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The Midnight Meat Train: A Review (RJMB Exclusive) - Barry Lee Dejasu - 10-05-2008
Leon is a photographer. His passion, his goal, is to capture the real, raw, ugly, beating heart of the city (originally New York, now Los Angeles) that he calls home. Meanwhile, there’s a killer roaming the subways late at night, committing unspeakable acts when the cars are nearly empty. Perhaps Leon can find what he’s looking for through the killer—if he can stay alive. All aboard…
First off, I want to make it clear that although this movie is on Comcast’s OnDemand channel FEARnet, it wasn’t given the shaft. It’s WIDESCREEN, for starters, which is something I’ve seen people worrying about on several message boards (and believe me, I was one of them.) And more importantly, this was intended to be in theaters; after the much-hated Catacombs (another straight-to-FEARnet feature), many were in doubt about the quality of this movie; however, I can honestly say that it would have been a hit if it had been in theaters as originally planned, but thanks to Lionsgate’s foolish decisions, it’s on TV already…and it’s good. (In fact, the only downsides to it being on FEARnet were the bottom-of-the-screen advertisements and the midway-point intermission, which will mercifully be absent when this eventually comes to DVD.)
As for the feature itself: well, it’d be impossible for me to talk about it without comparing it to its source, the awesome short story of the same name by Clive Barker (happy birthday to him today!), so for the sake of anyone who has read the story, I’ll quash your worries about a bad adaptation right now and say that this was nicely done. There were a number of additions to the plot (a typical stipulation of short story adaptations), but instead of being artificially grafted on, they nicely expanded it while retaining the overall plot and the mood of the story (dread, “ickiness,” very wrong moments of humor, and a kind of sublime—or perhaps subliminal—beauty in the midst of so much ugliness.) Sure, there were a few areas that could have been avoided (Leon’s girlfriend Maya was the only poorly-written character in the movie, in a very typically Hollywood suspense film way), but overall, the plot was tight, the characters colorful, and the mood solid. Good work, Jeff Buhler!
Oh, and for those who have read the story and are wondering/worried about it including its revelatory climax, [spoiler]yes, it’s here. It’s not quite as heart-stopping or surreal, but it’s there and it works.[/spoiler] To everyone else: I shall say no more.
Bradley Cooper plays the protagonist Leon. I was impressed with how solidly evil he could come across in The Wedding Crashers—yes, I’m serious here—and figured that he would do well in a more sympathetic role. Here, he took on the role of an “obsessed artist,” where his intense persona and hardened gaze was perfect. The other actors all did fine—Leslie Bibb as the airheaded Maya included—but of course, I have to give special mention to Vinnie Jones, the subway “Butcher” himself. What he brought to the role of Mahogany was more than just a looming, intimidating presence; he brought a kind of grace to the role. Perhaps this was just in the way he moved, but I think he conveyed a kind of silent dialogue (he literally doesn’t say a word—until a key scene at the film’s climax) that would surprise many who only see him as just another muscle-bound character actor/thug. Brooke Shields also had a brief but enjoyable role as an art critic, whose disparaging remarks about Leon’s photographs were a little cliché but delivered with a bit of humanistic sympathy. Everyone else did nicely, but to say more may give away the plot. Moving on…
To look at the film was a real treat. Leave it to a foreign director to bring out the best of a Clive Barker story; Ryuhei Kitamura’s uses of light (or lack thereof), color, and camera angles were only the frosting on this cake. You know how many times I’ve mentioned mood already—half of that owes to Kitamura’s vision. I won’t give away too much, but there are a number of scenes that could have been much more conventional, and yet with a few nifty shots and special effects…well, let’s just say that a few of the kill scenes were at least as amazing to watch as they were gruesomely fun.
Finally, I have to give huge kudos to Johannes Kobilke and Robb Williamson for their musical score. It contributed to the overall (yes, here’s that word again) mood, and was engaging, kinetic, paranoid, eerie, and full of ambient beauty. Luckily the soundtrack is available in both score and “various artist” formats, and if you’re like me, that’s a good thing.
Overall, I was thoroughly pleased with the result of all this waiting. Clive Barker was pissed that Lionsgate (and to name names, their head honcho Joe Drake) eliminated the wide release that this movie deserved, and rightfully so: it was good. Really good. But, now it’s out, and if you have FEARnet, you can see it. And if not, don’t worry—it’ll be on DVD soon enough. Fear not, naysayers; you’re in for a wild ride when you step aboard The Midnight Meat Train.
