The Midnight Meat Train Movie
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Storyline
TAGLINES
The most terrifying ride you'll ever take
A New York photographer hunts down a serial killer. Based on Clive Barker's short story "Midnight Meat Train"
| Bradley Cooper | Leon Kauffman |
| Vinnie Jones | Mahogany |
| Douglas Barcellos | Gym Jock #2 |
| Roger Bart | Jurgis |
| Greg Brown | Lola |
| Dan Callahan | Troy Taleveski |
| Earl Carroll | Jack Franks |
| Tony Curran | |
| Michael Didriksson | Gym Jock |
| Geoffrey Gould | Subway passenger |
| Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson | |
| Peter Jacobson | Otto |
| Ivan Kraljevic | Strange guy |
| Allen Maldonado | Leader |
| Kelvin O'Bryant | Scrawny Kid #1 |
| Ryuhei Kitamura |
6.90 out of 10 (4346 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Gross but Pretty Effective
posted on 26 Aug 2009This is definitely a horror film. I watch a lot of thrillers, and usually I like movies that draw out the suspense and don't show everything, but every now and then, I get in the mood for a gross-out like Saw...or like this. If you want a tense, gore-fest, you'll probably like this. If you like a more Hitchcock-style variety of film, you'll probably hate it.Obviously though, this movie was going for the former, not the latter, so I think it was very effective for the genre. I was 100% creeped out. That's not to say that I didn't occasionally find the composing a little overly dramatic or I didn't occasionally say, "Why are you doing that?" in regards to a character's choices, but movies like this shouldn't be taken serious.If you want a good scare, I think it's a good option.
Dribbling towards a horrible final reel
posted on 24 Aug 2009The streak is officially over. For the longest time I thought it improbable that a bad movie could be made about terror within the perimeters of a train. Notwithstanding the added luxury of being allowed to use the New York subway train as the enclosed space. What is peculiar about New York City? Well, it is special. In most cities, you can hop on a train for an evening out but must find alternative travel arrangements for return. If you don't, it's a long wait in the night atmosphere waiting for the morning timetable operation. In New York City the trains run all night long. I never gave the matter much thought. The city is bulging with inhabitants, some of whom fondly take up the never-ending mass transit. A lot of weird things occur during the wee hours, a lot of strange people show up, a lot of blinding artificial lighting kicks in. People will do things unheard of in the daylight period.Read the full review at my personal website: http://www.sightforallseasons.co.nr/
You Choo-Choo-Choose Me?
posted on 22 Aug 2009I heard and read many praising things about "Midnight Meat Train", which is based on a short story written by no less than Clive Barker and supposedly the best adaptation of his work since the original "Hellraiser" that he directed himself, but so far I can only express very mixed sentiments about my viewing experience. The most appropriate term to summarize the whole film in just word is: nauseating! The violence is sadistic and extreme, which undoubtedly attracts fanatic young horror enthusiasts, but it's also indescribably gratuitous and exploitative. Normally speaking, I'm very pro-violence but it has to at least serve some kind of purpose. The butchering – literally – depicted in "Midnight Meat Train" is exclusively meant to shock and to repulse the viewers with weak nerve systems and easily upset stomachs, and even that isn't fully effective due to the use of digital computer effects. There are more shortcomings, some even bigger than the pointless gore, but perhaps I should focus on the good elements first. The basic concept is definitely promising and multiple sequences (like the chase in the freezer room, for example) are literally oozing with nail-biting suspense and macabre atmosphere. Unfortunately the pacing is very uneven and the elaboration of the potentially fantastic plot is made unnecessarily convoluted. Presumably the processing of a short story into a long feature film scenario is responsible for the pacing irregularities, but I honestly feel they could have done more with the denouement as well as with the character played by Vinnie Jones. The plot introduces Leon, an aspiring photographer in New York whose agent advises to search for the truly menacing face of the city through sinister pictures. Leon then becomes obsessed with stalking an introvert and suspiciously behaving butcher who always awaits the midnight train. Leon's right, as the butcher turns out to be a relentless serial killer who literally crushes his victims with a big hammer, but the killer's motivations and behavior suggest there's something far more substantial going on the rails at night. "Midnight Meat Train" takes place in naturally unsettling locations like subway stations at night and animal abattoirs, plus the film also benefices of good acting performances and a truckload of downright disturbing images (like cadavers on meat hooks and train carriages smeared in blood), but director Ryûhei Kitamura ("Versus", "Godzilla Final Wars") doesn't take full advantage of it all. The ending leaves a whole lot questions unanswered and, even if Clive Barker meant to have like this, I still think we deserved a slightly more clarifying finale. "Midnight Meat Train" is a somewhat intriguing and definitely haunting film, but not without defaults. It's not intended for easily offended viewers, but maybe people looking for plot coherence and clarity should leave it alone as well.
