Rating: R | Runtime: 100 minutes
Release Date: August 1st, 2008 (USA)
Studio: Lionsgate
Director(s): Ryûhei Kitamura
Writer(s): Jeff Buhler / Clive Barker (short story)

People usually run away.

I don’t know what it was about the trailer for The Midnight Meat Train that drew me in, but I had been anticipating the film for a long while. Maybe it was seeing Bradley Cooper in a lead role against his usual type (he’s now an A-lister after The Hangover). Maybe it was the bleak, metallic starkness of the subway car surroundings. Or perhaps it was that it’s based on a Clive Barker short story. If I were to pick any horror series from the 80s and 90s as my favorite, it would be an easy Hellraiser.

So, I think Barker’s involvement is what really piqued my interest. Upon viewing, though, I started to forget about that connection because of how straightforward the suspense was. Only at the end, when everything that had happened is revealed to be part of something much bigger, does Barker’s stamp appear. And boy, does it ever. Ryûhei Kitamura has added some style and mood to this thing and crafted one of the more enjoyable horror films I’ve seen in quite some time. Sure, there are some conveniences, but I tend to look beyond them in a film like this—one looking to entertain rather than win awards.

Photographer Leon Kauffman (Cooper) is trying to break out and find a niche to make him the money needed to finally propose to his girlfriend Maya (Leslie Bibb). After meeting with the authority on photography in the art world—a fascinating bit part from Brooke Shields—he realizes he must catch glimpses of the city that prove more provocative and dangerous than he has.

After following some gangbangers down to the subway and taking their photo while they terrorize a young model, Leon’s life is forever changed. He decides to stand up to these hoodlums, saving the girl and eventually catching a glimpse of the uniquely ringed finger holding the door open for her almost victim. The finger belongs to Mahogany, a mysterious man who’s a butcher by day and possibly—although with a different sort of meat altogether—a butcher by night.

The film then sets out to show Leon’s spiral downward into the conspiracies running through his head. The cops don’t believe his theories and neither does his fiancé, but that doesn’t stop him from putting his life in danger to stalk Mahogany on his daily travels. The photos snapped along the way get him into a prestigious gallery showing that could catapult his career, but they the subject matter also haunt his dreams and drive him to discover what’s really happening on that 2:00 am train.

His nightly journeys lead to some interesting camerawork with plenty of angular compositions and a great utilization of reflective surfaces. Mirrors, windows, and even pools of blood reveal events occurring behind the camera. Or, I should say events occurring to the camera as a stand-in. It’s an effective technique that allows the lens to often become our eyes as we watch Mahogany approach with a knife or meat mallet. The audience is therefore led into the film and its carnage.

There are other standout flourishes as well—namely a spectacular climatic fight sequence where the camera whooshes from inside the subway car to the outside, weaving in and out while circling the mayhem that transpires. Yes, there are times when the computer effects leave something to be desired (Ted Raimi’s eye can attest to this), but they don’t necessarily take you out of a tale completely removed from reality in the first place.

Even the fact that Vinnie Jones’ malicious killer never utters a word adds to the atmosphere of the film. His sneers and wry smile do so much more to express what his character is thinking than words ever could. Jones is a force to be reckoned with here too. A monster whose secrets await along with the truth to why these midnight murders are happening.

While, like most horrors, the look and feel (and villainous performance) really make or break things, the rest of the cast lives up to their end of the bargain too. Bibb is a bit overbearing in a role that never adds much to the plot anyways, but you can’t fault her as much as the weakly written role. Her actions are the most convenient, but still crucial to the story’s progression. I really enjoyed Roger Bart as he slowly becomes a genre staple with this and Hostel: Part II. He actually plays Leon’s friend despite his look and expressive qualities screaming villain. And Tony Curran’s train conductor is nicely foreboding and mysterious.

But it’s Cooper, the character upon whom the film hinges on, that excels. You believe him throughout, whether his love for Maya and his work or his increasing paranoia about what he thinks he sees. The actor is invested in Leon and his actions show as much—especially a final shot that brings chills. It’s a conclusion that circles back to the opening scene to add one more layer of intrigue to an already successful exercise in brutality, the human psyche, and a bit of the fantastically surreal.

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Vinnie Jones (“Mahogany”) stars in Lionsgate Home Entertainment’s THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN.