The Midnight Meat Train (2008)

Director:

Ryuhei Kitamura

Writers (WGA):

Jeff Buhler (screenplay)
Clive Barker (short story "The Midnight Meat Train")

Release Date:

7 August 2008 (Russia)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

The most terrifying ride you'll ever take

Plot:

A New York photographer hunts down a serial killer. Based on Clive Barker's short story "Midnight Meat Train" |

Plot Keywords:

Cannibalism | Photographer | Dismemberment | Based On Short Story | Subway

Awards:

1 win

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Bradley Cooper	...	Leon Kauffman
Leslie Bibb	...	Maya
Brooke Shields	...	Susan Hoff
Vinnie Jones	...	Mahogany
Roger Bart	...	Jurgis
Tony Curran	...	Driver
Barbara Eve Harris	...	Detective Lynn Hadley
Peter Jacobson	...	Otto
Stephanie Mace	...	Leigh Cooper
Ted Raimi	...	Randle Cooper
Nora	...	Erika Sakaki
Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson	...	Guardian Angel
Dan Callahan	...	Troy Taleveski
Don Smith	...	Station Cop
Earl Carroll	...	Jack Franks

Also Known As:

Clive Barker's Midnight Meat Train (USA) (promotional title)

MPAA:

Rated R for sequences of strong bloody gruesome violence, grisly images involving nudity, sexual content and language.

Runtime:

USA:100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | USA:R | UK:18 | Singapore:R21 | South Korea:18 | Singapore:M18 (edited version)

Filming Locations:

Burbank, California, USA

Company:

GreeneStreet Films

Trivia:

Clive Barker provided some of the paintings seen in Susan Hoff's art gallery.

Quotes:

Driver: I envy you.

Movie Connections:

References Forrest Gump (1994)

An instant classic

I just saw this movie at the $1.50 theaters- pretty good deal for movie this good. But, it deserved a wide release in large-screen theaters It's one of the best horror films released recently, many times better than any of the lame Saw episodes.

Leon is a photographer who specializes in photographing the city and is told by some famous artist to basically take it to extreme if he wants to make it. This is taken to mean that he has to photograph the ugly side of the city. So one day he follows some thugs who go to the metro and nearly rape a girl. He takes pics and saves her. These pics get the approval of the famous artist and now he gets his exhibition. However, the metro girl boards a train and doesn't make it. The train she boards is the midnight meat train. It's a 2am or so train where a well-dressed fellow named Mahogany kills passengers once the train takes a seemingly closed route. He kills passengers rather brutally with one of those meat-tenderizing hammers and dissects/prepares them in some way.

Leon also runs into him and starts taking pictures, he becomes fascinated by this guy and follows him. Turns out he works at a meat packing plant where cuts meat. Leon goes to the police initially because he thinks the thugs followed the girl and ultimately killed her. But he becomes suspicious of Mahogany, who looks pretty sinister. Eventually Leo becomes obsessed complete with lining his room with pictures and maps of past disappearances. He doesn't trust the police anymore and is driving his girl-friend crazy.

This leads ultimately to Leon following and having to confront Mahogany. The movie ends with a surprising explanation about what this train is all about. After all it almost seems like once it takes the closed track it's in a different dimension. But it turns out it isn't. What is going on is real.

Now, most horror movies would have concluded with this final confrontation, but this being based on a Clive Barker story (which I haven't read by the way) the explanation is rather interesting and surprising because nothing really prepares us for what is going on.

As one can tell there's plenty of story and dialogue here. This is not one of those all-fancy-visuals movie. Perhaps the second third of the film is somewhat slow as it pertains more to the relationship between our main character and his girlfriend.

This movie is very well directed. There are some awesome shots and camera viewpoints. In one scene you take on the victim's point of view as she is decapitated. The violence is very graphic but there is no overabundance of gore. There's some amount of blood but more than gory it's brutal. Our villain is outstanding! A new hero in evil. He looks mean and brutal and is played chillingly by Vinnie Jones, with his perfectly tailored suits and stern calm behavior. There are two excellent fight scenes that involve him and he just kicks behind.

I can't imagine a horror fan not enjoying this movie. It's got everything you want in a horror movie and then some. A couple of things makes it stand out from the rest: it's got more dialogue and a better story than most movies these days (of any genre), some very cool violence, and one of the best villains in a long time. It could have been gorier and there's almost no nudity for some reason. An absolute must see for horror fans.