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Charles Does
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 Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 11:00 am |
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 TFW Travel Coordinator
Joined: Feb 19, 2007Posts: 2115Location: Arlington/Fort Worth,Texas |
Adapted from Barker's seminal anthology, "Books of Blood" Midnight Meat Train is, easily, one of the best horror films to hit theatres from American studios within the past decade. With its refreshing mix of suspense, violence, and overall brutality I can't imagine any true horror fan not loving this movie. It's got everything you can ask for in a classic horror movie and more, the fact it was released at $1.50 theaters is disgusting.
The film follows photographer Leon Kauffman(Bradley Cooper), who slings photos of crimes and accidents to tabloids for money. When he is given a meeting with a famous art dealer (Brooke Shields), he accepts her advice to explore the ugly side of the city more closely, in hopes of finding the image that gets him the big break in the art world. He ends up encountering strange doings during late-night subway rides, and becomes obsessed with a malevolent meat merchant in his dapper best, named Mahogany (Vinnie Jones) who bludgeons and cleaves his way through unsuspecting commuters on the last train home.
Director Ryuhei Kitamura ("Versus" and "Azumi") offers up a refreshingly gritty horror flick that can actually rely on a decent script instead of overly done scenes of gore and blood. Vinnie Jones looks mean and brutal as Mahogany with his perfectly tailored suits and stern calm behavior {which I think is the same role he plays in every film} but the real star of this film is the cinematography. The intense experimental camera-work sets this film apart from the rest of the crap I’ve been seeing in our genre lately. Plus, the first 'butchering' scene is probably one of the most graphic scenes I've seen in theatres in awhile. The violence is very graphic but like I said there is no overabundance of gore.
This movie deserves an audience of horror fans eagerly waiting a new classic to feast their eyes on but instead the studio craps on it to make way for the next fart whatever movie. Lionsgate should be disgusted in themselves for not marketing this and giving it the proper distribution it deserved.
4 stars out of 5
Charles Does....
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Smoking Cigarettes...Watchin Captain Kangaroo
"Yeah. That's a good movie....I made that movie! Far out!"
Tobe Hooper referring to Lifeforce in 2009 |
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KATANASTING
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| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:14 pm |
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Joined: May 30, 2007Posts: 179Location: Vienna, VA |
Hate to say it, but this wouldn't be the first time this kind of thing has happened with a Clive Barker film...or an exceptional horror film overall. The HELLRAISER series was the only Barker-related project line that got decent publicity and distribution, and I don't doubt for a second that Clive's direct, hands-on involvement had a lot to do with it. Then again, he did the same thing with LORD OF ILLUSIONS and it was a miracle that it made it to the big screen at all. (But then the studio involved was the long-cadaverous United Artists.)
I was OVER THE MOON when I saw the trailer for MEAT TRAIN, and heard that Kitamura was directing - I had just seen VERSUS the previous week. But having read BOOKS OF BLOOD more than a couple of times, I knew that good films could be made from all the stories, but not without some huge hurdles to overcome. I sure wish that I was wrong, but the crappy way that Lionsgate treated this movie proves otherwise. So I will wait patiently for the DVD...
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SinFEARly,
Don P. Normann |
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G. Noel Gross
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| Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 9:27 am |
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Joined: Feb 16, 2007Posts: 1570Location: Dallas |
Came to the movie cold and left colder.
Cinematography? Post-production merry-go-round pans and desaturated, uh, EVERYTHING don't equal genius. The performances were as uneven as the characters save The Butcher. Further, nearly every kill was comically oversweetened with CG.
Line of the flick also cuts its legs out from under it:
"Life is like a box of chocolates."
(Mocking our maniac's look.)
Can readily see why this wasn't embraced either by the distributor or audiences.
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Charles Does
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| Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 3:58 pm |
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TFW Travel Coordinator
Joined: Feb 19, 2007Posts: 2115Location: Arlington/Fort Worth,Texas |
G. Noel Gross wrote: Came to the movie cold and left colder.
Cinematography? Post-production merry-go-round pans and desaturated, uh, EVERYTHING don't equal genius. The performances were as uneven as the characters save The Butcher. Further, nearly every kill was comically oversweetened with CG.
Line of the flick also cuts its legs out from under it:
"Life is like a box of chocolates."
(Mocking our maniac's look.)
Can readily see why this wasn't embraced either by the distributor or audiences.
 I love you noel....I liked it, I hate to steer others wrong in film so Im sorry you didn't enjoy it Noel... Ill have to agree to disagree with you on alot of the movie....
_________________
Smoking Cigarettes...Watchin Captain Kangaroo
"Yeah. That's a good movie....I made that movie! Far out!"
Tobe Hooper referring to Lifeforce in 2009 |
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WR
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:45 pm |
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 Undead
Joined: Sep 8, 2007Posts: 236Location: TEXAS |
It was ok - no more, no less.
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CABFan
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| Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:33 am |
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Sentinel
Joined: Jun 26, 2007Posts: 1814 |
That's a good way to describe it.. for all the astro-turf publicity it got.. I would have hoped for more then a lot of cgi blood and guts effects from a story with a script that really was no more than just ok.. it was just ok.
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sewert78
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| Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 4:36 pm |
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Joined: Feb 23, 2008Posts: 376Location: Dallas, TX |
[quote="G. Noel Gross"] Further, nearly every kill was comically oversweetened with CG.
quote]
I have to say, I really enjoyed the film, and bought it sight unseen. I do, however, have to agree with Noel on this one. The CG is completely unnecessary. Savini and others have done it countless times without the need for CG...leave it to the pros and not the computer programs.
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