I liked it but it could have been even better.
posted on 22 Aug 2009The Midnight Meat Train is set in New York City where freelance photographer Leon Kauffman (Bradley Cooper) lives with his waitress girlfriend Maya Jones (Leslie Bibb) taking & selling pictures of crime & accident scenes. Leon thinks he can do better & his mate Jurgis (Roger Bart) introduces him to super rich & super influential socialite it girl Susan Hoff (Brooke Shields) who says that she is not too impressed with his work, determined to prove her wrong & start making some money Leon sets out to take some great pictures & ends up at a subway station where he photographs a model (Nora) being attacked by a gang of thugs & subsequently saves her. Then it's reported soon after that the model has disappeared, retracing & investigating the events of that night Leon discovers that something very grisly is happening on the late night trains that run in the subway...Directed by Japanese filmmaker Ryuhei Kitamura this feature length horror film was based on a short story by British horror author Clive Barker that was published way back in 1984 in Volume One of his six volume Books of Blood series & it does show since the first hour or so of The Midnight Meat Train does tend to go round in circles with seemingly little happening in the script by Jeff Buhler. Once the initial premise that Vinnie Jones is going round slaughtering people on the subway is set-up the film doesn't do anything with it until the final twenty or so minutes where the twists & explanations kick in although strangely enough the ending is the worse part of the film with some feeble & oddly unclear attempts at trying to tie the loose ends up but there are more than a few unanswered questions left. For instance no explanation is given for the marks cut into Leon's chest, no explanation is given to the warts on Mahogany's chest, no explanation is given to who the conductor is, who cleans the blood stained trains, what the creatures are & why they are being helped or why Leon suddenly becomes the next butcher so easily. Ironically enough even though the film version could have devoted some of it's increased duration on solving these loose ends the short story actually makes a better fist of it with Barker giving much more reasoning behind the grisly events like explaining that the creatures were apparently called 'Father's' & were a secret society that ran the world but they need human flesh to live & that the rulers of our society provided it with the mobile slaughterhouse the midnight meat train that is delivered to them every night. The cuts on Leon's chest were symbols to signify that the 'Father's' had chosen him to become the next butcher & the warts on Mahogany's chest were to signify he was dying & that he needed to be replaced which obviously ties everything up quite nicely so why these vital points were left out of this filmed adaptation is a mystery to me. The pace is good, there's quite a bit of incident, the early mystery elements are fairly intriguing & certainly kept me watching wanting to see where it was going although there's hardly any dialogue or character's & apart from the main plot there really isn't anything else going on at all & you can sort of tell it was based on a very limited idea.One has to say that The Midnight Meat Train looks fantastic with some really stylish & cool cinematography as the camera is placed in various positions & CGI is used to provide some memorable shots like a following a bullet through someone's head or a scene in which a woman is decapitated & the shot is from her point of view before the camera zooms out of her eye showing her head lying on the floor to a fight on the train at the end & the camera does several consecutive 360 sweeps around the action as the camera goes in & out of the train in one consecutive unbroken move. In my opinion The Midnight Meat Train looks fabulous & is one of the most stylish horror flicks of recent times. There's a fair amount of gore but maybe not as much as some would have you believe, someone is hit on the back of the head & their eyeball flies out, there's plenty of blood splatter, someone is shot through the eye, there are stabbings & impalement's, people are hung up on meat hooks through their ankles, someone has their heart cut out, someone's tongue is ripped out & the whole film has a raw brutality with the art & imagery of butchery dominating the look of the film as slaughterhouses are seen & all manner of butchers implement's are used throughout.With an estimated budget of about $15,000,000 The Midnight Meat Train was dumped into 102 discount theatres by Lionsgate rather than given a full release at regular first run cinemas which is undoubtedly why it flopped. The film looks great although one or two CGI shots are poor especially some of the CGI blood which doesn't convince at all. Although set in New York this was filmed entirely in Los Angeles. The acting is good from a decent cast with Hollywood hard man Vinnie Jones only getting two words of dialogue during the entire film while Brooke Shields has a small role.The Midnight Meat Train had great potential & to be fair to it I still liked it but the ending doesn't do it any favours although the visual flair & style & some cracking gore scenes certainly make it well worth a watch if your interested in the horror genre & it's miles better than most of the recent low budget horror crap coming out & littering video store shelves at the moment.
