The Midnight Meat Train

There's something deeply disturbing about the 'show biz' politics and intrigues that managed to exile such a well made film to the 'dollar theaters'. On the other hand, horror purists of all calibre will probably get a kick out of seeing the visceral shocks and convoluted twists Riuhei Kitamura and Clibe Barker have prepared for our enjoyment in the environment of a seedy, rundown theater. If the disturbed denizens of 42nd Street have all but disappeared, scared away by the gloss and glitz of the cineplex and the popcorn munching crowd that inhabits it, perhaps the final bastion of grindhouse cinema can be found in watching a brutal, bloody shock horror film in an empty theater with row upon row of sticky floor and no one but a handful of genre enthusiasts there with you.

There's also something deeply disturbing about the mentality of the movie-watching public. That a, by the look of it, worse sequel (and I'll be surprised if it's any better than its predecessors) will gross more than MMT, simply because of a household franchise name, a shot of a tape player and someone musing off screen "I want to play a game...", seems to confirm UK grinders Napalm Death motto "the public gets what the public doesn't want".

That's not to say that MMT is an excellent horror flick. No, far from it. But it does exactly what it says on the tin and then some. If the pace slackens a bit after the balls-to-the-wall pummeling that is the first half hour, it is salvaged by Kitamura's (intentional or not) decision to channel the dark, neon-noir of David Fincher.

If the CGI blood is a sign of things to come in the field of mainstream American horror or a leftover from Kitamura's days in Japan, that's for him to know. What Kitamura brings in his cinematic baggage however is his distinct stylistic hallmarks - when the camera repeatedly spins around a train wagon in motion, one will be hard pressed not to recall a similar rotating camera trick from AZUMI. A long overhead crane shot seems to combine the off-kilter axis games of Argento with Tarantino's now-famous crane shot in KILL BILL.

If some people complain that the editing and style appear to be too music video-ish, I will respectfully disagree and point them in the direction of such atrocities as DOOMSDAY and HELL RIDE. Kitamura at least understands rhythm.

The 'novelty' of staging a slasher in a subway train is what gives MMT the first push. The other is the inspired casting choice of having Vinnie "Mean Machine" Jones in the role of the baddie. The third is the distinctly Clive Barker-ish twist that ends the film - not exactly my cup but that's because my sensibilities are totally different from Barker's.

MMT might never quite reach its full potential story-wise, but it's fast-paced and brutal, exactly what the title promises. 7.5/10

A frustrated photographer named Leon (Bradley Cooper) is assigned by ambitious owner of art gallery named Susan (Brooke Shields) asks him to improve the quality his pictures.Leon neglects his waitress fiancée (Leslie Bibb) and roams the undergrounds at night in search of something rare and actual. Then he finds a strange and silent meat-packer (Vinnie Jones) at the last midnight train. After that, Leon goes to the Police precinct but the Detective Hadley(Barbara Eve Harris) doesn't believe him.

This frightening movie displays terror, shocks, hard-edged drama , and creepy images . While the look is suitable atmospheric and eerie, the argument stretches plausibility to the breaking point. This is an acceptable Clive Baker adaptation of the short novel with same title. The picture is full of suspense,thrills, mystery, and lots of blood and gore .This slick gore-feast is a triumph of style over movie logic. It's packed with overwhelming body count, excessive gore, grotesque killing, and rivers of red blood. The picture is smartly designed ,stylishly photographed filming in shades and lights . It packs,tension,suspense,chills,horror and lot of blood and gore including slitting the throat,attempted rage, slicing ,stabbing, all courtesy of excellent craftsmen. They create a creepy make-up of horrible and bloody images. The gutsy murders are gruesomely executed and equally are ghastly graphic .The film is constituted by some well done horror set pieces with creepy and spooky atmosphere.The butcher-murderer appearance deliver the goods with hair raising chills, full scares and scary frames.The story is borrowing from the original short story by Clive Baker who has several cinematic adaptations, as ¨Nightbreed¨, ¨Lord of illusions¨, ¨Hellraiser¨ and ¨Candyman¨ with their uncountable sequels. Thrilling musical score with frightening sounds and appropriate cinematography with dark atmosphere by cameraman Jonathan Sela. The motion picture is skillfully directed by Kitamura. Rating : Acceptable and passable Clive Baker rendition that will appeal his followers.

