Midnight Meat Train (2008) Movie Review

The Midnight Meat Train is a brutal and grotesque horror film from popular writer Clive Barker (Hellraiser) that was scheduled to open semi-wide last August. However, Lionsgate chose to open the film on a mere 100 screens in the U.S., playing mostly in discount houses and as midnight shows. The film quickly left theaters and is now being apart of the FearNet Channel and should be available on DVD soon. The dumping of the film outraged Barker and his fans.

The film revolves around a New York City photographer named Leon (Bradley Cooper), who is pressured by a powerful gallery owner (Brooke Shields) to garner raw pictures of the city. Leon notices a mysterious presence of a man named Mahogany (Vinnie Jones) around the subway station and he begins taking snaps of him and following him. He learns that Mahogany is a local butcher and at night in a tailor made suit he rides the subway train and kills passengers and butchers them like cattle. With no proof, Leon brings his girlfriend Maya (Leslie Bibb) in on the secret as the two work to piece together the secret and motive behind Mahogany and the killings, but nothing is what it seems.

This is not a good film, even in a splatter or horror genre sense. Director Ryuhei Kitamura tries to stylish the film with point of view shots, color hues, and using CGI in certain moments. However, the choices come across as overdone and weak. One example is when a victim’s eye shoots towards the audience after Mahogany clubs him, or the point of view seen from a victim as she is decapitated. The violence is fast and often, and the blood looks more shiny and pink, which could have been an effect that Kitamura was after. Jeff Buhler morbidly adapted the script from Barker’s works, in which The Midnight Meat Train is typical Barker material. The pacing and buildup to the finale has no suspense to it, and the final secret of the film is underdeveloped and comes across as more cheesy than surprising.

Vinnie Jones morphs into his silent but violent role as Mahogany and delivers a forceful performance. Bradley Cooper is no leading man material as Leon and his screaming sequences are over the top and the final shot of him in the film is nearly hilarious. Leslie Bibb does well as Leon’s girlfriend Maya and Roger Bart also pops up as Leon’s buddy Jurgis.

The Midnight Meat Train has been a much talked about film due to Lionsgate’s choice to dump the film. The film itself is not good at all, which may be the reason that it got dumped. On the other hand, this film could become a cult horror hit and is a film that would do well playing at midnight on Halloween.