One of The WORST High-Budget Horror Films
posted on 22 Aug 2009The only good thing to this movie is the blood and gore. The movie starts off really well and then drops you and continues to do so till the credits are rolling up the screen and you're left wanting your money back.To enjoy this movie, you have to accept that it's okay that the characters portray no type of logic whatsoever. When you see someone being killed and you go to one police officer to report it and he blows you off, you go to another right? Well in midnight meat train, when that happens you then assume the role of police officer yourself and pursue with the investigation.The movie does have some good gory parts that compel you to sit through the nonsensical storyline. If you do intend to view this movie, you can wait for it to come out on DVD.
Indulges too much in the absurd!
posted on 20 Aug 2009Anyone who has read H.G. Wells' classic "The Time Machine" will relate, somewhat, to what you'll find in "Midnight Meat Train," a story adaptation of one of Clive Barkers' perverse visionary tales. It is hard to put the blame for the miscues in this movie on Clive Barker, the horror master who has given us (through a variety of other tales) the Hellraiser trilogy, Lord of Illusions and Nightbreed.The problems here not even so much story based. The tale of a young photographer who happens to capture images of a woman who, moments later, would seemingly disappear from the face of the earth, leaving him to follow the leads that the police will not, is cliché but also effective.No, the failings in this movie are largely sourced simple logic and overdone cinematography and gore. Among the things you can expect, there is a sterile, blueish coloring to the most common settings that makes the movie drastically unpleasant to watch, with or without the gore. Indeed, as the photographer mentioned that he wanted to show the city as it really is, the thought that went through my mind was that I don't know of too many people who would live in a city THAT ugly for the long term.And then there is the ramped up speed in segments of the movie. When Mohogany (the fiend who usually does the killing) is sitting on the subway platform, waiting to board the last train of the night, or even the first non-subway scene in the movie, there is a reliance on moving the surrounding characters around so quickly that what someone might have seen as an artistic portrayal of the rat race quickly degenerates into the silly and hackish! Oh, and although I'm sure there will be some that are fans of the gore in this film, the obviousness of the CGI involved in exploiting the gore quickly goes from interesting to absurd! I mean, in one absolutely laughable scene, a dorky guy is struck in the back of the head, leading to a gushing of blood, and knocking his eye not only out of his head, but right into the camera! I should note, this is not a 3D movie. In another scene, a woman is decapitated with the same silver hammer, and the head, when it finally rolls to a stop, continues to blink. So lets understand: her geeky husband/boyfriend lost an eye, but she was completely decapitated? How does that work? This wasn't a machete...it was a hammer.Then there is the underlying story itself: Mohogany isn't just a killer, he's also part of a conspiracy city wide, which is feeding the Morlock-ish beasts that inhabit an abandoned subway tunnel. Police, the transit authority, apparently even city hall is involved. Oh wow, another film encouraging people to distrust authority! And then there is the gore. Yes, I can imagine getting hit with that hammer would kill and cause the bleeding, but it does seem like at times it gets just a wee bit excessive. Naturally, it seems that the movie is making a case against human dietary habits, but c'mon! And on top of all of that, why is it that in some cases, Mohogany removes hair, eyeballs, teeth and finger nails, while in other cases, people are just strung up as they are? Does that make sense? I could go on and on, but in earnest, I don't think this movie is really deserving of all that time and attention! My advice is, if you're a gore fan, or if you can excuse an ugly looking, mediocre film, this is the one for you.I think the film ought to have been called "Mediocre Meat Train," but that's just me.Oh, and on the plus side, Brooke Shields has a good role as an art gallery owner and guru whose line "then you're failing...stay put, be brave, keep shooting" was solid!
