Friday, July 17, 2009
Review: The Midnight Meat Train
The Midnight Meat Train, directed by Ryuhei Kitamura (Versus) and based on the Clive Barker short story, is a frustratingly compromised film. For all of its assets, it is hamstrung by a slack pace and a sense of dragging on - a big 'kiss of death' for a genre based on tension and fright.
The film follows Barker's original work remarkably closely - when other reviewers claim it is the best and most faithful Barker adaptation since Hellraiser, they're probably not far off the mark. Photographer Leon Kaufman's (Bradley Cooper) hunt for darker and more confronting subject matter leads him to a late night subway train and a grim-faced man in a black suit (Vinnie Jones) who's making a nightly ritual of brutally murdering whoever winds up left with him in the carriage.
Further twists and turns are best left for the viewer to discover by his or herself, but it's a story that works, has a solid and clear hook, and certainly satisfies on a narrative level. Cooper (probably best known for the role of Will in TV's Alias) and Jones (Snatch, Gone in 60 Seconds) both turn in solid work. Cooper allows his character to sink further and further into paranoia and obsession, while Jones exudes a wonderful sense of calm menace. The supporting cast are all excellent, including Leslie Bibb, Roger Bart and Brooke Shields as a cynical art gallery owner (watch for the Clive Barker oil paintings in the gallery sequences!).
Visually, it's mostly excellent, as well, boasting a lovely dark, crisp aesthetic and some great photography. Unfortunately, the film's gorier moments are let down by a very cartoon-like aesthetic, relying on openly obviously computer-generated effects that remove any real sense of horror from the proceedings. It is horror imagery from the Takashi Miike school of film-making but without the knowing ironic winking.
The script is good, the acting solid, and the visual aesthetic mostly enjoyable. This is why the film's slow pace is so frustrating. Japanese cinema generally works to a very measured pace - long takes, a calmer sensibility, and so on - but whether it's the American context or simply this film, in particular, Kitamura fails to ratchet up the tension sufficiently. The result is a film where you spend half your time waiting for the good bits rather than being drawn completely into the story.
Better than the majority of American horror films, The Midnight Meat Train remains one not quite good enough to fully recommend. One for the hardcore fans of Barker or Kitamura's work, I suspect.
The Midnight Meat Train is available now on DVD and Blu-Ray from Sony
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