I love Clive Barker, but….

Posted by Movie_Maven

March 13, 2009 |

…“The Midnight Meat Train” (2008) - as a film - disappointed me a bit. Now, I haven’t read the short story upon which it is based…yet, but I suppose I expected a bit more, especially from the previews. The film suffered from what a lot of short stories that are adapted to full-length movies suffer from: too much filler and not enough substance (redundant, huh?)

It seems that many horror short story authors suffer from the same problem unless the original author adapts his own screenplay (or hires Frank Darabont - I ADORE him!!)

At any rate, for gore hounds, there are some very creatively-filmed acts of mayhem and no shortage of blood, which, for a horror fan like myself, was done quite well.

Bradley Cooper (Leon) is gorgeous, even covered in blood, sweaty, and in a constant state of disarray for the 2nd half of the film; and Vinnie Jones (the menacing butcher Mahogany) was, well, menacing. Leslie Bibb (Maya) was relatively insignificant to the plot (apparently she isn’t even in the short story) and, to me, was only there to film the requisite sex scene and to worry about Leon to the point of utter annoyance. Brooke Shields just looked really old and drawn. And every time I see Roger Bart (Jurgis), I am reminded of his infamous “de-family-jeweling” in “Hostel 2.”

My buddy Kyle at out local Hollywood Video told me that the last 15 minutes were stupid, and I have to agree. (Good call, Kyle!) I’m sure that Clive did a much better job writing about the underlying reasons for the mayhem-ridden train than director Ryuhei Kitamura was able to convey via celluloid.

I do really love the title though.