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32 out of 43 people found the following comment useful :-
A Good Ride, 1 August 2008

Author: zyxek from Tulsa, OK

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I saw this movie just now at a local discount theater, and I certainly can't say that I wanted my dollar back. The worst thing a horror film can be is boring, and Midnight Meat Train is never dull. Neither is it quite as exciting or tense as would be ideal, but you take what you can get.

Based on Clive Barker's classic short story, the film is about photographer Leon (Bradley Cooper), who wants to capture on film the "true" New York City. He has to sell photos of crimes and accidents to tabloids for money, though. He is given a meeting with a legendary art dealer (Brooke Shields), and accepts her advice to explore individual places more closely, in hopes of finding the image that impresses her and gets him a break in the art world.

He ends up encountering strange doings during late-night subway rides, and becomes obsessed with a silent, severe butcher (Vinnie Jones) who bludgeons passengers to death on a regular basis.

The movie works mainly because of its director. Ryuhei Kitamura might be the best visual stylist working in the horror genre. The scenes of suspense, intrigue, and horror are all inventively shot, while never distracting from what's actually going on. His timing of scares, however, could use some work. Jeff Buhler's script has quality dialog, good pacing, and is generally efficient.

The greatest weakness of the film is its lead actor. Cooper lacks the charisma and intensity necessary to involve the audience fully in Leon's descent into the underworld.

But I said before, it is never boring. The time passes easily, blood flows freely, but only when it needs to, and it is a joy to look out. It deserved a much wider and better promoted release, and is certainly worth seeking out.

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31 out of 49 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the best adaptations of Clive Barker's stories, 14 August 2008

Author: movedout from http://thescreenbug.blogspot.com

Clive Barker's more sanguinary inclinations are paid tribute here through a hulking golem, a malevolent meat merchant in his dapper best, named Mahogany (Vinnie Jones) who smashes, eviscerates and cleaves through unsuspecting commuters on the last train home. Adapted from Barker's seminal anthology, "Books of Blood", the similarly named "The Midnight Meat Train" is more than just an opportunity for some sophomoric snickering over its title but one of Barker's most revered short stories about a supernatural serial killer that ekes out fascination, fear and obsession from a lone photographer, Leon Kaufman (Bradley Cooper) stumbling upon the butcher's late night deliveries.

Director Ryuhei Kitamura (of "Versus" and "Azumi" fame) offers up one of the year's most brutally alluring gore fests in his American debut. With the gritty and detailed hard-edge of early 70s horror films (why, hello there Lucio Fulci!), his flair for CGI augmented visuals and the intense seduction of experimental camera-work in a cinematic environment so increasingly sanitised of actual visceral terror, Kitamura refreshes the genre's ability to unsettle and provoke audiences and jolt jaded horror enthusiasts out of their PG-13 apathy.

Kitamura works with a modest but shrewd sense of space in the decaying subway, the claustrophobic train and the creeping gloom of the city. There's a certain simpatico between Barker's distinctive tone and Kitamura's balls-to-the-wall film-making that compliments each other to the benefit of the film's atmospheric resilience. The unvarnished horrors cooked down deep in the gallows of the tunnels, plunged into darkness form the basis of Kaufman's terrible fixation on the disappearing passengers and that indescribably malicious man who stalks the shadows. Mahogany is the film's myth, the legend of The Butcher. Prepossessing the exactitude of traits essential to the character, Jones has the nasty glint in the eye, the mysterious swagger of indestructibility and the imperative of consuming evil, as well as having the benefit of looking like the quiet guy in the corner of the bar who could take out an entire gang of hoodlums without spilling his drink.

Kitamura's modulation of the material's emotional stakes and his slow-burn style of ratcheting up tension gives the story further layers to plunge into, not withstanding Cooper's unlikely presence as the film's corruptible protagonist. Jeff Buhler's screenplay from Barker's 25-year-old story is uneven at times but keeps an atmospheric dread of hopelessness. Supporting characters include Kaufman's wife (Leslie Bibb), a counterpoint to the man's wavering sanity and a threadbare characterisation of his good-humoured pal Jurgis (Roger Bart) who stands to represent Kaufman's humanity. But even if these emotional contrasts don't work, the film itself is a tidy and effective meta-slasher that resonates beyond corporeal carnage. Kitamura's subtextual ingenuity is shown through macabre imagery of animal carcasses hanging off meat hooks as Mahogany tenderises, disembowels and stores his victims just like the morsels of flesh they are.

