The Midnight Meat Train (2008) Revisited – Horror Movie Review

Is there anyone as disappointed in their adaptations as master of horror Clive Barker? Okay, part time Wizard and full-time curmudgeon Alan Moore is probably the most upset at his work being adapted but Clive is a close second. The sad part is that while he has had fewer of his novels or short stories adapted than someone like Stephen King, he has played a part in more of them and been let down more often than not. He also didn’t have a great beginning with film as his first screenplay Transmutations or Underworld he ended up hating. He first adapted his own work with Rawhead Rex in 1986 and hated the end product there too. Other than 1987’s Hellraiser which he wrote and directed, there hasn’t been something that he was disappointed in or was butchered by the studio and he has become a bit jaded. His films run the gamut from fun to bonafide classics, but some just miss out on their audiences completely. 2008’s The Midnight Meat Train was a blink and you’ll miss it experience that was released in only 100 theaters and then straight to DVD in most other countries. Its not Hellraiser or even as well known as Candyman, Nightbreed, or even Rawhead Rex but that just makes it the black sheep of Barker’s catalogue waiting to pull into your station.

The Midnight Meat Train was originally going to be made in 2005 under director Patrick Tatopoulos but he left after some delay in 2006. Tatopoulos is primarily a production designer and special effects guru who has had a stellar career in that realm with credits like The Super Mario Bros Movie and Spawn all the way up to The Last Voyage of the Demeter. He would eventually direct a movie in 2009 with taking the reigns of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. The script, this time with nothing from Barker, was written by Jeff Buhler in what was his first movie. He has gone on to write a lot more with 2019 being a massive year for him. The Pet Sematary remake, the Jacob’s Ladder remake, The Grudge reboot, and a movie called The Prodigy were all his credits and all came out that year. Replacing director Tatopoulos would be Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura who was already a success in his native market with cult hit Versus and even Godzilla: Final Wars. The movie at parts does have some similarities to J-horror of the time and the direction here is really good. He has made a few more American movies including a segment of the horror anthology Nightmare Cinema.

The cast of The Midnight Meat Train is an interesting collection with the main 4 being Bradley Cooper, Vinnie Jones, Brooke Shields, and Leslie Bibb. Cooper in 2008 wasn’t the 12 time, yes that’s TWELVE TIME, Oscar nominee that he is today but he wasn’t an unknown persona either. He had shown up in Wet Hot American Summer back in 2001 as well as a ton of TV like Alias and Kitchen Confidential. He had also ramped up before this movie with larger roles in comedies like Failure to Launch and Wedding Crashers. This wasn’t even his first horror movie as that distinction belongs to My Little Eye from 2002. It wouldn’t be his last either as he showed up in Case 39 and as a voice in 10 Cloverfield Lane. Shields is a surprise to see here even if she had done horror before like Alice Sweet Alice and an episode of Tales from the Crypt. Bibb as Cooper’s girlfriend was making it big around this time with roles in Iron Man and in horror had just done Trick r Treat. Finally, Vinnie Jones had been a steady presence since impressing in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch and continues to bounce between straight to video, theatrical, and TV work.

The cast is an important part of the movie and does what good Clive Barker projects do. It mixes stars both current and former with solid character actors to give a believable atmosphere. Jones is an imposing presence who only has one word of spoken dialogue at the very end of the movie. Cooper plays his photographer as a flawed character that asks the audience if we really want him to be our avatar and force us to ask if we would do the same things he is doing. Bibb and Shields play the devil and angel on the shoulders of cooper with one pushing him to be more successful and self-interested and the other trying to pull out his logic and humanity. While Barker had nothing to do with the script process or movie in general, the character traits come out in both his heroes and villains.

The Midnight Meat Train follows the overall plot of the story well. It’s a relatively quick read that focuses heavily on the main character and what he sees and even though that story on its own is over 200 pages, the movie still expands on it. Cooper is a struggling photographer who is being turned down for not going far enough in his art. He starts to live a little more dangerously, even not interfering with an assault until he absolutely must and eventually suspects a butcher named Mahogany of killing missing persons over the past few years. He does do the right thing and goes to the police first who of course don’t believe him. They actually question his character and both his profit seeking and voyeurism in general but send him on his way. Leon becomes obsessed as he is driven to get great pictures but also prove he is right about the killer.

He also has strange dreams and hallucinations of both the killer and himself. One of the times he is able to follow Mahogany and witnesses’ brutal killings and even the process that Mahogany goes through. We also see that the conductor of the train is in on killings as he shoots a passenger who is able to fight back the assault. Leon fights Mahogany but is knocked out and wakes up with his body beaten and strange symbols now carved into his chest. While Jones doesn’t have any lines until the end, he does a great job acting with both his physically menacing body and his facial expressions. He doesn’t seem to get any joy out of the acts of violence but is driven to complete his task at hand. He has strange growths that he has to cut off and isn’t particularly bothered by this fact. It’s good story telling without overly explaining anything. even at the end, which we are getting to, there are explanations but not everything.

Leon struggles with his girlfriend who tries to help him but also doesn’t fully believe him either. She and her friend do find Mahogany’s apartment before she only barely makes it out with evidence dating back over a century linking killings in the underground. The police don’t believe Maya either but then finally tell her to take the subway to find her friend. Leon follows Mahogany through the slaughterhouse and onto the train. We get the full display of depravity with multiple bodies hanging and a full knock down drag out fight between Leon and Mahogany. Maya’s friend ends up being collateral damage in the fight and other bodies are ripped apart, knocked over, or even used in the scuffle. I’m not the biggest fan of CGI blood and there is quite a bit of that but I also don’t know what the budget or post production issues were either.

The gore that is used is great though and we see it all when Mahogany takes apart a few of the bodies that he has killed. Teeth are pulled out with pliers, eyes are scooped out with spoons, and fingernails are ripped off one at a time to show us that these bodies will never be identified let alone found. The reverse of this is the overuse of slow-motion effects during the kills. Mahogany uses a giant meat hammer as his primary weapon and it is suitably cool, but when he hits people, or even when someone’s eye is shot out, yeah we have a lot of eye trauma here, its always in that action movie slo-mo style. The brutality of these kills would be much more effective through a cold, real time lens.

The fighting continues on the train until it reaches its last stop, and the two men brawl it out in brutal fashion until Leon is told to finish off Mahogany. There seems to be a sense of relief from the butcher as he utters his only line of the movie before dying. The conductor applauds Leon and recognizes he has the ability to get done what needs to be done. Leon attacks him and his tongue is removed before he has to watch his beloved girlfriend be killed. Creatures have lived underground long before the subway was built, and Leon is to be their new caretaker. They are to be fed so that most of the population will be safe during the day but sacrifices still need to be made. The police officer hands Leon the schedule the next day revealing an illuminati like group who understands the greater good and Leon boards the train looking for the next victims, and possibly his replacement as we have seen happens to this assignment.

The Midnight Meat Train isn’t Barker’s best adaptation or most well-known story for that matter, but it was absolutely buried on its release. Putting it on 100 screens in theaters that weren’t playing the newest blockbusters killed its chances at making an impact. I saw it as most people did, when it came to Blockbuster in a very generic cover. I liked it then and I like it now even if I still prefer the Hellraisers and Lord of Illusions of the world. This isn’t on the same level as those but that’s what makes it a great black sheep. Its not really talked about or thrown into the straight to video avoid pile. While it will never compete with the all-time classics, it’s a great suggestion to those looking for something different, lovers of Barker’s unique brand of horror, and gorehounds alike.

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