Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb, Vinnie Jones

A New York photographer hunts down a serial killer. Based on Clive Barker's short story "Midnight Meat Train"

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50% liked it

135,255 ratings

Critics

70% liked it

27 critics

R, 1 hr. 25 min.

Directed by: Ryuhei Kitamura

Release Date: August 14, 2008

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Flixster Reviews (2,758)


  • November 16, 2009
    So I was going through the video store, looking around at the garbage that Hollywood produces these days and lo and behold I found a film called Midnight Meat Train. Whoa! This movie doesn't belong here! It belongs in the back behind the beaded curtain. Then I notice Vinnie Jones...( read more) and blood dripping across the window and realized that this is some kind of horror movie.

    Midnight Meat Train follows the exploits of a butcher by day, butcher by night played by Vinnie Jones who boards a late night subway train, gets a few people alone, then proceeds to slaughter them in some of the worst CGI I've ever seen. I'm serious, Abraham Lincoln would laugh at this CGI. Throw in a photographer (Bradley Cooper) who starts investigating our butcher and you get a film that tries to be a little Hitchcockian, but ends up flat, tasteless, and dull. The photographer's decent into the obsession is supposed to be the intriguing part, but it just comes off as a tedious plot point to climb over as we wait for more Vinnie Jones slaughter. Sure Vinnie is a bad ass, but could they have given him at least one other facial expression. It wasn't much of a stretch for Vinnie. Just tell him his favorite soccer team sucks and you have "the look".

    Written by Clive Barker, who is still riding the greatness that was the first Hellraiser, Midnight Meat Train is basically a very cool name with a shit movie attached.
  • September 29, 2009
    I knew this would be worth seeing after hearing that Kitamura was directing this movie. And my hopes were up because although I loved most Clive Barker stories I think the movies mostly were unsatisfying to say he least. I can't remember having seen a decent Clive Barker Movie si...( read more)nce Hellraiser.... until Midnight Meat Train came along.

    Actually I don't get why so many people put this movie down. The cinematography is awesome and the shots of the subway are as impressive and stylish as the city shots. Sure some of the CGI Gore FX looked a bit cheap and also the train FX were easy to spot... still this is a Horror movie and for that the Effects were far above average. I mean come on... the decapitation scene from point of view was a classic and the hammer bashings were raw. I usually hate CGI Blood but here the fountains were pretty impressive and except the real cheap scene where he sees his face in his own puddle of blood I liked it.

    This movie is as well for gore maniacs as for fans of stylish imagery and he Clive Barker fans also won't be let down. I can't quite remember the story but I think they should have explained the whole background more in-depth because the end leaves many questions unanswered.

    Perhaps they should not have spent so much time introducing the photographer, his work and his girlfriend although I think also this part of the movie was done with suspense. After all the movie is about a photographer taking shots of New York at night which draws him to the subway where he gets fascinated by a tall guy he thinks is a murderer. He follows him and tries to uncover where he works and goes at night just to be drawn in too deep in a story that involves trains, butchers and human cattle for evil overlords.

    I think the typical cynicism of Clive Barker came across very well with the butcher dressing up for work, following his time schedule by the minute and pretty much just doing his job.

