THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN

Any horror fan worth their salt will have at some point growing up loving the genre would have picked up a copy of Clive Barker's Books of Blood collection - without doubt one of the most significant written genre works since HP Lovecraft unleashed his scribed insanity onto the world and from the 1980s onwards Barker proved he was a man not only of great talent but of horrifyingly inspirational genius. With that in mind there was never any doubt that savvy production companies would be falling over themselves to license Barker's work for translation onto the big screen but looking at an overview of such output you'd be left wondering what happened? Following the rampant success of Hellraiser and the inevitable franchise that followed (plummeting into a ever decreasing standard of quality control, well thankfully we haven't had a Scooby Doo meets Pinhead cartoon movie yet!) and poorly received but curiously endearing fare such as Rawhead Rex and Nightbreed it was perhaps understandable that Barker chose to play his licensing cards close to his chest. That was until now…

Having formed his own production company MIDNIGHT PICTURE SHOW Barker is now aiming to ensure that his works such as The Books of Blood are translated in a way that for him (and in turn hopefully the horror loving viewer) will appreciate with both BOOK OF BLOOD and DREAD on the way in coming months but debuts here with the long anticipated cinematic debut of THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN.

For the uninitiated, the story follows crime scene photographer Leon Kaufman (played in confident but pedestrian style by Bradley Cooper) as he pursues his dream of recognition in the art world (as most photographers do) for his quirky street photography. Following critical but valuable feedback from prominent art promoter Brooke Shields (as lovely as ever) Leon realises that for his work to stand out from the crowd it needs to be not just on the edge but somewhat over it. With the words of Shields ringing in his ears he heads out into the night to see what seediness he can capture on film. It doesn't take long after he sets foot into the underground subway system to come across a gang of stereotyped black hoods threatening to assault a young hottie on the stairs of the station so after taking a few lurid shots of the poor girl almost being raped he intervenes by shouting down the hoods (pointing out to them the close circuit cameras pointed in their direction) but after the luckless girl steps onto the train to her perceived safety up steps suited and booted silent killer Mahogany (played in true to form chilling style by the legendary Vinnie Jones) to make her last minutes of life hell.

The next day photographer Leon having shown his initial crime shots to promoter Shields with great responsive effect is motivated on to seek more similarly cutting edge shots for a gallery exhibition but is somewhat concerned to discover that the hapless girl he thought he had saved was now allegedly missing following the previous nights misadventure and as he arduously starts to look at the number of missing person cases in the underground network (much to the growing frustration of his intensely loving girlfriend Maya, played by the gorgeous Leslie Bibb) and as he grows closer (to the point of stalking) to silent butcher Mahogany Leon finds he's stepped into a nightmare world of brutal terror that could only have come from the mind of the great Clive Barker…

Directed by genre fan favourite Ryuhei Kitamura (of VERSUS and AZUMI fame), THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN is a solid and very welcome return to the cinema screen for Clive Barker's work and although the final reel is very much of Barker's traditional warped genius the bulk of the film will appease the multiplex viewer with a largely growing sense of (albeit somewhat frustratingly clichéd) foreboding and a welcome amount of stock terror/fear/jumps to have most on the edge of their seats throughout.

Kitamura's direction is solidly impressive throughout and manages to give the film some style without being overtly glossy as you would perhaps expect from the man who brought us such wildly shot fare such as Versus. The film moves along at good pace throughout (which is very welcome as often dark night time shot flicks if not paced well can lead to impromptu napping here) so viewers don't get much of an opportunity to come up for air (outside of the occasional pedestrian sex scene).

The plot though may for some hardened horror fans be at times testing as it plays all the frustrating horror clichés to the hilt; the old school tradition of 'don't go in the room/don't stick your face in the fan' is often pushed to the limit which is perfectly acceptable for no brainer multiplex shocks but less than stimulating for the more testing genre fan viewer so leave your brains elsewhere before settling back to watch this one as you'll find things more gratifying in a roller coaster shock ride way! What genre fans do get though is a finale that will perhaps unsettle the mainstream viewer and appease the horror fan no end with a finale that the late great Lucio Fulci would be proud of.

Splatter fans will perhaps have mixed feelings with THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN as after some early disappointing cut away from kills we get some fun if brief gory shots frustratingly enhanced by CGI (even Mahogany's hammer looks CGI created!?) before the final reel kicks in with some much needed old school graphic gore and it's well worth the wait. There's talk of this theatrical print being a 'Hard R' rated print so perhaps we can also expect at some point down the line an unrated 'version you never seen in cinemas' print appearing on DVD. That said, following the unceremonious dumping of the film from theatrical screenings in the USA which is a great shame the film does indeed merit a showing in cinemas which it welcomingly does here in the UK.

The question though for Barker's legion of loyal fans though has to be does THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN deliver the goods? In some ways it's perhaps victim to trying to appeal to all corners of the market in being good at many things but never excelling as a whole. The mainstream multiplex shocks of the films first hour wont perhaps sit well with those viewers in the final half hour (which winks slyly at the dedicated horror fan) but for all should prove an entertaining evening at the local theatre. Perhaps though the last words on THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN should be left to Barker himself who very succinctly states that he hopes that audiences "leave the theaters with their seats damp, I want them to lose control of their bladders with terror. But, you know, I really want them to come out and say, 'That was the ride I wanted it to be. That was the journey I wanted to take. I took a journey into the dark.' And, you know, one of the things horror does is it allows you to face your fears in a safe form and survive. You watch other people die and you think, 'Hey, it wasn't me.' I think this movie is going to take people to a very, very dark place and deliver them at last out into the night, out into the day, feeling like they survived quite a ride." Dig out those schedules and enjoy a ride on the Midnight Meat Train now!

Review by Alan Simpson