A Hard Day's Night's Norman Rossington) are investigating the brutal murders to two maintenance workers (Circus of Fear's Gordon Petrie and The Eagle Has Landed's Terence Plummer) and the disappearance of another (Prey's Gerry Crampton) at the tube station, Alex is desperately searching for Patricia did not make it home from the station. Throughout the fifties and sixties, British horror was heavily-bolstered by funding from American co-production and distribution. Raw Meat, originally produced as "Death Line", was a production mounted by American filmmakers – director Gary Sherman (Vice Squad), who had been directing television commercials in the U.K. since the sixties in a company with Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) and Michael Mann (The Keep), producer Paul Maslansky (Sugar Hill), and executive producers Alan Ladd Jr. (Fear is the Key) and Jay Kanter (Villain) – and primarily funded by the British Rank Organisation with the rest of the budget filled in by an American financier who ended up selling the film out from under their intended Paramount distribution deal to American International Pictures who "butchered" the film as described by one its admirers critic Robin Wood who reportedly prefered the film to Night of the Living Dead. Despite tantalizing write-ups in horror reference books, the film was difficult to see and even more so uncut since the British pre-cert and BBFC-approved cassette tapes featured the cut theatrical X-certificate version; that is, until MGM in inventorying their American International assets and readying them for distribution restored the film to its full length. While the write-ups hinted at the more grisly elements and backstory of the film, few were prepared for the truly grim experience of the film's horror elements or the sharp contrast of the humorous scenes featuring Pleasance and Rossington (and Lee in a wonderful special appearance). Armstrong's "Man" (as he is identified in the credits) and his underground charnel house world are introduced in a stunning seven-minute 360 degree panning shot over rotting corpses, rats, and maggots before pulling back into a tracking shot through the tunnels in which the aural flashback of the tunnel collapse segues into the sounds of the passing overhead tube suggesting a source of generational trauma (Plesance's inspector at the end goes from remarking "What a way to die" upon seeing the body of Manfred to "What a way to live" taking in the Man's horrific but lonely world). Another stunning single-take shot starts with the Man returning to a room of bunk beds where he has placed his dead mate and lays Manfred's pocket watch on her chest leading to a single-take survey of this tomb of generations of dead "family" in various states of decay and mummification each adorned with shiny offerings which emphasizes the horror that this is not a creature barely surviving but one that lives without the knowledge of any other way to do so (the only words he knows how to speak are "Mind the doors" from the tube station loudspeakers which is the only thing he can say while trying to communicate with the terrified Patricia). There is an underlying social criticism of classism that creeps up on the viewer, realizing that people would have gone on disappearing if not for one of them being from the upper class – regardless of his lecherous personality, Manfred is no more deserving than any other victim – a young student couple's concerned report of a dying man might not have been investigated if not for his class, and the truth of the cave-in story might have remained a historical anecdote if not for Calhoun's investigation, not out of a sense of justice but out of a pissing contest with MI-5. The man is as much a victim as his victims. The film's young couple seem like an obligatory addition, Ladd the brother of the producer functioning as the American cast member to facilitate international sales and Gurney the screamer while Cossins has little to do but embodies the sort of respectable covert lecher character he has essayed elsewhere. The ending depends on some contrivances to wrap everything up but all of the main characters are suitably traumatized and the man is not just dismissed as some monster or maniac. Director Sherman would go back to working in commercials after Raw Meat, returning to horror and feature films with 1981's Dead & Buried and later in the decade the notoriously troubled production Poltergeist III and the more average Lisa along with the script for the TV movie The Glow. 
Video
After its U.S. release under the Raw Meat title on the double bill circuit, the film became hard to see in the United States until the aforementioned MGM restoration that was fully uncut while retaining the U.S. title card and released it on DVD in 2006. In 2017, Blue Underground released the film on Blu-ray/DVD combo from a newer 2K restoration under the "Death Line" title and have now revisited the film on 4K UltraHD/Blu-ray combo (and single-disc Blu-ray) from a new 4K restoration (the cover and slipcover use the Raw Meat title but the title card remains "Death Line" presumably to distinguish this new release from the earlier editions). The 2160p24 HEVC and 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen encodes lose that faint yellow cast over the image giving skin tones a more varied and healthier (for most) look with Pleasance's perpetual five-o-clock shadow standing out as much as the fine pattern of his godawful "pinstriped" suit while Cossin's sickly pallor is more appropriately jaundiced and the plague sores on the man and woman have a more tactile quality. The transfer looks slightly darker in Dolby Vision but the details of the man's lair are no less grisly. Blacks are deep and do no crush but sometimes hair and dark clothing can be indistinguishable from the shadows thanks to the practical lighting of the tube scenes and the abandoned tunnels (by comparison, the attack of the man on the three maintenance workers looks a tad better than other scenes because it was that portion of the scene was done on a mock-up of the location with the brighter battery pack light sources standing in for flashlights used strategically in the darkness). The Dolby Vision presentation has more pop in the saturated neon and primaries in the risque background ads and posters than the Blu-ray although it really only suffers in comparison to the 4K.  It should be noted that while there is a separate Blu-ray edition of the 4K restoration, the new Blue Underground DVD under the Raw Meat is not the remastered version and is just a re-pressing of the DVD side of the 2017 release so it only has the old extras.