    So even with the flaws of a script focusing too much on suspense and gore and forgetting to unfold the whole back story to the viewer I think this one is definitely watchable. So don't focus on some worn off one-liners and too tight budget in the FX. After all I think the decapitation scene is destined to be a classic and I haven't seen such a raw and gory, yet kind of funny scene since the opening of the by far inferior "Wrong turn 2". Well done Mr. Kitamura, thumbs down Lionsgate. People should throw tons of money at this guy to make more movies like this and Versus.
  • July 13, 2009
    A pretty decent horror film based on the short story by Clive Barker, which is a bit Stephen King like. It's very bloody and gruesome but the cgi effects make it less shocking. Overall a very simple idea for a film well executed but the cgi effects are over done and the story is ...( read more)a bit too straight forward most of the time.
  • April 30, 2009
    I've never seen a Clive Barker movie until The Midnight Meat Train, and I must say, I am thoroughly impressed. This story is a completely, almost literally downward descent into hell.
    The main character, a New York photographer obsessed with capturing the worst, most deplorabl...( read more)e aspects of city living becomes entangled in a seemingly vast conspiracy involving a train, a man, and a meat cleaver.
    The CGI gore helps ease how truly gross this movie gets at times. The violence is relentless, brutal, and Vinnie Jones, who plays the killer, creates an iconic villain.
    Director Ryuhei Kitamura, who helmed the brilliant Azumi and the pleasantly fun Versus controls scenes very well. He's a bit predictable at times, but the film is no less tense. It works primarily because of Barker's source material. You identify with the characters. They are ordinary people who possess a lot of intelligence, but just enough flaws that lead them into the rabbit hole.
  • April 15, 2009
    Initially I didn't expect much from MMT other than a standard slasher flick set on a subway train, but this comprises only a small portion of the film I saw. It is indeed as stylish and brutal as I had hoped, but it's also a thoughtful and intriguing mystery blended with hints o...( read more)f the supernatural typical of Clive Barker. Sadly, the film doesn't really feel finished, clearly hinting that sequels were likely intended (but sadly may never be after all). Overall, however, MMT is an excitingly original new addition to the horror genre that I would certainly recommend to fans of the macabre.
  • November 19, 2009
    only watched a few mins and that was it!!!!
  • November 18, 2009
    The CGI and camera angles sucked, but the movie itself was really good and unique from a lot of stuff out there. It just didn't have that Clive Barker touch that I was expecting. It was really nutty like Hellraiser, but not until the very end. It's almost like there was too much ...( read more)build up when I just wanted to see where Vinnie Jones was going with all those bodies. I did love the acting from Bradley Cooper though, he sold the plot completely. It's great compared to the sorry excuses for horror like Saw.
  • November 18, 2009
    did not end right will probably be a part two very gory very interesting kept the viewers attention
  • November 17, 2009
    Intense... with an interesting twist at the end, but its not the horro/thriller that attracts my personality.
  • November 17, 2009
    I'm not a fan of gore (it doesn't turn me off -- at least not in a movie -- but neither is it a turn on) and I'm not particularly fond of Clive Barker's work, but I did really like this film. It begins with violence and gore but then slips into a slower, moody development of char...( read more)acter and atmosphere. I think the growing sense of menace could have been effective without the initial gore but the way it was done certainly told the viewer where the movie was headed, although not quite since a Clive Barker story always goes somewhere not quite in the mainstream of horror. The acting is all very good, including that of some characters who have little screen time. The direction, photography, and editing are all very good and quite artistic. So much is conveyed at times by so little, then some of the gory scenes hit you with so much, sometimes teetering on the edge of overexposure. The Midnight Meat Train is not your typical slasher gorefest. It is deeper, more thought-filled, and more beautifully produced. Not a great horror film but certainly a very good one. Not for the squeamish or the hemophobic.

Critic Reviews


September 26, 2008
Kurt Loder, MTV

Japanese cult director Ryuhei Kitamura maintains impressive control of the story, ratcheting up tension toward well-prepared and startling bursts of terror. full review

View more The Midnight Meat Train reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • jderzko20
    June 9, 2008
    cannot wait to see this movie... looks nice!!!!
  • xhlittle1965
    May 17, 2008
    midnight meat train is probably not for taking it for nothing .Vinny Jones is starting to suit to this genre and could be very excited movie worth to watch it
  • mojo1888
    May 12, 2008
    looks good and different !!!
  • colorfunart13
    January 2, 2008
    I loved the short story of this by Clive Barker.
    I soooo wanna see if the movie is just as good.
  • LukeFeddema
    November 20, 2007
    woo! first! this movie looks good!!

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