should a horror movie have a happy ending? not quite?
posted on 18 Aug 2009Before I get to this question, I want to say that I liked Midnight Meat Train until the ending. The characters were good, the photography and special effects were good and it definitely had me at the edge of my seat fiending for Vinny Jones to bash another head in. I just didn't like the story. I felt it was a lot of wasted suspense.Now should horror movies have a happy ending? My opinion - Most of the time yes but with sacrifice and of course a good conclusion. Sometimes no, but with an even better conclusion or expectation of a part 2. Midnight Meat Train did not explain enough in my opinion. It partially explained the motive for killing but it went ridiculous on me. It went from good to the typical horror flop. I suppose the mayor of NYC is in on the massacre and support of it too....why not? population control. Is Vinny Jones a monster or not? Did he come back to life at the end or was he hanging from the side of the train? Give me a break. Was the girlfriend and buddy going to walk into death unarmed? She didn't believe her boyfriend? why not? He's full of blood but that's not a hint. I know people in horror movies are often stupid but come on. You're better than that Clive.I think an ending to a horror movie should be a conclusion, not ongoing, unless it is like the Saw movies where another important piece of the story opens up and we know a sequel is coming. Sometimes I don't understand the purpose of showing a bunch of monsters at the end when the humans have one bullet left in the gun. Another thing I don't like is when the ending doesn't tell anything. At the end of Midnight Meat Train I learned nothing. All I learned was that, for whatever reason, we have a new killer. Oh yes, I can see why it barely hit the theatres.Too many questions. There needs to be a part 2, but I don't think there will be one.
The Midnight Meat Train
posted on 10 Aug 2009Having been unceremoniously dumped onto theatres to do Jessica Simpson business, this nasty, spectacularly violent shocker isn't perfect, but it's solidly entertaining and well worth a look.If the idea of a prominently-featured Vinnie Jones as a serial killer turns you off, rest assured he does a wonderfully menacing job and is perfect for this kind of role.The over-the-top (mostly CGI) violence is the film's unique selling point and it delivers in spades. While it's not photo-real it is insane enough to work beautifully, and those familiar with the more violent modern Japanese fare (like the director's own Versus)will find it a treat to see such sensibilities in a Western production. That said, there are plenty of gruesome practical effects to keep the purists happy.The main character's descent into madness is too abrupt; it comes out of nowhere rather than being a gradual process. This combined with the fact that Bradley Cooper is a generally weak lead, and as an actor just can't meet the demands of these scenes in particular, makes them rather laughable. Leslie Bibb as his girlfriend fares little better but at least her arc makes sense.The revelation at the end is a mild surprise but where it really succeeds is in changing your perception of what's come before. The ending feels rushed, but all the information we need is presented clearly so it's hard to grumble.
"Horror-Drama" at its Best
posted on 10 Aug 2009It's a late Saturday night. Two teenagers are in an empty theater, sharing a bucket of popcorn as they sit close and watch a cliché horror flick up on the big screen. This is a scene direct out of Michael Jackson's "Thriller." That's how I felt when I went to see 'Midnight Meat Train'. I felt like I was stuck in a bad cliché. It was Saturday night, we were in a run-down theater, stale popcorn was all over the floor, and the movie up on the screen was your typical run-of-the-mill slasher flick.Despite the fact that this film was only released to Dollar Theaters, 'Midnight Meat Train' was actually an enjoyable and impressive movie. Several elements added to the potential of the film. First, the visual effects are quite impressive. Even the corniest of parts were done in a way where the viewer is forced to believe what is happening. The cinematographer becomes an artist, and watching this film is like standing in front of Seurat's "Sunday in the Park" with all its grandeur and busyness. Secondly, the plot -- in which a struggling photographer becomes obsessed with shooting a mysterious passenger on a late night subway train -- captivates you with its intensity and realism. The viewer becomes as involved with the photographer's obsession as he does, and the audience waits in ghostly anticipation to find out how everything is going to unfold. Lastly, the subplot is just as interesting as the main plot. If there were a genre of movies called "Horror-Drama," this movie would be at the top of the list. I was captivated with the protagonist's relationship with his girlfriend, with his struggling career, and with what would ultimately become a failed romance.That being said, there are a couple pieces that disappointed me. The "twist" that you wait for at the end was not surprising at all. The protagonist-turned-antagonist has been done, several times. And although the reason for the "Meat Train" becomes inevitably clear, it is done so in a way where the viewer doesn't want to care anymore at that point, because he or she was expecting something more. I left the theater scratching my head at the reason for all the butcher shop footage, and why that didn't play-out more.All in all, I had a good time being in my Saturday night cliché. This is a movie for true horror fans in that I feel it will entertain them and captivate them to "find the light at the end of the tunnel," so to speak. Let's just hope that tunnel doesn't lead to a slaughterhouse.
