The Midnight Meat Train is an Excellent Adaptation of a Clive Barker Short Story
The Midnight Meat Train is strong horror that is effective due to great directing, dark themes and an intense story of obsession, insanity and human harvesting.
Written by BHM Contributor The Zombie Master
March 8, 2009
Watch The Midnight Meat Train Horror Movie Trailer!
Release: 2008
Directed by: Ryuhei Kitamura
Written by: Clive Barker (Short story) and Jeff Buhler (screenplay)
Starring:
Bradley Cooper as Leon
Leslie Bibb as Maya
Vinnie Jones as Mahogany
Every so often there comes an author whose work seems to raise the bar for everyone else. Clive Barker is one such author. With the release of his 6 volume “Books of Blood” series of short stories, Clive Barker put the horror literary world on notice. In volume one there is a short story entitled “The Midnight Meat Train” and it is this story on which this film is based.
The Midnight Meat Train introduces us to Leon (Bradley Cooper), a starving artist whose talent happens to be photography. He is introduced to an important art dealer (played by Brooke Shields. Yeah, I know, right?) who gives Leon the advice to delve deeper into his subject matter in order to�get the best shots. Leon takes the advice and starts hanging out in the subway late at night. It is here that he chances upon a would-be
mugging/rape that he breaks up by pointing out the security cameras while taking photos of the scene. These photos are just what the art dealer was looking for and with a new born enthusiasm Leon starts looking for more subjects. It is then that Leon discovers that the victim of the attack he stopped was apparently attacked again because she came up missing.
Enter Mahogany (Vinnie Jones), a friendly neighborhood butcher that doesn’t talk much, he just�rides the late train to smash in the heads and “prepare” those unlucky last passengers. Upon meeting�him, Leon becomes obsessed with Mahogany and begins to follow him with the suspicion that he is involved in the�disappearance. Leon is more correct than he knows and it becomes 
a race to try to get evidence to take to the authorities before he becomes Mahogany’s next victim.
This film is one of the best screen adaptations of a Clive Barker story since Hellraiser. Jeff Buhler wrote a script that comes very close to the original short story with some minor changes that do not take away from the core. The effects, though mixed with CGI, were very good. I blame Fulci for my fascination with the human eye (See Zombi 2) and there are some great scenes involving that beautiful bulbous mass. What really made this one shine however was the directing work of Ryuhei Kitamura. One can see visual cues from his previous works such as Versus and Azumi while still witnessing a continuing growth in his use of camera angles and set design to bring about the intended emotional reaction from his audience.
I would highly recommend The Midnight Meat Train to any slasher horror fan and definitely to any Clive Barker fan. Just make sure you avoid the last train of the night. Questions or comments about The Midnight Meat Train? Discuss it on The Ossuary Forums!
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