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Poor Karen. Not only has the lovely young nurse lost a recent patient to suicide, but now she's being harrassed by a sleazebag as she waits for her subway train. A good-natured stranger called Mike comes to her rescue by shooing the scoundrel away -- and then they all climb aboard the same train. Several random folks populate the subterranean train, and nothing too exciting seems to be going on.

And then the train stops. And then half the passengers pull knives out and begin slaughtering the non-lunatics. And then a few lucky survivors hightail it off the train, only to wander into the underground while the stab-happy religio-nuts give thorough chase.

That's the long and short of End of the Line, and to say this one's an improvement over the director's previous flick (the little-seen and justifiably so) Slashers would be a serious example of understatement. Maurice Deveraux sets up his story-line with no muss and no fuss, injecting a palpable sense of dread and unease in the flick's early stages. And things get even messier as Act III starts rolling.

Bolstered by a strong stable of "no-name" actors and a horrific concept that's just realistic enough to make you sweat a little bit, End of the Line is a really solid value meal for the horror fans. It's got a slick pace, a clever concept, some colorful characters, and an ending that's as admirably grim as it is appreciably unexpected.

I had my doubts about this one, for some strange reason, but once End of the Line starts grinding its gears and baring its teeth, I suspect the passionate horror fiend will find a lot to like here.

Reminiscent of Christoper Smith's "Creep" and Gary Sherman's "Raw Meat," this underground horror-fest is a pretty tight-knuckled little treat.

link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=14865&reviewer=128
originally posted: 09/11/06 11:58:35
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