Whatever
posted on 06 Aug 2009I've read that Clive Barker wanted to make a trilogy of films based on The Midnight Meat Train. Maybe this was why he lobbied so hard for a bigger release on Lionsgate's part. I had mixed feelings about the campaign. On Barker's side, I can understand an attachment to your work and a pride in seeing it realized through a film adaptation. On Lionsgate's side I can understand their hesitance in a broad release, the film industry is at it's core a money making corporation and this film just doesn't seem to have the bullet factor. This little battle of wills didn't hurt either side, controversy is a powerful tool for publicity.Basically a mish mash of plot lines the film follows a struggling photographer (Bradley Cooper) who stumbles upon a bizarre serial killer (Vinnie Jones)stalking a big city subway. The city in question could be anywhere, the suggestion is that it's set in New York City, although I have my suspicions it was filmed in Toronto or Montreal, often the stand-in cities for The Big Apple. Directed by Ryûhei Kitamura, the film has a definite Asian vibe. Awash in hues of blue and cold light with gimmicky CGI slow motion gore and glistening dark pools of blood. Blood drops are shown flying in individual globs, sprays of gore fly as the killer, pristine in a suit, remains untouched by any of it. I was amused by Jones character's name...Mahogany. An ironic choice that speaks volumes about the character's behavior, both good and bad. Part of the fun of a horror film is getting to know the Big Baddie, here he's devoid of personality and well...wooden. Leslie Bibb is the photographer's beautiful girlfriend who gets involved. Brooke Shields plays the battle ax ice queen photography agent who forces Cooper's character to push the envelope and become sociopathic in his photo choices. Apparently her clients in the art world love gritty images of violence and human peril while they sip their cocktails.There's not much empathy going on here. People are treated like slabs of meat, dispatched with a giant stainless steel hammer. The police (or at least the one bad-ass retro blaxploitation police woman) don't care. Other than his hunger for success, the photographer doesn't care until his girlfriend gets all nosy and in over her head. This makes it very difficult for an audience. Should we care? Probably not.The plot careens (literally) off the track into a surreal land of hidden worlds and hidden beings and a classic struggle against good and evil ensues. Then the final twist which turns it's nose up at a classic struggle against good and evil being satisfying and worth it.The photographer should hook up with the poor girl from the 1977 horror film The Sentinel. They would have a lot in common.
Ridiculous
posted on 31 Jul 2009I was pretty impressed by the movie at first, they make sure you get to know the characters and that you get emotionally involved, but as the movie progressed it got more and more ridiculous. It didn't take me long to figure out that there was more to the butcher than met the eye and that there was something weird going on and the whole ending wasn't too surprising (Leon's ending). However, what is UP with those monsters? It made no sense WHAT so ever and though the movie kept me on the edge of my seat it pretty much pushed me back in when I saw that twist.It totally ruined the movie, it took away anything that was scary about it, which is usually the case when they take away the mystery and try to put an explanation to the murders. It's a fun movie to watch, for the special effects, but it's by far not the best horror movie I've seen. This is due to the script, not the acting.My advice to whoever wrote the script or somebody who's thinking about making a horror movie: don't try to explain things away, just keep it mysterious and creepy, that'll hunt you. Not some weird-ass monster that has nothing to do with the story whatsoever.
as bad as it gets..
posted on 31 Jul 2009I am really surprised that this movie get a ranking like this! I haven't seen such a bad movie for years.Omg this was a really bad movie. Splatter, is not enough to describe the unnecessary (nearly funny) blood scenes). If you didn't like hostel2 or Wolf Creek or Halloween (2007) ..well this is 10 time worse. The story remind me RL Stine goosebumps.!I can't tell about the acting since the script was so terrible.Cliché all the time. (why i must write 10lines? i never understood this.)==Here comes spoilers==The story is about a butcher killing people all the time in metro. We are talking about thousands of killings and no one gets notice. Actually those people are just missing. And There is the good guy that tries to solve the mystery (well there is no mystery for us because we know from the beginning the bad guy) and as usual no one believes him! what a surprise! In the end he puts butcher clothes and fights to death with the killer butcher!
