Get on the wrong train at the wrong time and, to paraphrase the Beatles, bang, bang, Mahogany's silver hammer comes down upon your head. | Winkelen op rubriek. I used to salivate watching the big chunks of red meat tossed out to them. The film follows a photographer who attempts to track down a serial killer dubbed the "Subway Butcher. Shooting was moved to Los Angeles, due to the prohibitive cost of shooting in New York City. Im a huge Clive Barker fan. For those not familiar with the source material (as it seems many of the 1-star reviews obviously are not), the film is based on Clive Barker's short story of the same name, which appears in the first volume of the Books of Blood anthology. Evil-doer Most Innacurate based on a true story movie ever? to satiate their hunger so they dont come up to the surface and run rampant and kill everyone..its like a sacrifice. Winkelen op rubriek. I was originally going to direct Candyman 2, Rose has been quoted as saying. Why does Leon not murder the conductor? For me it was completely a turning point because suddenly this seemed within reach Ramseys presence in the world validated the possibility that I might try it., Ramsey himself recalled the school visit when introducing a later edition of the Books of Blood, saying, I cant now recall much of what I rather clumsily said, but I remember the delight of the sixteen-year-olds when I pointed out that one might take Machens White Powder to deal with venereal disease, and the dismayed retreat of some members of the teaching staff when I played Zappas parody of Schoenberg from Absolutely Free. The job of the Mahogany is to find 'quality' people (mostly healthy and athletic), and murder them using short range weapons on the subway lines. The HongKong Version is based on the R-Rated and on top of that was even censored in order to get a CAT II-Rating. The Midnight Meat Train. HD. He has this iconic hammer. The second Mahogany was the name of the protagonist Leon Kaufman who was portrayed by Bradley Cooper, who also playedSack Lodgein Wedding Crashers. The world premiere was on July 19, 2008 at the Fantasia Festival in Montreal, in the presence of director Ryuhei Kitamura. A planned mid-2005 date to shoot in Montreal, though, came and went and Tatopoulos eventually dropped off the project and shortly afterwards made his directorial debut with the Underworld prequel, Rise of the Lycans. Long before Bradley Cooper headed into The Shallows with Lady Gaga, he was a photographer who dug too deep into New York's subway in a Clive Barker adaptation heavy on gore and surprisingly high on lizard people. The violent scenes lose a considerable part of their impact here. Intrigued, he investigates reports of similar disappearances. Unknown I am an admin of this site. He was one of those people who somehow managed to keep, uncannily kept up, almost intimate contact with friends everywhere, all his Yale friends knew and loved him. Leon's girlfriend Maya (Leslie Bibb) is understandably concerned about her boyfriend's behavior and shares his recent obsession with their friend Jurgis (Roger Bart). I got on the subway late one night and it took me to a place called Far Rockaway, the end of the line. Passing out on the subway floor, he awakes the next morning in a slaughterhouse with strange markings carved into his chest. The movie is an allegory for a man becoming homosexual. Tatopoulos left the production in 2006 and was replaced by Ryuhei Kitamura. He assaults and kills several people with a meat hammer and a butcher's hook. And a little scary. The gore factor is selling point to the genre crowd, and they don't have to worry. The thing about The Midnight Meat Train, Clive agrees, is that it was positioned through my editors good sense in the collection so that it almost announces, This guy will do anything to you. My feeling was, lets see what happens, you know, how bad can this get? And there is, I hope, a feeling of relentlessness about it that its picked you up and wont let go until its finished. It's visually engrossing, the acting and story are mostly solid, and it has a great lead villain in Vinnie Jones. Edit, Most of the unanswered questions are explained in the short story this movie is based on. The goal of /r/Movies is to provide an inclusive place for discussions and news about films with major releases. Overall, Midnight Meat Train is a simple, bloody, hardcore offering certain to satisfy fans of the genre. No matter. (1,549) 6.0 1 h 37 min 2008 X-Ray R. Struggling photographer Leon Kaufman's obsessive pursuit of dark subject matter leads him into the path of a serial killer, Mahogany, the subway murderer who stalks late-night commuters -- ultimately butchering them in the most gruesome ways imaginable. