The Midnight Meat Train (2008)

Clive Barker seemed destined to take over the horror genre back in the late eighties with his directorial debut Hellrasier. While the film became a cult classic and Stephen King named Mr. Barker "the future of horror", he never seemed to take off and have a mainstream career one would have thought he deserved or a career that most horror fans thought he would head into. After writing numerous novels and short stories as well as directing some of them in full length features, he's always been more underground not running atop the mainstream audience. The case is even further proven with evidence from his latest adaption The Midnight Meat Train.
The film stars Bradley Cooper (the asshole from Wedding Crashers) as Leon the photographer. He constantly tries to get his big break as he captures moments of realistic human actions that are represented in the city of New York. Early in the film he has a run in with a couple of thugs trying to hurt a woman and ends up getting the realism that a local art dealer played by Brooke Shields loves and admires. She tells him to get two more exactly like that capturing the evil of the human soul and he'll be put into her art show. Ecstatic at the opportunity he's been given he's off too collect more photos. Everything seems to go well until he finds out that the woman he saved during the mugging is now missing. When he has an ida of who may have done it, he continues to follow a man on the late night subway. As he continues to follow the man (played by the great Vinnie Jones) he finds out that there's more to this "case" then just the missing woman and becomes obsessed trying to find out this man's story that eventually turns into bloodshed and answers no man would truly want to know.
The film was directed by Ryuhei Kitamura who directs his first English film. The film had great direction and plenty of character development which can also give credit to Jeff Buhler who wrote the film's screenplay basing it off Clive Barker's short story of the same name. The film is plenty dark and gives an almost depressing vibe to the film's tone. While it may hurt the film and keep it not very mainstream, it surely sets the film up for it's dark and depressing ending.
While it may sound like I'm trying to talk you out of this film...I'm not. The film is very intense at times and also has some great shots that take you out of the film for a minute to admire the film, then sucks you right back in. The acting by Bradley is very down to earth and sympathetic as we follow down this road that may get him in for more than he bargained for.
The film is also very brutal in terms of gore and has plenty of gross out scenes which serves great for the hardcore horror fans. While I've touched the subject before in past reviews, the CGI of the gore will ruin it though. While some look very realistic and haunting, some look absolutely fake and bring the film to an almost "made for Sci-Fi channel channel" look.
Overall it's an alright flick, I expected more. It's much better than the horror films that reign the screens these days but it's still missing something. While Barker has always been on the dark side of things, sometimes he needs to come back and make his stories a little less dark and morbid and a little more lighter and optimistic. Because if he doesn't, he'll never find the audience that he very much deserves.