End of the Line (2007)

(In French, On Cable TV, May 2022) I’ve come to pity those movie reviewers stuck in the Hollywood hype machine: those who aren’t close to any local film industry, those who can’t step outside the American cinema system. I’m lucky enough to be exposed to the French-Canadian film community, and it’s amazing to see what else is out there. I’m not sure I would have ever seen End of the Line, for instance, if French-Canadian horror cable TV channel Frissons TV hadn’t gone out of its way to get this film out of mothballs, hype its broadcast, and pair it with a new interview with its writer-director-producer Maurice Devereaux. The tragedy here being that, even fifteen years later, this remains Deveraux’s last film (and last IMDB credit) – as he candidly recognized during the interview, he did too much on his own, exhausted his financing, ran out of motivation and didn’t have the industry contacts to parlay the film’s initial impact into another project. It’s too bad that End of the Line sunk into obscurity (not even having an English-language Blu-ray release) – while it’s hardly a perfect film, it does a lot with little, is effective at creating mystery and suspense, and isn’t afraid to go crazy once in a while. The blend of elements in its premise is enough of a hook – a few late-night subway passengers, abruptly confronted with an eruption of violence led by a world-wide cult. There’s a lot of gore in what follows, some of which certainly pushes the boundaries of good taste. There’s also some ambiguity in the climax that may rub some viewers as provocative and deep, and others as frustrating and begging for a third act that isn’t to be found in the film. (I’m in the latter camp, but not deeply.)  It all amounts to something worth rediscovering: End of the Line remains significantly better than many bigger-budgeted horror productions, and it’s got just enough depth to be worth a look over an endless succession of less ambitious monster movies. And it’s a proud –if almost forgotten—product of the French-Canadian film community.