An obscure British horror film from
the early 1970's, which you may not have heard of. But is surprisingly rather good. Starting off somewhere in London's
Soho area, a young couple stumbles across a collapsed man in a deserted tube station. Unsure of whether he’s genuinely
ill or just plain drunk, they decide to alert one of the station attendants. Only to find that the person has
mysteriously vanished when they return with help.
As it turns out, the man in question was a senior minister working for the ministry of defence, and his bizarre disappearance catches the attention of the local police inspector, Calhoun (played by Donald Pleasance). Particularly as he’s not the first person to go missing from that station.
The mystery deepens when a maintenance crew is viciously murdered at the station one night, and one of the bodies is not recovered. Could who, or what, is behind all this be lurking in the disused sub-tunnels underneath the station? And could the old stories about survivors of a tunnel collapse from the early 1900’s resurfacing to prey on modern day tube travellers be true?
Directed by Gary Sherman, who went on to direct “Dead and Buried” and the ill-fated “Poltergeist 3”. This is an interesting film, which is a kind of cross between “Chud” and “Hills Have Eyes”, though actually pre-dates both. There is an excellent cast, headed up by Donald Pleasance putting on what is arguably his most outrageous performance ever, as the extremely sarcastic police inspector. Comedy actor Colin Swift turns up in a role of a fellow Police Inspector, and Christopher Lee makes a brief cameo appearance as an MI5 official.
