MovieChat Forums > Death Line (1973) Discussion > It was also called CARNIVOROUS

It was also called CARNIVOROUS


In the mid- to late-1970s, one of the drive-ins in our area seemed to specialize in running low-budget horror films. (Although, for some reason, a number of the films advertised as "coming attractions" during their intermissions and on their radio ads never actually made it onto the screen.) One of these was a film called CARNIVOROUS, which billed Donald Pleasance and Christopher Lee as its stars, warning us we would "see actual scenes of cannabalism." Total hype, of course. (No real cannabalism, and barely any Christopher Lee.) We had no idea what this film was, as we'd never heard of such a title. It would be almost a decade before finding it was an obscure little film called DEATH LINE (aka RAW MEAT), that seemed to have came and went with little or no notice.

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You're half right. What you actually saw was a double bill of this film with another movie entitled "Carnivorous". As far as I can tell, it's simply a retitled print of Ruggero Deodato's "Ultimo mondo cannibale (1977)", aka Cannibal Holocaust.

"Raw Meat" was the second film on the bill. Here's a link to the poster that was printed up for the double feature, I hope it works because sometimes these links don't last for long. If it doesn't, just do a Google search for the words "raw meat carnivorous poster", you should be able to look at it.

Your comment made me miss the days of the drive-in.

http://nostalgia.com/nf_moreinfo.html?sku=10332&cart=1105844598632791

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Thanks for setting me straight--the '70s were too many years ago for my memories to be crystal clear! And thanks, also, for the link to the poster. That DOES bring back some memories!!!

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They really don't make movies like this anymore, or market them quite the same way. Cheap movies are direct-to-cable or direct-to-video, and they all look like TV shows. I suppose we have the 70s drive-ins to remember, and today's kids will have "direct-to-video" cheesy movies. Somehow I think our cheesy movies are better, but that's just me being a typical "old" person!

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I'd like to think we age like wine! I miss the dusk-to-dawn marathons that some of the drive-ins used to have. (All 5 PLANET OF THE APES films, all the Beatles films, all Clint Eastwood westerns, etc.) One drive-in would actually reopen for Halloween (weather usually closed most of the drive-ins down in this area in the fall), and run themed Spook Shows. (One year it was VAMPIRE LOVERS, LUST FOR A VAMPIRE and THE VELVET VAMPIRE.) Those were the days. Somehow the direct-to-video fare of today doesn't quite hold up to seeing Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee or Vincent Price menacing movie-goers. (Then again, the cheesy movies of our day had actual ACTORS in them. I see little talent beyond the T&A on display in most horror films today. I've nothing against seeing lovely ladies, but if they could act or were given a script that wasn't a carbon copy of countless other horror films....)

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at least you had drive in, not here in the uk. it was better back in your time trust me.

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I've always known it as Death Line. Has been repeated late night on British telly for many years now, usually after midnight! A great little horror film, very dark, depressing and creepy.

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Its funny openstorage should mention creepy as a re-make of it has been done of it called "Creep", Although the DVD of Creep makes no reference to Death Line that i could see, it is none the less a re-make of Death Line, and despite Donald pleasance, Death line in my view is still the supirior film. Death line has been on Sky cinema 1 recently and the Re-make of Death line "Creep" is presently on Sky Box Office so it should be on Sky movies again soon.

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I'm with Gary on this one (a fellow U.K. viewer) - it's fascinating to see this discussion about drive-ins. (My favourite depiction of the drive-in, incidentally, is in 'American Graffiti'.) Like high-school proms and a host of other U.S. cultural ephemera many of us Brits could only lap up this stuff from afar, while dreaming of something better on wet Sunday afternoons. (Although, I should say, I've always loved wet afternoons myself).

As for 'Death Line' (I hate the title 'Raw Meat' - it's so crass!), it's a personal favourite. I'll never forget catching it late one night on TV in the late 80s. I found it somehow unnnerving and genuinely moving in equal measure (and I have no interest in 'horror' films, as a rule). When I finally got hold of the video, it seemed even better than I remembered it.

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Wildezaphod - You're right 'CREEP' is an unofficial remake of Death Line although not half as scary or well-acted!

You try telling the fools on the 'creep' message boards that its a rip-off of this superior film and they try and bite your head off and come up with the lame and probably incorrect assertion that "the director hadn't seen death line until after he wrote creep" - yeah right!

He copied it plain and simple and gotten away with it!

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Kinda like Aldo Lado swears he made Night Train Murders without ever seeing Last House on the Left.

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You try telling the fools on the 'creep' message boards that its a rip-off of this superior film and they try and bite your head off and come up with the lame and probably incorrect assertion that "the director hadn't seen death line until after he wrote creep" - yeah right!

He copied it plain and simple and gotten away with it!
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How can you be so sure of that? How do you know that that claim is incorrect?

Perhaps if you weren't naive enough to just automatically assume that it is "lame" and "incorrect" the so-called "fools" on the "Creep" board wouldn't be so quick to bite your head off.

Chris Smith, who directed "Creep", has admitted that he copied "An American Werewolf in London" for the film so perhaps he is telling the truth after all?? If he admitted to copying the one, why not the other? "Death Line" is not all that well-known anyway.

You're the one who looks like a fool, because you've stated your opinions as facts yet you've no evidence to back them up - whereas at least those on the "Creep" boards who argue the toss against you have presented evidences to support their claims.

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Creep was not a remake. It was a violation (in my eyes).

Death Line rules! I'll never forget renting it out from a video shop when I was in college. The video cover said "Death Line". The shop assistant entered the video code from the cover into the computer and "Raw Meat" came up on screen. The label on the video tape said "Death Line". When I played the tape that evening, the opening credits said "Raw Meat".

Talk about total confusion!

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"despite Donald pleasance"???

Surely you jest!

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And "Creep" certainly isn't a remake or intentional copy of "Death Line". I've watched both films within the last month and despite the fact that they both share the theme of unnatural villains lurking in the underground, and the settings are very similar, in terms of their storylines they are not actually that alike. In "Death Line" there is a history pf people going missing and the protaganists knowingly go under to investigate. In "Creep" there is no previous history of people going missing, and the main protagonists inadvertently stumble into - rather than intentionally goes looking for - the villain (by missing the last train, by doing drilling works in the sewers, by having the misfortune of being a homeless person unwittingly being dragged into the mess by the protagonist etc), while all along the world above knows nothing of what is happening below them.

When he was asked about it in an interview with the BBC in 2005 (the question being "What do you have to say about the critics accusing you of plagiarism"?), Chris Smith misunderstood the question and thought the interviewer was actually referring to the fact that he'd previously - and willingly - admitted that he'd borrowed heavily from "An American Werewolf in London". When it was explained he'd been accused of copying "Death Line" he had no idea what they were talking about, and said that he was inspired to make "Creep" following a journey through the London Underground the morning after he'd watched "An American Werewolf in London" for the first time. Up until then he had never heard of "Death Line".

Since he'd had no issues with admitting that he had borrowed from "An American Werewolf in London", then by that logic - if he really HAD seen "Death Line" before making "Creep" - he would not have had any issues with admitting that as well.

If you don't like "Creep" then fair enough - but there's no need to make up stroies or invent non-existent "facts" just to support your dislike of a film

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another Title?





When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...

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