WAMG First Look at ‘Midnight Meat Train’

Here’s the brutal truth about me and the horror genre today … I rarely ever get excited about new slasher films I hear about being made. Most of what we are subjected to are poorly written, *cliche-ridden lumps of sculpt-by-number Play-dough, intended to draw us in by the cleverly constructed trailers and marketing campaigns, but ultimately insult our collective intelligence. For some reason, the studios think the only people who want to see this genre of film are hormone-crazed,  culturally void teenagers who are oblivious to anything other than where there next “hook up” is going to be. [I told you this was going to be blunt.] The truth is, there’s a massive audience out there for these films, if they’d only make some good ones worth watching.

My fellow horror fans … I am pleased to say we may have a diamond in the rough with Midnight Meat Train. This shimmering potential diamond-mine is pushing through the dredge to hopefully bring some new blood to the genre with old hats in the industry guiding the way. Midnight Meat Train is based on Clive Barker’s  short story and is being directed by Ryuhei Kitamura (Versus). Any true fan of the horror genre knows what Barker’s influence has given us, from Hellraiser to Nightbreed, Candyman to Lord of Illusions. Apparently, he is experiencing a new found glory, with five more films based on his work  being developed in various stages, not including Midnight Meat Train. Fans can rejoice in Barker’s oncoming dark renaissance.

Midnight Meat Train will star Bradley Cooper (Nip/Tuck, Alias) as a New York photographer who stumbles upon a brutal murder one night while riding the train. He chooses to keep the pictures to himself and attempts to track down the killer himself, soon discovering that he is stalking a serial killer of the worst kind. Cooper, who has worked primarily in television, will be chasing  a formidable antagonist in the  British star Vinnie Jones (The Condemned, Snatch). Brooke Shields and the MMA star Quinton “Rampage” Jackson also have parts in the film, which is due out in theatres on May 16, 2008.

[*Please excuse the hyphenation, but I underwent an uncontrollable craving for dashes.]