Audio
In addition to the original mono and earlier 5.1 remix in DTS-HD Master Audio, Blue Underground has added a new Dolby Atmos track that does its best within the limitations of the original materials with no artificial-sounding additions. Dripping water and rumbling trains seem to have some added height where those sounds were once more up front in the mono mix but there is also a more noticeable degree of hiss during a couple quieter scenes like the aforementioned tracking shot that is not as evident in the mono or 5.1 tracks. Dialogue is always intelligible – one could almost swear that Pleasance does more than "mouth" his "fuck you" but it may be the ambient noise in the scene sounding like a whisper. The scoring remains largely centered but little touches are more evident like the horns under the title card that remain jazzy but introduce a slight touch of the sinister to the otherwise sleazey instrumentation. A French dub is included in DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 along with optional English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles. 
Extras
Ported from the earlier release is an audio commentary by director Gary Sherman, producer Paul Maslansky, and assistant director Lewis More O'Farrall, moderated by David Gregory in which they provide background on how the production came to be with Sherman writing the screenplay while working on a Procter and Gamble commercial – noting that British tax requirements meant that a film with an American director had to have a British writer and vice versa so he only took story credit while the screenplay credit went to associate Ceri Jones, a colorful character who functioned both as a sounding board for Sherman and also wrote most of Pleasance's dialogue – and that London Transport turned down the script so they substituted one that replaced the horror with spy intrigue (the only shot one day on the tube and at the station while the rest was at an abandoned goods transport center). Sherman reveals that he met Maslansky on fellow commercial filmmaker John Hough's Eyewitness on which Maslansky produced, Demme was the music supervisor, and Sherman designed and shot the title sequence. O'Farrall discusses the short prep time and finding locations while Sherman and Maslansky recall Kanter and Ladd checking in constantly about the number of shots the got per day, being generally impressed at the progress until they got to the seven minute tracking shot which took an entire day to set up and was not shot until the next day but impressed them when screened. Sherman discusses the inspiration for the story in the real history of the construction of the Underground along with the Sawney Bean clan whose legend also inspired Wes Craven for The Hills Have Eyes as well as discussing the cast, Pleasance's antics, and the input of crew including cinematographer Alex Thomson (Excalibur) and make-up designer Harry Frampton (Straw Dogs) along with his trainee son Peter Frampton (Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan, Lord Of The Apes). New to this release is an audio commentary by critics Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth who make comparisons of the film to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in its similar atonal scoring which plays better in support of the film than as a soundtrack release and both being made by disillusioned hippies, as well as noting that Sherman felt Tobe Hooper had ripped him off. They also discuss how commentary on classism, racism, and sexism run through Sherman's works including his horror films, how the chemistry between Pleasance and Rossington keeps the film from being unbearably bleak (while also making jabs at Ladd's performance), and their initial reactions to the jarring tonal contrasts upon getting to see the film for the first time along with their disappointment at first with Lee's screen time but coming to appreciate the scene between himself and Pleasance.  The three interviews have been ported from the earlier edition including "Tales from the Tube" (18:51) featuring Sherman and executive producers Kanter and Alan Ladd Jr. in which they discuss getting funding through Rank and an American investor, how Demme was supposed to produce the film but he got an offer to make films for Roger Corman, working with British actors, and how Kanter tried to get Marlon Brando to play the Man uncredited – after which they would spread rumors that it was him under the make-up – since he was already in the U.K. working on The Nightcombers but he had gone home because his son contracted pneuomnia and Francis Ford Coppola offered him The Godfather. Ladd is frank about his assessment of his brother's acting abilities as a child compared to his roles as an adult. In "From the Depths" (12:41), actor David Ladd and producer Maslansky recall the film as having the coldest set and that the rotting meat used had to be sprayed every day with disinfectant, Ladd recalls Pleasance as being intimidating and describes himself as the type to just memorize his lines and hit his marks and also discuss the humorous elements of the script and working with Pleasance and Rossington, as well as telling the anecdote that Armstrong accidentally grabbed and bit a real rat rather than one of the prop ones. In "Mind the Doors" (15:36), actor Armstrong discusses his training and how he had decided to leave the National Theatre during a contentious period when he was offered Death Line, his mremoreis of the actors, the make-up and the sets, having only one line, and trying to find the innocence of his character. The disc also includes the Death Line U.K. theatrical trailer (2:05), the Raw Meat U.S. theatrical trailer (2:09), the Raw Meat TV spots (1:54) and radio spots (2:01), while the poster & still gallery has been newly-expanded over the earlier release. 
Overall
Raw Meat is an almost unbearably grim British horror film with a strain of damning social commentary alleviated by a delightful performance by Donald Pleasance.
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