This movie was an excellent, but the ending was.. somehow solid, but it made this movie kinda forgettable for me. I love how they did for dark blue color, it made this movie more entertaining. A serial killer was awesome! The CGI was so bad, but still absolutely awesome! I think it's just very weird that Bradley Cooper starred in some horror film because he doesn't looks like a guy who should be in type of movies lol. He was good, but I think Jake Gyllenhaal would have been better because of his role from Nightcrawler (2014) and has a dark look. His girlfriend was annoying and really dumb for not helping and being strong. But all other than this, it was very entertaining movie and I really liked the story, but the ending is not what I expected. My rating: 9/10

Midnight Meat Train, The (2008)

* (out of 4)

A storm of controversy hit earlier in the year when LionsGate canceled this films planned release into two-thousand theaters when instead they threw it into a bunch of budget movie houses. Many people screamed foul but after seeing this film there's a good reason why they didn't push it harder and there's further proof by them skipping a DVD release in favor of showing it on Fearnet, a free cable channel. A NYC photographer (Bradley Cooper) wants to make a name for himself by capturing the heart of the city but a expert (Brooke Shields) tells him he's no good. The photographer then goes out on some night shoots where he ends up following a serial killer who brutally mutilate people on a subway train. As a lover of horror movies it takes a lot to make me mad and this film had me mad way too many times for me to enjoy it. This is the type of film that depends on dumb characters to do dumb things because if they didn't then there wouldn't be a movie. Logic and horror films don't go together but this one is just so downright stupid that I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Here's a serial killer who butchers people to the point where there isn't an inch of the train that isn't covered in blood yet he doesn't get a drop on him. The police don't seem to care too much about all the missing people. We get a photographer getting in over his head for no apparent reason. We get a killer who spends plenty of time not only killing the people but trying them up like hogs, cutting off various body parts and so on. Isn't he worried about someone spotting him? Plus, since when does NYC not have a single person walking around? Not only are the performances pretty bad but so is the direction and screenplay. The screenplay has so many holes in it you have to wonder if a group of children wrote it. I'm not sure how close this sticks to the Clive Barker story but the ending is just downright horrid as well. It was nice seeing Shields but she's given very little to do and the rest of the cast members just sleepwalk through their roles. Gore hounds will find plenty of it here but the CGI effects are so incredibly bad that you'll be laughing at them.

Mahogany (Vinnie Jones) is big bad butcher, whose weapon of choice is a mallet and an ice hook. Day after day, night after night he takes the 2 am train to hell, where unsuspecting passengers are massacred and then hung up like dead meat.

Leon (Bradley Cooper) is an up and coming photograph, who is trying to make it critically, but so far his work has been unable to break it. His biggest fan and believer is his beautiful fiancée Maya (Leslie Bibb). One chance session in the subway changes the direction of his life. First he photographs a model being harassed by some thugs and after saving her from them takes a picture of her entering the 2 am train...

Clive Barker has really been prolific with all the horror he has caused come to life on the big screen. It is enough to mention that his stories was the backbone of such classics as Hellraiser or Candyman. That said he has also been raped as a horror writer with atrocities such as Rawhead Rex.

This movie doesn't hit the highs or the lows, but I must say it was pretty decent and definitely one of the best genre movies I have seen lately. No matter has essentially idiotic the plot I have to say it did cut loose of the copycat phase in horror cinema we are currently at. It had a certain freshness to it not only in the way it was told, but also in subject matter itself. I won't go as far as to say it was breakthrough original, but it was darn intriguing all the way through.

I normally rate a good horror movie based on gut feeling. The moment you can't wait to know what will happen at the end of the movie or in the next scene for that matter and at the same time you have to fight with yourself to continue watching - that lets you know this horror flick is actually pretty good.

Definitely full of flaws and the graphic gore isn't my kind of horror meal. Acting was great and tech credits all round were superb. Ryûhei Kitamura deserves accolades for this horror movie. Maybe not a classic, but given the far fetched material he had to work with it is a triumph.