To me there isn’t anyone better in the business than Clive Barker. Anything he does I’m always impressed and usually amazed with. This all started after reading my first volume of the Books of Blood series. Though Midnight Meat Train wasn’t one of my favorites from the book, it still made a lasting impression and the story was great. When I found out that Clive was going to start doing movie versions based on some of these short stories I was overjoyed. Meat Train was to be first. I find out Ryuhei Kitamura, who directed a favorite movie of mine called “Versus”, is going to be behind the camera on this project and the smile got a little wider. Lions Gate’s involvement made me feel more comfortable that this movie was going to get what it needed. Of course, I know better about the Lions Gate thing now. It had me questioning if driving 45 minutes one way to see a movie at a seedy $2 theater was going to be worth it. For me, it was. Now about the movie.

     The movie opens on a subway with our attention on a sleeping passenger. He wakes up and seems confused as to where the train is. He gets up to look around and decides to go peek in one of the other cars. While he is making his way to the end of the car he is in, his feet fly right out from under him. He then realizes he has just slipped in a massive pool of blood and the trail leads to the car he was trying to get to. He peeks in and sees a figure hacking away at someone and then we get the title credit.

     Above ground, in the New York street we find Leon (Bradley Cooper) in a crosswalk snapping photos of something happening in the road up ahead of him. Then we follow Leon to his apartment. We meet his girlfriend, Maya (Leslie Bibb), and learn of his dream of wanting to stop being a contract photographer who scans police radios to find his next paycheck, and be the person who captures the “heart of the city” with his lens. Maya has set up an appointment with Susan Hoff (Brooke Shields) who is someone in the know in that line of work. He shows Hoff his work and she thinks that he is just missing the essence of the city. She tells him to find the spot, stay there, and just keep shooting. Leon takes this to heart and starts taking pictures at night instead of the daytime and this is when he comes in inadvertent contact with something far bigger than him. He takes a picture of a woman who is being attacked by three young thugs. They leave her be after Leon lets them know they’re on camera. She thanks Leon and he watches her get onto the train. The doors begin to close and then a hand reaches out to stop the door that is trying to prevent her from entering the car. Leon takes one last picture and then is off. The next day he reads about the woman disappearing, in the paper. This is where the mystery begins. What happened to her? He thought the thugs went the other way, but maybe they came down some other stairs and got on the train that way. He goes back out again the next night after Hobbs raves about his pictures of the thugs. As he is sitting waiting for that next great shot, he sees a very stoic looking figure coming up the escalator from the subway. He takes some photos and notices there is a ring on the subjects finger that matches the one that was on the hand that held the door open for the model. Maybe it wasn’t the thugs. Leon then continues to follow this new suspect with new found vigor. He becomes obsessed with finding out what happened on that subway that night and is determined to get a resolution no matter the price.

     The acting in the movie was really good. I liked the slow methodic movement that Vinnie Jones brought to the Mahogany character. Cooper did a really good job as well, but I couldn’t help but notice how much he reminded me of Clive Barker. I didn’t realize Ted Raimi was in it, but am always happy for a cameo of him. The bad spot as far as the acting went for me was Leslie Bibb. I really think it was more her than her character that bothered me, but it didn’t ruin the movie for me.

     The effects were good. There was maybe just a little more CGI than I would’ve liked, but I’m not going to complain about that. Especially when you consider all the blood that must’ve been thrown around that set. Effective enough, but I would’ve liked to have seen more traditional gags.

     The movie doesn’t follow the short story word for word, but it does seem to adapt well to the screen. I felt it kept the essentials in play and that went along way in my enjoyment of this movie. I hope when Barker does “Pig Blood Blues”, which he has said would be the next Books of Blood story adapted, he will take the same care to find the right team in that project as he did this one. Just stay away from Lions Gate. As far as Midnight Meat Train is concerned, I’m looking forward to my next ride on this one when the DVD comes out so I can share it with others.