Nice Idea, Good film yet lacked some
posted on 27 Jul 2009Now... i want to say this from the start that I did enjoy the film, it was good and showed the true depths people will go to when obsessed with something. I liked the atmosphere created, and I rarely thought to myself that "you shouldn't go in there", the entire film was filled with suspense and ... gore. Now comes the bad point and I could only think of one, and that is the end. Now I have read the forums and the QandA's to find out exactly what was going on at the end and to make sense of it, quite frankly if a film requires you to go away to find out the storyline then it fails to portray the film correctly. I have read that this is based on a short story I bet you it's great, but the script for this film is not, it leaves you wondering "what just happened?". Overall I enjoyed the film, and would have given it a much higher score if the ending changed.
"Please step away from the meat"
posted on 25 Jul 2009A photographer, who is looking for edgy & dangerous subjects, can sure pick 'em. He stumbles across a woman about to be raped by some thugs, saves her, and then photographed her as she was boarding a subway train, after which pictures of her appear in the paper, along with a story of her disappearance. In seeking more photo subjects he finds a rather odd man who emerges from the subway, who may just be responsible for a lot of mysterious disappearances in that general area. The photographer tries to photograph the man and almost gets roughed up for his trouble.Then, of course, the photographer becomes obsessed with his quest, and his girlfriend thinks he's losing his mind, but he presses forward and even finds out where the man works & lives. And after the photographer gets a bit too close to his subject he comes home with a sort of brand on his chest, after which his girlfriend decides she believes him after all & by then, it's a bit too little too late.There's some incredible and disgusting gore in this, and one flying eyeball scene definitely made me flinch, and I don't flinch much when it comes to horror. Oh for this to have been in 3D. The element of surprise is ever-present and unsuspecting victims never see what's coming. A rather strange ending to this too, as there's sort of a twist to where all the bodies are going, although why all the preparations that "the butcher" takes seem rather pointless when you see what's going on. Anyway, the late night rolling abattoir will probably keep you either taking cabs, driving your car, taking the bus, or just plain walking, thanks. That is, if you live where there are subways.Definitely worth seeing if you're a horror fan, but it's not what you'd call a "fun" film. Nasty & brutal, is more like it, but definitely has a few good scares & some rather startling moments.
Gory, senseless, and interesting to look at...
posted on 21 Jul 2009For me personally, Clive Barker's stories are hit-or-miss... The "Hellraiser" movies I have always thought highly of - same with "The Candyman". This latest adaptation both puzzled and amused me while cracking me up... It's basically about a New York photographer who stumbles across an apparent madman who boards the midnight subway nightly, and brutally slaughters the passengers. First off, this outlandishly goofy concept actually works well in this, mainly due to the stylish quality in which the film moves along. The colors are bleak, yet vibrant and the mystery lasts the entire damn movie... Nothing makes sense until the last few minutes until they make even LESS sense. That would be a significant complaint for me, yet considering that most of Barker's stories are so incredibly abstract that it is almost forgivable. "The Midnight Meat Train" heaps on the gore and even shows most of the kills in close-up slow-motion - the most memorable one being Ted Raimi's skull bashing, complete with an eyeball spewing from the socket... Unfortunately, this is far from one of Clive Barker's best concepts, yet it's entertaining in a mindless sense.
