{"id":15411,"date":"2017-06-12T20:50:05","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T03:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=15411"},"modified":"2021-08-20T22:11:50","modified_gmt":"2021-08-21T05:11:50","slug":"review-deathline-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2017\/06\/review-deathline-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Death Line Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Death Line<\/em><\/strong> was a bit of a disappointment for me with a story that somehow felt incomplete and characters, outside of Pleasence, not really making an impact. Still, there are some entertaining aspects and Donald Pleasence did seem like he was having a good old time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Death Line<\/span>
\n(1973)<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Genre(s): <\/strong>Horror
\nBlue Underground | NR \u2013 87 min. \u2013 $39.98 | June 27, 2017<\/p>\n

Date Published:<\/strong> 06\/12\/2017 | Author:<\/strong> The Movieman<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/td>\n\"\"<\/td>\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Directed by: <\/strong>Gary Sherman
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Gary Sherman (story), Ceri Jones (screenplay)
\nCast: <\/strong>Donald Pleasence, Norman Russington, David Ladd, Sharon Gurney, Christopher Lee<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DISC INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Features: <\/strong>Commentary, Featurettes, Trailers, TV Spots
\nDigital Copy: <\/strong>No
\nFormats Included: <\/strong>Blu-ray, DVD
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Audio: <\/strong>English (DTS-HD MA 1.0)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 1.85
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, French, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>30.4 GB
\nCodec: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A, B, C<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

THE MOVIE \u2014 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Plot Synopsis: <\/strong>When a prominent politician and a beautiful young woman (SHARON GURNEY) vanish inside a London subway station, Scotland Yard\u2019s Inspector Calhoun (DONALD PLEASENCE) investigates and makes a horrifying discovery. Not only did a group of 19th century tunnel workers survive a cave-in, but they lived for years in a secret underground enclave by consuming the flesh of their own dead. Now the lone descendant of this grisly tribe has surfaced, prowling the streets of fresh victims… and a new mate.<\/p>\n

Quick Hit Review: <\/strong>Being I\u2019m not a big horror fan, although I do enjoy the occasional slasher like Friday the 13th<\/em> or Halloween<\/em>, I had never really heard of Death Line<\/em><\/strong> released stateside in edited form as Raw Meat<\/em>. However, my interest was piqued as the film stars Donald Pleasance, of the aforementioned Halloween<\/em>, and Christopher Lee. Well, Pleasance certainly delivered in an over-the-top but rather fun performance while Lee has maybe 5-minutes of screen-time as an MI-5 operative.<\/p>\n

Outside of Pleasance, there\u2019s really not that much that stands out; the horror isn\u2019t very scary and the other actors don\u2019t exactly deliver compelling performances. Add to that a thin plot and short running time (87 minutes), and Death Line<\/em><\/strong> might\u2019ve sounded great on paper but in practice felt like a hackneyed script… even by 1970s indie horror standards.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 4.0\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

This release includes a 16-page booklet<\/strong> containing articles, essays and production stills.<\/p>\n

Audio Commentary<\/u><\/strong> \u2013 Co-Writer\/Director Gary Sherman, Producer Paul Maslansky and Assistant Director Lewis More O\u2019Farrall sit down for a lively and all around interesting conversation providing some anecdotal stories and working with the various actors. Moderated by David Gregory.<\/p>\n

Featurettes:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Tales from the Tube (18:51; HD) is an interview with Co-Writer\/Director Gary Sherman and Executive Producers Jay Kanter and Alan Ladd Jr.<\/li>\n
  • From the Depths (12:41; HD) \u2013 Actor David Ladd and Producer Paul Laslansky are interviewed as they discuss their contributions to the project.<\/li>\n
  • Mind the Doors (15:36; HD) \u2013 Actor Hugh Armstrong, who played \u201cThe Man\u201d, chats about his work on the film.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Also included: Trailers<\/u><\/strong> for Death Line<\/em> and Raw Meat<\/em>; TV Spots<\/u><\/strong>, Radio Spots<\/u><\/strong> and a Poster & Still Gallery<\/u><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
    \n

    VIDEO \u2013 4.0\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
    \n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

    Blue Underground releases Death Line<\/em><\/strong>, unedited, and is presented with a 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. The picture looks pretty good given the low budget nature and for a movie now 44 years old; colors generally look natural looking and detail, especially close-ups, is nicely defined and fairly sharp. There are fine amounts of natural film grain and I did notice some very minor dust marks, but otherwise it\u2019s a fine transfer.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
    \n

    AUDIO \u2013 3.75\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
    \n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

    The disc is accompanied with a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track. For the most part it sounds good though some dialogue scenes had a hollow sound to them, though this isn\u2019t a fault with the transfer but instead poor sound design on location. Depth is lacking but as with the picture, not sure what you would expect.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
    \n

    OVERALL \u2013 3.5\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
    \n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

    \n

    Overall, Death Line<\/em><\/strong> was a bit of a disappointment for me with a story that somehow felt incomplete and characters, outside of Pleasence, not really making an impact. Still, there are some entertaining aspects and Donald Pleasence did seem like he was having a good old time, a departure from his more stoic\/serious role of Dr. Loomis that would come a few years later. This release by Blue Underground offers good video\/audio transfers and a nice selection of bonus materials.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Death Line was a bit of a disappointment for me with a story that somehow felt incomplete and characters, outside of Pleasence, not really making an impact. Still, there are some entertaining aspects and Donald Pleasence did seem like he was having a good old time.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,970],"tags":[3821,783,1678],"class_list":["post-15411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","category-quick-hit-reviews","tag-blue-underground","tag-christopher-lee","tag-donald-pleasence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15411"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26908,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15411\/revisions\/26908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}