Clive Barker's fantastical and mad blend of visceral shocks and profoundly unsettling explorations of worlds coexisting and buried deep within the one we think we understand has become an important component of our contemporary literary and filmic universes. While "The Midnight Meat Train" never hits the spasms of metaphysical despairs in "Hellraiser" or the diabolical mind-warps of "Candyman", this is forthright horror – simple, powerful and unadulterated.

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23 out of 34 people found the following comment useful :-
Wow.... Really??? Wow, 22 August 2008

Author: winkie_69 from Milwaukee, WI

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Do not bother to waste your money on this movie. Do not even go into your car and think that you might see this movie if any others do not appeal to you. If you must see a movie this weekend, go see Batman again.

The script was horrible. Perfectly written from the random horror movie format. Given: a place in confined spaces, a madman with various weapons, a curious man who manages to uncover all of the clues that honest police officers cannot put together, and an innocent and overly curious, yet beautiful and strong woman with whom many in the audience would love to be able to call their girlfriend. Mix together, add much poorly executed gore, and what the hell, let's put some freaks in there for a little "spin" to the plot.

The acting was horrible, and the characters unbelievable - Borat was more believable than this.

***Spoiler***and can someone please tell me how a butcher's vest can make a bullet ricochet from the person after being shot without even making the person who was shot flinch??? I'm in the army. We need that kind of stuff for ourselves.

1 out of 10, and I would place it in the decimals of that rounded up to give it the lowest possible score I can.

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26 out of 41 people found the following comment useful :-
An instant classic, 3 August 2008

Author: Chaz_233 from US

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

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.

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26 out of 43 people found the following comment useful :-
A Nutshell Review: The Midnight Meat Train, 9 August 2008

Author: DICK STEEL from Singapore

Given that this month's the Lunar Seventh Month where the Chinese believe that spirits roam our world as their month long vacation from purgatory, my friend has so far kept this running joke about my unfortunate bumping into them given I spend my journey home on late night buses and trains. The Midnight Meat Train, as the title suggests, tells of the last train in the system where passengers inexplicably disappears, and I thought that Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura managed to put a somewhat refreshing spin to the entire slasher and torture porn genre.

Based on a short story by horror Meister Clive Barker, the story in parts looked like horror thrillers with recognizable moments like those in The Terminator, Shutter, and of course, Jeepers Creepers. If I were to have to take the last train, I definitely wouldn't want to bump into Vinny's sharp dressed Mahogany, a character who is almost like any other Vinny Jones character of being the muscle-man. Here, he's a butcher with a penchant of waiting for the last train, and armed with nothing more than knives, meat hooks and his personal favourite, a meat tenderizer, he proceeds to chop up unsuspecting victims as the train seem to speed off into the unknown.

And there's where the story becomes intriguing, as it poses a lot of questions and doesn't provide you with any clear answers, until much later. You have to endure a slow buildup of Leon the photographer (Bradley Cooper) who in his quest to take the perfect picture for an exhibition, chances upon Mahogany and follows him for that Kodak moment. His girlfriend Maya (Leslie Bibb) and best friend Jurgis (Roger Bart) also get into the fray, and soon life for all three will be irrevocably changed. The payload for the movie comes at the back, and my, it's as satisfying a wrap as it can be, though again for those already familiar with some of the mentioned films, you'll more or less expect things to be done the way they did.

As mentioned earlier, what was a refreshing spin, was how direct and to the point the acts of violence got, without dragging the scenes out with needless, extended cries of mercy or lingering on gratuitous scenes of gore and blood, which torture porn flicks seem to continuous bog their movies with, that it becomes boring (Yes, I think you can sense that I'm already de-sensitized to such scenes). Rather than trying to craft creative ways to die in order to go one up against other movies that came before it, The Midnight Meat Train really went back to basics and simplicity, where killing blows are delivered swiftly, before proceeding with dismemberment.