Everything in this movie is awful!!
posted on 15 Jul 2009This movie made me laugh... I hated myself for having to get to the end in most of the movies I watch, especially in the one I have bad feeling about but just have to get to the end to see if I was right. And my instinct was absolutely right on "Midnite freaking meat train". The movie starts off with a photographer with an opportunity to prove his potential. So he wonders off at around midnight and caught a group of gangster assaulting this model. He saved her but to found out so quickly in the NEWSPAPER the NEXT morning that she went missing. So he became like this annoying obsessive stalker trying to solve murders.The film was ridiculous! Vinny acting was annoying, I'm not sure if the dialogs sucked or it because they came out of his mouth, the brutal graphics looked unreal and the screen writings were absolutely rubbish not to mention when all this combine with stupid directing. There was this love scene that looked like a rape after the guy wanted to "engage to be engaged" ?!? A chase scene in the meat factory was unnecessary long. There were so many scenes that really should cut short or shouldn't even be there. The fighting scenes weren't creative enough and the girlfriend couldn't shot a gun for real!! She stood 3 meters away from the killer and managed to miss... I mean, a little boy can make that shoot. Right until the end, after all the stupidities and ridiculously many many non-sense action and horror, I was bored and annoyed that I didn't even want to care about the twist.Anyway, I think if this movie was made by some other talented director and more professional crew this movie would have been a really good movie.For those of you who still wanted to watch this movie, don't think too much while your watching it!!
A dark and engrossing ride
posted on 13 Jul 2009If you haven't heard of this movie before, then I bet the first thing you'll notice about it is its title, with the use of the word "meat." Unfortunately, it doesn't refer to a man's penis, because then this movie would've obviously been a porno. No, instead, it refers to the flesh of humans. Nothing funny, there.Mahogany, a serial killer in New York City consistently takes a late night subway train, and kills the few passengers who are on it. His weapon is a meat hammer, so his murders don't look pretty, that's for sure. What happens to the bodies is a mystery that I'll leave for you to discover. Anyway, the story centres on Leon, a twenty-something freelance photographer, and his girlfriend. One night Leon, looking for unique photos to take, saves a young model from getting mugged in a subway station. However, after she goes missing, Leon soon gets involved with the mysterious Mahogany, whom Leon also happens to encounter one night. As the saying goes, the plot thickens.I gotta say this movie is great at developing tension. Moments between Mahogany and when Leon stalks him have the burning question stamped right on it, and that's whether Leon's gonna be caught or not. Mahogany's deadly journeys also have tension. One time a shady passenger fights back. What's even more frightening is that he could be a serial killer, himself, with his big sword hidden in his jacket. It's believable, though, because the subways in NYC don't check everyone going in. If they did, then this movie, and the short story that it's based on, probably wouldn't exist.Points go to the art direction. The gore looks very real, and is sometimes painful to watch. Mahogany, being the robot-like character that he is, (which is not a criticism, by the way) shows no mercy to his victims. Eyes and heads get scattered on the floor, and there's POV shots of the victims. It's a neat touch.Never did I guess where this movie was gonna go, and that includes its surprise ending, more or less. There's a couple of problems I have with it, but I won't spoil it for you. Another quibble is in the breaking and entering scene in the hotel, but again, I'll zip it."The Midnight Meat Train" gave me a ride, alright. Suspense, acting, cinematography and all. Mahogany is sure to be a memorable horror villain, in the long run. Maybe not in the same vein as Heath Ledger's Joker, but a vein, nevertheless.
Worthwhile but disjointed take on classic Clive Barker short story
posted on 13 Jul 2009The 80's kicked off with a bang called Clive Barker. His "Books of Blood", a six volume collection of short stories, got cracking with "The Midnight Meat Train", a lurid, gory horror/ fantasy about a killer on the New York subway. This killer didn't kill for lunch money or revenge -- he killed for some hungry higher-ups whose ancestry went way back. Barker pulled no punches and created a macabre, interesting backstory. The movie of the story sticks to the basic premise. As directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, it is atmospheric and gory. It is also confusing and silly, unfortunately. Vinnie Jones is the guy who's butchering commuters, and he's appropriately menacing and brutal. Because Kitamura chooses to forefront Jones's character, he loses his some of his authority as an evil force. If this approach was to illuminate his character's background, it might have been a wise choice, but we learn little about the guy aside from the fact that he is a butcher. Bradley Cooper plays a photographer who is encouraged by art dealer Brook Shields(!) to capture the seedy side of life. His nightly forays into New York's underground culminate in several confrontations with Jones's killer. "The Midnight Meat Train" is definitely worth seeing. Kitamura's approach to the violence left me uneasy. He certainly goes for broke in staging the brutality, but his use of CG in a couple of sequences gave it a comic book-ish flavor. After one poor sap is whacked in the back of the head with a chrome mallet (the tool of Jones's trade), his eyeball pops from his face like something from an ultra-gory "Ren and Stimpy" cartoon. This exaggerated treatment of the violence lessened the impact for me and just felt stagy. The suspense and chase sequences present other problems. In the climactic showdown, which includes Jones, Cooper, and Cooper's girlfriend (the sexy Leslie Bibb), we lose track of where everybody is. When Bibb turns up on top of a pile of corpses, it feels like someone went to town with the hedge clippers on this sucker. Dumped like stinking carrion into a handful of theaters by Lionsgate, this pretty decent horror flick reeks of editorial interference. It's a shame. Hearts were in the right place when this film was conceived. But between conception and distribution, something went bad.
