With a title likeThe Midnight Meat Train,audiences might think they know what they are in for. Hundreds of them are released every year, and they are fine entertainment. Disposable horror films that offer a one-time thrill are great fun and a great business. However, films shouldn’t always be judged solely on their titles. It can be easy to miss a hidden gem.
Starring Bradley Cooper and Vinnie Jones,The Midnight Meat Trainis a lot smarter than the title might suggest.An adaptation of a Clive Barker storyof the same name from hisBooks of Bloodstory collection, Cooper plays a photographer on the trail of a vicious serial killer on the subway who gets in far too deep. Audiences won’t guess where this movie goes to or how it gets there, and it is definitely a movie for horror and thriller fans to watch.
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The film opens with a lone man waking up in a subway car, desaturated colors and eerie sounds echoing through the car. As he gets up to investigate, he slips and finds himself lying in a pool of blood, the camera pans out and there is more blood across the walls and windows of the carriage. As the man scrabbles to see into the next carriagethe camera pulls back to reveala figure hunched over someone on the floor of the next cab, wet chopping sounds filling the air.
Bradley Cooper plays photographer Leon who stumbles into something he should really stay away from. One night after a gallery owner calls his work safe, Leon finds himself on the subway snapping pictures of a sexual assault in progress. While he does save the woman before things become even worse, it doesn’t paint Leon as the most sympathetic character from the beginning. When the woman disappears,Leon ends up going down a rabbit holeof other disappearances that have happened on the subway, and what he finds leads him to unexpected and grisly places.
Ambulance and police chasing is how Leon makes his money, but he longs for the big time, and in his eyes, the only way to get it is to push further into the violent underbelly of the city. Meanwhile, on the subway, a man with a giant meat tenderizer is smashing in the skulls of unsuspecting passengers. In the first fully shown scene of him at work,horror stalwart Ted Raimiphysically has his eyes knocked out of his head by a blow from the hammer-like instrument. As the man leaves the subway, Leon is there, snapping photos and for some reason decides to follow him. He is discovered and apologizes but not before noting the man’s distinctive ring, a ring he has seen in the last picture he took of the missing girl.
A game of cat and mouse ensues. Leon’s obsession with the man grows, he follows him to his place of work after discovering he is a butcher. He plasters his apartment with pictures of him, certain that he is central tothe disappearances that have plagued the city. As the movie unfolds, it’s discovered that the man’s name is Mahogany, the driver of the train is also in on the killings. It’s also revealed that Mahogany is sick, coughing up blood and revealing in a shot of him at his home that his torso is covered in strange lesions.
As all this unfurls, Leon is changing. He is becoming unstable, prone to bouts of anger, and he is having dreams that he is the butcher on the train. An established vegetarian, he also begins to eat meat. Cooper plays an excellent portrayal ofa man slowly unraveling, knowing that something is going on but unable to prove it. A man that is also drawn to the violence that he sees. Leon cannot help but continue to follow Mahogany. He has to know what is happening, who this man is, it doesn’t matter if he ruins his own life in the process.
Filled with tension and an extremely meaty sound design,The Midnight Meat Trainis a stylish horror/thriller that is elevated bythe quality of the source materialand the cast. Bradley Cooper is giving his all to the role, but Leslie Bibb as his long-suffering and frightened girlfriend Maya also shines throughout. Vinnie Jones is menacing as the hulking butcher, an almost entirely silent portrayal of a gruesome murderer.
The Midnight Meat Trainis a mix ofSevenandOne Hour Photo,dark and unrelenting in its grim tone and portrayal of madness, obsession, and death. It is hard not to be drawn into the mystery that Leon has found himself immersed in. Why are there so many missing person cases along this particular subway line? Who is the butcher? Most importantly, why is Leon so overwhelmingly drawn to him andthe horror and mystery that surroundshim?
