Death Line

Patricia (Sharon Gurney) and her American boyfriend, Alex (David Ladd, son of actor/producer Alan Ladd), find an important government official apparently unconscious on the stairs of a London Underground station. By the time they locate a cop to investigate, the body is gone. The sarcastically cynical Inspector Calhoun (Donald Pleasence) and his right-hand man, Rogers (Norman Rossington), take on the case. The culprit turns out to be a deranged man (Hugh Armstrong), the descendent of tunnel workers who were trapped in a cave-in and abandoned by the government at the turn of the century. “The Man” lives in the abandoned tunnel with his mate, “the Woman” (June Turner), and ventures into the Underground proper only to find hapless human victims and bring them back to their decrepit lair for food. When his mate dies, the Man goes in search of another. Put-off by Alex’s lack of compassion, Patricia splits up with him, venturing into a train station alone, and before long, she finds herself in the underground hellhole. —allmove guide