The Midnight Meat Train

Cinema review
Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura
Starring Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb, Brooke Shields, Vinnie Jones, Roger Bart
Release date 31st October 2008 (UK)

Leon Kauffman (Cooper) is a photographer obsessed with capturing the ‘real’ New York. But he gets more than he bargained for when he stumbles across a silent killer (Jones) who butchers his victims on a mysterious night train…

If (and it’s a big if) you can forget about the later dreadful Hellraiser sequels, then Clive Barker has been pretty well served by movie adaptations of his work. The original Hellraiser, which the author directed himself, was the best translation of his disturbing imagery and jet-black humour, but the first Candyman, Nightbreed and Lord of Illusions were all interesting takes on Barker’s vision. Hell, even 1986’s low budget Rawhead Rex was enjoyable in its own trashy kind of way.

The Midnight Meat Train can definitely be counted as another success. Ryuhei Kitamura, the offbeat director of Azumi and Versus, keeps the extraordinarily dark material slick and sick, capturing Barker’s themes of hidden worlds, urban myths and mental and physical pain.

Kitamura constructs a heightened atmosphere of almost-reality that gradually exposes the literal darkness beneath the sheen of modern city life. The director uses washed out colours and a few stylistic flourishes like speeded-up crowds to create a vaguely disorientating feeling where something isn’t quite right, and purely in terms of its dazzling visuals this is a must-see.

Yet these visuals never overwhelm the story itself. Like the best of Barker’s work, it really does feel as if you’re trapped in a waking nightmare at times, filled with horrifying and very gory imagery: bodies hanging from hooks on the subway train, a frightening prowl around the killer’s apartment block that exposes drawers of neatly arranged tools, and a very weird final 20 minutes that should surprise anyone who hasn’t read the short story.

The central characters, it has to be said, aren’t especially interesting. Leon and his girlfriend are brooding, bland and often downright illogical, while Roger Bart’s trusty pal seems only there to be violently offed. There are, however, showier roles for the more well known supporting stars, and Brooke Shields is fun as the gallery owner with an obsession for extreme imagery (echoing Hellraiser’s theme of the link between pain and pleasure), while – strange as it is to say it – Vinnie Jones puts in the most memorable performance as the silent besuited killer, who is calm, dapper and very dangerous.

The Midnight Meat Train lacks the bleak humour of Hellraiser or Nightbreed, making for an intense and frankly rather depressing viewing experience. Yet its unusual willingness to explore the dark side of humanity and Kitamura’s daring expansion of Barker’s bizarre story makes this one of the more unusual horror pictures of 2008. Matt McAllister