GB / GER
2004
1hr 25mins
Dir: Christopher Smith
Starring: Franka Potente and Vas Blackwood
Travellers on the London Underground are killed by an unseen monster
This horror film set on the London Underground is reminiscent in some ways to the 1972 movie Death Line (qv). Most of the station work was carried out on the disused Jubilee line platforms at Charing Cross and on the Aldwych branch, using both 1972 and 1996-built tube stock. The realistic signal cabin seen in one horrific sequence towards the end was in fact a mock-up built at Aldwych, dressed up on this occasion as ‘Down Street’. At the time of the film’s release, The Times quoted the closed Down Street station on the Piccadilly Line as being used, but no filming was undertaken there for it is inaccessible to anyone other than contracted staff. The trains really play a minor role and the majority of the film used the station areas and associated tunnels. The concourse and cross passages at Charing Cross, and the running tunnels, lift shafts and stairs at Aldwych. Incidentally, the movie poster features the front end of a tube train with opaque centre window with an image of a blood stained hand on it. This poster was apparently banned from display on the Underground network by LUL management who feared it would unsettle would be travelers! Also, director Christopher Smith received a minor electric shock during the filming of one sequence when he stood on a conductor rail that still had some residual power. Although not directly connected to railways, the scene with Franka Potente running passed endless rows of cardboard boxes used an underground document storage facility, said to be the deep level air raid shelter at Belsize Park station.
