Midnight Meat Train Brings Home the Bacon

I first heard learned of The Midnight Meat Train from trailers on DVD rentals. The film looked intriguing. Only recently I switched to Comcast cable service, which features FearNET on demand. Midnight Meat Train opened in limited release to dollar theaters with little fanfare. I was surprised when the film showed up on my "on demand" menu, so I decided to watch it for free. The first viewing impressed me, but left me somewhat confused. After I watched Midnight Meat Train a second time, I consider it a high quality horror film.

Ryuhei Kitamura directed Midnight Meat Train, which is based on a Clive Barker short story of the same name. Kitamura demonstrates superior directing ability through tight control of the film's cinematography and mise-en-scene. For the most part, Kitamura limited the film's color palette to blues and grays--cold colors that chill the viewer. He pays homage to film noir through the use of high contrast lighting that produces gradients of light and dark in the frame. The shadows create the illusion of depth crucial to cinema, but also communicate themes of the narrative.

The main character of the film is Leon Kauffman (Bradley Cooper), a struggling photographer. For most of the film, half of his face stands out in light, and the other half hides in the shadows. The split of his face between light and shadow reveals his inner turmoil. In order to succeed in the art world, he takes pictures of grisly scenes. The work rubs against his own soul somewhat, but overall, the film presents a dark view of humanity. When Leon shows art dealer Susan Hoff (Brooke Shields) some of his work, she wants him to go deeper and darker with his work.

The mystery of the film begins after Leon takes pictures of a group of thugs about to rape a model in the subway. He plays the part of the Good Samaritan and prevents the rape. Leon watches as the model boards a subway train. The next day, an article in the newspaper declares the model missing. Leon soon observes an unusual man named Mahogany in the subways. Leon suspects Mahogany's involvement in the model's disappearance.

As Leon follows and photographs Mahogany, the movie plunges headlong into the horrific and bizarre. Kitamura bathes the sets and the film in excessive gore, which will undoubtedly turn many people off. He makes a graphic point about postmodern society, however. I don't want to ruin the mysteries of the film, so I will be somewhat obscure.

Through Leon's investigations into Mahogany and his activities, Leon learns that a select group of people know about Mahogany and his activities. When Leon sounds the craziest to his girlfriend Maya (Leslie Bibb), he is closest to the truth. The purpose of life and technology within the city is to facilitate murder and the care of a select group of beings. Despite Leon's earlier altruistic actions, he becomes a part of the conspiracy in a way he probably didn't anticipate. I wonder whether the police and the art dealers who initiate him into society were not grooming him all along for his final initiation into the occult truth.

Sources:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805570/