I’m frankly shocked that I’ve never seen or even heard of Maurice Devereaux’s “End of the Line” until this year. I typically have my ears perked to new horror titles, and “End of the Line” slipped right by me. I don’t know if I’d call it a masterpiece, but it sure is a damn good siege and survival horror movie in the tradition of “Assault on Precinct 13” and or “The Void.” It’s bleak, it’s dark, it’s gory and it has a climax that will likely keep the audience debating for days.
Karen (Ilona Elkin), a young nurse who works in a psychiatric ward, boards the last subway train of the night only to have it stop suddenly in the middle of the tunnel. As those around her are brutally murdered, Karen and a handful of survivors must face supernatural forces, homicidal knife wielding religious cult members, as well as their own fears and suspicions of Armageddon, in order to survive.
There’s so much that “End of the Line” has to offer from audiences here. It’s such a well staged and beautifully directed horror film that works within various sub-genres. There’s a relentless religious cult, an ambiguous prophecy about Armageddon, a fight to survive to at least find help, and the dwindling number of survivors. The more the film progresses, the more all seems lost. By the end viewers will have a hard time feeling as if our protagonist Karen will make it to see civilization again. Though the budget is limited, director Deveraux makes good use of the subway setting, allowing the tunnels and store rooms to feel like hellish chambers.
The villains in “End of the Line” are absolutely unstoppable and impossible to reason with, especially as learn more about their unified idea about increasing the total of victims. Whether or not they want to stop Armageddon or star Armageddon is left very ambiguous as Devereaux pretty much relays exposition and information in small increments. One difficult aspect of “End of the Line” is that he doesn’t let the characters off the hook, at any point. Everyone and anyone is capable of being eviscerated by this vicious knife wielding cult, and Devereaux never shies away from the gore and grue.
There are decapitations, bitten off lips, back stabbings, severed limbs, and even a brutal murder of a pregnant woman. While the movie does tend to tread water in regard to pacing by the last ten minutes, “End of the Line” succeeds as a stark and engrossing horror gem, one that really warrants discovery by horror buffs.