While it is disturbing in itself, the distributors decided to shield local audiences from such violence and gore, and hence we got a censored M18 rated version, instead of full regalia under the R21 rating. The cuts were jarring enough, but in all fairness the quality of the movie cannot be judged by just how those scenes were removed with a butcher's knife. Going by detailed descriptions of the level of graphic violence contained in the movie, it seemed that we suffered from having a lot cut off.

The movie also boasted some really effective scenes of tension, and the anticipation of ill will especially with Vinny Jones looming nearby. The last time I remembered watching a major action sequence involving trains was in Batman Begins, and given that it has to live up to titular expectations, audiences were treated to some incredible all-out action scenes set in and around the train, with some really energetic camera movement and angles to complement the action on screen.

But technicalities aside, what really worked and will possibly elevate this film to cult status, will be portrayal and fleshing out the character of Mahogany as the no-nonsense and swift executioner, adding to the list of memorable villains to have graced the screen amongst the likes of the Freddies, Jasons and the Michael Myers of the cinematic world.

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12 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
MMT is exactly what the title implies - fast and brutal, 15 October 2008

Author: chaos-rampant from Greece

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

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12 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Literally, the worst film I have seen for years., 12 October 2008

Author: rabbitmoon (rabbitmoon@tiscali.co.uk) from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Wow, how bad can it get. This was seriously bad. Not in terms of the gore - which was mainly laughable CGI - but in acting, atmosphere and direction.

The story was dreadful - the character arc of the main lead was a total joke. Within a few nights of stalking Vinnie Jones, he starts to become 'haunted' to the point of crying when photographing his girlfriend. Um... are all New York photographers this childish, suggestible and weak? His character development had absolutely no justification or point whatsoever - and by the very end you'll be laughing out loud at the utterly predictable, and totally absurd twist his character takes.

The gory moments were clearly just a weak, low-self-esteemed effort to jump onto the modern MTV style gore wagon - all cgi, blood yet no real emotion whatsoever. These parts were unintentionally funny - and distracting by their self-consciousness - wacky camera angles etc.

Overall this film commits the crime of blowing another potential idea. What could have had atmosphere (until the stupid monsters at the end) is ruined in favour of 'look at me'style self-conscious directing. This film wasn't made for and audience - it was made for a CV - a deeply selfish motive.

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25 out of 44 people found the following comment useful :-
An Entertaining Thriller, 1 August 2008

Author: wacko129 from United States

I would like to start off saying, it is a bit upsetting that this movie has been undersold. I went into this movie know a it was based on a short story, but I had not read it nor heard anything about it.

The acting was very good Overall from a semi-star cast. Bradley Cooper did a great job, as did Leslie Bibb. Vinnie Jones did a good job by pulling off the Sphynx-like roll from Gone in 60 Seconds. He was a calm, quiet collected man who just looks like a natural born killer. I was wondering why Brooke Shields name did not come up or was used to sell this movie, but found out she is just a minor roll in the movie. Peter Jacobson (one of the new members of Dr. House) has a small roll in the movie as a bit of comic relief.

The plot line, I am saying this without reading the book, was decent, but there were times I feel the viewer had to make jumps with what was going on. I won't give away anything in the movie, but it just seemed like there were times that a whole scene took place that was a bit unnecessary, though they may have been thrown in as red herons. The movie is rather straight forward and basic, but it is still able to keep you pulled in. I was kept excited throughout the whole movie until the end and the plot twist occurs.

The violence/blood did not seem over the top for what was occurring. Never was there a part that someone spurted massive amount of blood out of a paper cut. The violence was a bit disturbing, and there were a couple dismemberment/decapitation scenes.

After watching this movie, I felt that this could become another gore cult classic with such as Dead or Alive. Also, if this was well publicized and launched in more theaters, I think it would have easily outsold The Happening and The Strangers, the biggest horror flicks of the summer.