The Midnight Meat Train: A Review (RJMB Exclusive) - Alvin Fox - 10-05-2008
Barry Lee Dejasu Wrote:...however, I can honestly say that it would have been a hit if it had been in theaters as originally planned...
Wait, what?
Barry Lee Dejasu Wrote:Clive Barker was pissed that Lionsgate (and to name names, their head honcho Joe Drake) eliminated the wide release that this movie deserved...
Oh, had me confused there. It was in one of the theaters out here for the low low low low low (low?) price of $1. That's "one dollar" so there's no confusion. Maybe it would have been a hit if there was more than a dollar charge to see it. However, I didn't see it due to my intense dislike of the theater it was at... Whoops.
The Midnight Meat Train: A Review (RJMB Exclusive) - Barry Lee Dejasu - 10-06-2008
AlvinFox Wrote:Maybe it would have been a hit if there was more than a dollar charge to see it. However, I didn't see it due to my intense dislike of the theater it was at... Whoops.
I meant, maybe it would have been a hit if it had had the WIDE release it was originally meant to have, until Lionsgate kept pushing the release date back, back, forward, back again, straight to DVD, back in theaters, and then only into 100 bargain theaters before dumping it on FEARnet.
The Midnight Meat Train: A Review (RJMB Exclusive) - Alvin Fox - 10-06-2008
Too true. Big budgeted crap gets the wide releases while oftentimes great movies slip through the cracks and are 'discovered' when they come out on DVD.
Anyways. The Midnight Meat Train. Sounds like I really need to get around to watching it now.
The Midnight Meat Train: A Review (RJMB Exclusive) - GeraldRice - 10-06-2008
The funny thing is most horror movies wouldn't come close to being described as "big-budgeted". In most cases the scripts are crappy for a reason: they're turned into cheap movies that rake in a ton o' dough quickly.
This is in my queue, though.
The Midnight Meat Train: A Review (RJMB Exclusive) - Scott Miller - 10-06-2008
GeraldRice Wrote:The funny thing is most horror movies wouldn't come close to being described as "big-budgeted". In most cases the scripts are crappy for a reason: they're turned into cheap movies that rake in a ton o' dough quickly.
This is in my queue, though.
AlvinFox Wrote:Too true. Big budgeted crap gets the wide releases while oftentimes great movies slip through the cracks and are 'discovered' when they come out on DVD.
Anyways. The Midnight Meat Train. Sounds like I really need to get around to watching it now.
I find that a big budget will oftentimes ruin a good horror movie because it will have to have 'star power' which means there is little to no threat to the main characters. I like the smaller budgets because there is truly a sense of anything goes-not that this is any guarantee of it being good because there are more awful low-budget horror films than good ones.
What is the last good horror movie you've seen? It seems like years since I've seen one.
The Midnight Meat Train: A Review (RJMB Exclusive) - GeraldRice - 10-06-2008
Unfortunately, when it comes to horror we've had to lessen our expectations in order to enjoy anything in the genre at all. If not, then I'd be saying the last horror movie I saw that was good was probably "The Ring". I guess "The Signal" was okay.
The Midnight Meat Train: A Review (RJMB Exclusive) - Barry Lee Dejasu - 10-06-2008
I'd say the last 5 good ones that I can remember seeing recently include, in no particular order:
- The Midnight Meat Train (duh...)
- Mulberry St.
- Unrest (this and the above are both After Dark Horrorfest titles)
By the way: I've been struggling and struggling to avoid asking this, but I can't help myself any longer: what did "y'all" think of my review? It's been a while since I've written any (long) reviews, and I hope I came across well enough.
The Midnight Meat Train: A Review (RJMB Exclusive) - Tony H - 10-06-2008
I watched this over the weekend and overall i was entertained. I won't say it was scary, having been desensitized to this type of horror a long time ago, but it held my attention. The gore was outlandish and the story was typical Barker...not a bad thing at all.
Pretty darn good movie and a shame this did not get the theatrical release it so deserved.
The Midnight Meat Train: A Review (RJMB Exclusive) - Barry Lee Dejasu - 11-25-2008
Good news! The Midnight Meat Train is coming to DVD (and Blu-Ray) on February 17th!
http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/the-midnight-meat-train.html