The Midnight Meat Train

***Be warned, this movie is not for the weak of stomach or heart***

What a brutal movie, this does not take any prisoners. Pools of blood, eyes coming out, people being hacked and smashed to death. That is basically all you see in this movie, and some sex. If there is any movie that someone would say they mix sex and violence my first thought would be this movie.

Based on the title I would say that this is a porno, and it's not far off, its a porno for people who love blood. A man named Leon who takes photos of car crashes and other news worthy stories is looking for his in to the art community. When he is introduced to a gallery owner he is told that his work is not good enough, to keep trying. Later that night be finds what he was looking for in a girl about to be mugged and assuming as well she will be raped. Before he saves her he takes photos of the attack. The gallery owner tells him to find two more photos like that and he can be in her next show. Instead he becomes obsessed with the fact that the girl he saved went missing right after he saved her. He figures out that it's a butcher (Mahogany, who says only 3 words the whole movie) who he thinks is abducting people, but we know better, right? From that point on it's him trying to prove that this guy is a killer.

Vinnie Jones is very scary in it as Mahogany, Bradley Cooper and Leslie Bibb were also very convincing. This movie walks up to the edge, pauses a moment and walks across it, then it breaks into a sprint, and flies over the edge. It is utter insanity, I tried hard not to turn away, and it made me queasy. I'm talking about buckets of red corn syrup. I'm not into that. They had a problem showing a little to much of the kills, I'd rather a lot of it be left up to the imagination.

When it came to the way it was shot....awesome. Very quick moving without any sort of crazy shaking in the camera. There are three colors the whole movie, Yellow, Green and Blue, with plenty of Black to fill in the shadows. There are two incredible POV shots. One a woman is trying to crawl away in a puddle of blood, she is pulled backwards and her head knocked off by a large metal mallet, we stay in her POV even after her head comes to a stop after rolling. Incredibly violent; yes, a great shot; definitely. I really liked the way it was shot, the Cinematographer (Johnathan Sela) takes risks and I liked it for that. Think "Se7en," or "Panic Room" and you'll get an idea of how it looks and feels. Most of the action takes place at night, its dreary and twisted.

A small complaint, it's the Midnight Meat Train, yet the killing goes on at 2 in the morning, not be a stickler, but the title isn't very accurate. Like I said earlier it is insanity, but when you get to the end you will see just how far the insanity goes. As a horror movie I think it does well, nothing is properly explained, it is very violent, and if that's what you want it certainly will satisfy that appetite. If you don't like gory horror movies NEVER watch this. Overall because of the way it was shot I give it 7/10 stars, but otherwise the story wasn't fantastic.

Director: Ryuhei Kitamura

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb, Vinnie Jones, Roger Bart