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10 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Bring out the meat, 5 October 2008

Author: William Holttinen from Finland

I love Clive Barker and his mad visions, and I sure did love this movie too. It isn't haunting horror like the Shining or Ringu, but it is nice little slaughterfest. Some of you will not like the CGI-gore but it didn't bother me because in my honest opinion, it looked good. If you have seen the french übergory movie "Inside" then this is a notch down from it but I could promise it'll make you cringe once or twice. What comes to the acting, it isn't Oscar material but it is good enough for this kind of film. Atmosphere is great, directing is good, camera-work is good so there is no reason to miss this great story from Clive Barker. My 6 out of my 9 stars come from acting, directing etc. and the rest 3 stars come from gore. Because I'm a gore hound :D Have fun with this movie!

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8 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Come on ride the train, come ride it..., 21 September 2008

Author: Filmjack3 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Before you start asking - no, it's not porn, gay or otherwise, though those were the first words out of my mother's mouth when I told her I would be going to see this now cult-ish horror movie.

This is another example of Lion's Gate acting nefarious with their distribution. They probably aren't as 'wtf'-like as Fox at the moment, but while they bask in their self-imposed glow of Saw flicks and Jason Statham vehicles, they dumped Midnight Meat Train in a manner not unlike (speaking of Fox) Idiocracy. The film was technically released in about a handful of (i.e. 100) theaters this summer, practically all of them in 1-dollar joints in towns I've never heard of and nowhere near my digs in North NJ/NYC. It's made $34,000 in its theatrical run, which is somewhat impressive considering a) the total lack of any real advertising, either around the "from the mind of Clive Barker" angle or just that it's a kick-ass-looking horror flick about a guy killing people on trains, and b) it opened in 1-dollar theaters for a very limited run.

So suffice to say it's a bittersweet coda to this dumped-on movie from Lion's Gate that it finally screened for two aptly scheduled Midnight screenings at a theater in Manhattan- ironically costing us all about 8 or 9 dollars MORE than it did those lucky dozen or so that caught it a couple of months ago- and at the same time, thankfully, is a worthwhile midnight-movie. Kitamura's adaptation of the Barker story (un-read by me) is a slight throwback to grisly 80s serial killer flicks (while I couldn't think of one after it ended, with a friend of mine repeatedly stating "it's like Saw, only good" which I could understand, I'm sure there are suggestions open to comparison) as it unapologetically takes its time showing us unnecessary killing scenes with lots of blood, gore, meat and Vinnie Jones as the killer. It is, in all actuality, a definite must see for every geeky horror buff you might have ever come across, or are yourself.

It's about an aspiring photographer (Bradley Cooper) who is trying to impress a chic, artsy curator (Brooke Shields) with his photographs, but she wants more - more of the actual blood and guts and other things that he hasn't captured yet. After clicking at the right time and right place with a model almost being attacked and raped, she's finally impressed - but she wants more. This leads Cooper to finding a subject coming out of the subway one night: a man in a business suit, crew-cut, and a stare that could cut glass. This is Vinnie Jones, uttering only one word in his entire performance and thus making it perhaps his most bad-ass yet (which considering that it's "I'm the Juggernaut, Bitch!", it's saying something).

Now, saying that this is a kick-ass genre flick doesn't exactly mean it's a very good movie. It's not. It's got some pretty blah dialog, the characters are only interesting when serving the (bleeped)-up nature of the plot, and there's even some poorly shot CGI of the trains moving through the tunnels. You'll also be saying "wtf" every few seconds in the final act, though that's a big part of the fun. It's not for the squeamish: this contains countless bodies strung up by meat-hooks, blood flowing so much that people usually end up slipping hilariously in the train, and even some whacked-out creatures reminiscent of The Descent... only, of course, these wait for their flesh in a slightly different manner, and end up raising some questions for the viewer once it ends.

Midnight Meat Train is kick-ass for all the reasons that people love pointlessly violent horror movies that occasionally feature the likes of Ted Raimi getting beaten to a bloody pulp with a hook. If you are that kind of horror fan, who wanted something aside from complete unintentional hilarity and abhorrent contrivance with the Saw movies and harkon longingly back to crazy butcher-themed flicks (and, perhaps, are looking for some influence of Blowup from time to time), this is for you. It's certainly, at the least, one of the most overlooked movies in years. 7.5/10

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