OK-ish i guess
posted on 09 Jul 2009I don't know why, but i thought i've seen this movie before. Maybe it was the name, maybe it was the way poster looked, i don't know. Anyway, it was quite promising in the beginning. And even throughout the whole feature there were some bright moments. Maybe its because i'm not a huge fan of the horrors, and i don't watch them a lot, but this one actually looked fresh sometimes. But the rest of it is not so good. Laughable at times. The movie is slow paced, sometimes you will get so bored you'd forget what was the story about. Characters are not great either. All of them. The butcher is OK, seems creepy and crazy enough. Although i didn't get what were those weird looking things on his chest (that whole scene just looked fake and kind of out-of-the-blue), and why he was collecting those in jars at home? The main lead is plain. His character is really hard to believe in, and very undeveloped. But i guess thats scenarists fault. Like why he cried when he was taking pictures of his girlfriend? Side cast is bad too. But the main thing i hated in this movie was the girl. My god, when will women in horror movies have any brains? Its ridiculous. The girl finds out that a maniac took her boyfriends camera, tries going to police, that fails, and then she thinks of the best idea ever. Why don't we just go and take it! I know where the maniac lives! Yup! Thats swell! And then look for the camera in the bathroom! Why not? And then walk in the room, see a bag that was not there before, and just have a look inside. Maybe camera is there? Not there. But loads of interesting stuff. Shiny. Mmmm. To realize that bag means that the butcher came back is too hard for her tiny tiny brain. Then of course the never ending "falling while running away" trick, that really made it look bad. Then, to put the final nail into the character, in the end of the movie, she walks into the wagon FULL with dead bodies hanging feet up, screams "Noooo" like she just ripped her Gucci bag, and walks further into the wagon... Jeez. Come on. No one else thinks its just, well, stupid? Just awful. If her character wasn't so bad, maybe the movie would get another star or two from me. And i would even forgive MMT characters that can take a hit in the head with a steel hammer (that dude in the train who the conductor killed), butcher vests that can protect from bullets, weird and cheap looking monsters in the end (i didn't read Clive Barkers novel, so i have no idea where those monsters came from), the fact that no one cared that hundreds (judging on the skeletons in the dungeon) disappeared in the city, and main character that didn't bleed to death when he got his tongue ripped out (he barely noticed it i guess). Oh, and the predictable ending. Damn, i knew the ending half way in, its just disappointing. The only reason i'm still giving some credit to the makers, is that the movie in general looks better than most of the horrors i've watched past few months. Visual style is nice, some shots were really nice and good CGI that made the killings look really brutal. (although blood didn't look real at all) I guess some people will enjoy it, some, like me, will watch it if there is nothing else to watch, some will absolutely hate it.
Don't waste your time on this film
posted on 30 Aug 2009This was a terrible film. There was no story line whatsoever. To top it all off, when they couldn't explain the blood and gore (the only good part) ... they threw in a few aliens! I hate when directors (or whatever) run out of ideas and then blame the aliens! Watch this film if you like. But don't say I didn't warn you. Two things: How could Vinny say "welcome" when he didn't have a tongue? Its a pity Mr Jones didn't have a bigger role. Second thing that bugged me, why were we shown Vinny Jones' boils and him cutting them off and putting them into blue liquid, then these have no further role. Why not? I don't like to be shown something and that has nothing to do with the story line whatsoever. In short. Bad story. I wouldn't waste my time - wish I'd have watched Mirrors instead.