Anyone who has read H.G. Wells' classic "The Time Machine" will relate, somewhat, to what you'll find in "Midnight Meat Train," a story adaptation of one of Clive Barkers' perverse visionary tales. It is hard to put the blame for the miscues in this movie on Clive Barker, the horror master who has given us (through a variety of other tales) the Hellraiser trilogy, Lord of Illusions and Nightbreed.
The problems here not even so much story based. The tale of a young photographer who happens to capture images of a woman who, moments later, would seemingly disappear from the face of the earth, leaving him to follow the leads that the police will not, is cliché but also effective.
No, the failings in this movie are largely sourced simple logic and overdone cinematography and gore. Among the things you can expect, there is a sterile, blueish coloring to the most common settings that makes the movie drastically unpleasant to watch, with or without the gore. Indeed, as the photographer mentioned that he wanted to show the city as it really is, the thought that went through my mind was that I don't know of too many people who would live in a city THAT ugly for the long term.
And then there is the ramped up speed in segments of the movie. When Mohogany (the fiend who usually does the killing) is sitting on the subway platform, waiting to board the last train of the night, or even the first non-subway scene in the movie, there is a reliance on moving the surrounding characters around so quickly that what someone might have seen as an artistic portrayal of the rat race quickly degenerates into the silly and hackish! Oh, and although I'm sure there will be some that are fans of the gore in this film, the obviousness of the CGI involved in exploiting the gore quickly goes from interesting to absurd! I mean, in one absolutely laughable scene, a dorky guy is struck in the back of the head, leading to a gushing of blood, and knocking his eye not only out of his head, but right into the camera! I should note, this is not a 3D movie. In another scene, a woman is decapitated with the same silver hammer, and the head, when it finally rolls to a stop, continues to blink. So lets understand: her geeky husband/boyfriend lost an eye, but she was completely decapitated? How does that work? This wasn't a machete...it was a hammer.
Then there is the underlying story itself: Mohogany isn't just a killer, he's also part of a conspiracy city wide, which is feeding the Morlock-ish beasts that inhabit an abandoned subway tunnel. Police, the transit authority, apparently even city hall is involved. Oh wow, another film encouraging people to distrust authority! And then there is the gore. Yes, I can imagine getting hit with that hammer would kill and cause the bleeding, but it does seem like at times it gets just a wee bit excessive. Naturally, it seems that the movie is making a case against human dietary habits, but c'mon! And on top of all of that, why is it that in some cases, Mohogany removes hair, eyeballs, teeth and finger nails, while in other cases, people are just strung up as they are? Does that make sense? I could go on and on, but in earnest, I don't think this movie is really deserving of all that time and attention! My advice is, if you're a gore fan, or if you can excuse an ugly looking, mediocre film, this is the one for you.
I think the film ought to have been called "Mediocre Meat Train," but that's just me.
Oh, and on the plus side, Brooke Shields has a good role as an art gallery owner and guru whose line "then you're failing...stay put, be brave, keep shooting" was solid!
The problems here not even so much story based. The tale of a young photographer who happens to capture images of a woman who, moments later, would seemingly disappear from the face of the earth, leaving him to follow the leads that the police will not, is cliché but also effective.
No, the failings in this movie are largely sourced simple logic and overdone cinematography and gore. Among the things you can expect, there is a sterile, blueish coloring to the most common settings that makes the movie drastically unpleasant to watch, with or without the gore. Indeed, as the photographer mentioned that he wanted to show the city as it really is, the thought that went through my mind was that I don't know of too many people who would live in a city THAT ugly for the long term.
And then there is the ramped up speed in segments of the movie. When Mohogany (the fiend who usually does the killing) is sitting on the subway platform, waiting to board the last train of the night, or even the first non-subway scene in the movie, there is a reliance on moving the surrounding characters around so quickly that what someone might have seen as an artistic portrayal of the rat race quickly degenerates into the silly and hackish! Oh, and although I'm sure there will be some that are fans of the gore in this film, the obviousness of the CGI involved in exploiting the gore quickly goes from interesting to absurd! I mean, in one absolutely laughable scene, a dorky guy is struck in the back of the head, leading to a gushing of blood, and knocking his eye not only out of his head, but right into the camera! I should note, this is not a 3D movie. In another scene, a woman is decapitated with the same silver hammer, and the head, when it finally rolls to a stop, continues to blink. So lets understand: her geeky husband/boyfriend lost an eye, but she was completely decapitated? How does that work? This wasn't a machete...it was a hammer.
Then there is the underlying story itself: Mohogany isn't just a killer, he's also part of a conspiracy city wide, which is feeding the Morlock-ish beasts that inhabit an abandoned subway tunnel. Police, the transit authority, apparently even city hall is involved. Oh wow, another film encouraging people to distrust authority! And then there is the gore. Yes, I can imagine getting hit with that hammer would kill and cause the bleeding, but it does seem like at times it gets just a wee bit excessive. Naturally, it seems that the movie is making a case against human dietary habits, but c'mon! And on top of all of that, why is it that in some cases, Mohogany removes hair, eyeballs, teeth and finger nails, while in other cases, people are just strung up as they are? Does that make sense? I could go on and on, but in earnest, I don't think this movie is really deserving of all that time and attention! My advice is, if you're a gore fan, or if you can excuse an ugly looking, mediocre film, this is the one for you.
I think the film ought to have been called "Mediocre Meat Train," but that's just me.
Oh, and on the plus side, Brooke Shields has a good role as an art gallery owner and guru whose line "then you're failing...stay put, be brave, keep shooting" was solid!