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. The difference here, of course, is that Hadley is fully aware of the activities. Thats the part of acting I dont like. The Books of Blood were not an instant success. Mahogany's job dates to over a hundred years ago (the oldest one dating to 1895), and has been an inspiration for several urban legends, including The Butcher, an enigmatic and brutal serial killer who was never caught. Melee expertiseBrute strengthHigh durabilityCombat skills 7 minutes to secure a "Not under 18" rating. Leon is intrigued by the mystery, and begins to investigate newsreels about similar disappearances. He just brutally killed the love of his life before his eyes and he just gives up and accepts it, and then starts killing strangers to feed to monsters? Satisfying the audience -- or even telling a coherent story -- appears to have been much less of a concern and that's why many viewers will leave THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN feeling as if they've just had a heaping helping of Grade-A turkey. In the short story, they're a secret society that run the world. If youve ever seen Versus or any of his other Japanese-language films, hes just an unbelievable director. A photographer's obsessive pursuit of dark subject matter leads him into the path of a serial killer who stalks late night commuters, ultimately butchering them in the most gruesome ways. I like endings like this but this was just too ambiguous and 'hurr durr we can't think of a good way to explain this character's reactions to these events'. To me the answer is:Vegans,vegans would love this..Even the main character Leon is a vegan. In the movie, this process also includes pulling out the teeth, eyes and nails. He dispatches his prey wordlessly, and with an unnatural strength. The Midnight Meat Train is an excellent horror movie. I started working with Clive on the screenplay way back in 2004, he recalls, and we did at least four drafts before Clive formed the Midnight Picture Company with partner Jorge Saralegui., Noting the need to change the emphasis for the screen from the narrative in the short story prompting the switch away from Leons profession as an accountant he explains, In the short were inside Leons head, so we know what hes thinking and feeling as he observes the city around him. And there, I think, is a story with a perfect happy ending he goes through hell and he comes through on the other side, utterly changed, utterly transformed.. I read the Books of Blood in high school and Ive always loved the story of The Midnight Meat Train, so it was an honour for me to be able to give it a shot. The ominous Conductor, Mahogany's handler of sorts, greets Maya and Leon, who advises his passengers to "step away from the meat," leading them to flee from the train as monstrous creatures board to devour their fresh latest delivery. Why not just send down the military and destroy the creatures? He picks up Leon, and with the same supernatural strength as the deceased butcher, rips out Leon's tongue, throwing him to the ground and eating the tongue. A concerned Maya and her friend Jurgis examine Leon's photos of Mahogany, leading them to the killer's apartment. Human body parts are ripped, thrown, and used as weapons. Kings quote, stories like The Midnight Meat Train and the simple connotation of blood in the title of the collection led to an early critical pigeon-holing of Clive as a simple purveyor of graphic violence, with sex and horror thrown in in abundance for good measure. Every member is disposable and replaceable, makingthem the biggest scapegoats in the world. If you are going to edit a lot, then make yourself a user and login. They fight in between the swinging human fleshLeon's knives against Mahogany's meat hammerand human body parts are ripped, thrown, and used as weapons. With an estimated budget of $15 million (via The Numbers), the film drew in a poor box-office result of $3.5 million (via Box Office Mojo), was released in only 100 U.S. theaters before quickly going to DVD, but was met with a welcoming reception from critics. A passenger walks by Mahogany (Vinnie Jones) who has no idea what's about to happen to him. Leon attempts to turn some of the photos he has taken of Mahogany in to the police, but they refuse to believe him, and instead cast suspicion on his own motives in photographing the victims. Leon enters the train as Mahogany has completed his nightly massacre, and has cornered a helpless Maya. I made notes when I got back to Boston. 1 killer he used to be and is weakening. But so far he's fucking scary, yeah, and visually he's great. because his reason for living is essentially gone, and his new purpose is now to take the butchers place and keep the forces of evil at bay for all of the world. In fact, the three slim books with their curious photographic covers made little initial impression on the general public but they did start to gain a reputation as something fresh and startling among specialist horror and fantasy circles. It is my best film to date and I am proud of myself, my crew, my cast and my producers., Clives appeal to Lionsgate and the clamour from fans for a wider theatrical release went unheeded but the DVD release went some way to appeasing his anger, adding two and a half minutes of additional footage as well as three featurettes and an audio commentary.The enduring disappointment for Clive, though, was that the movies strangled release effectively ended a grander cinematic vision: It frustrates me because we would have had a trilogy out of this. So this Mahogany is of course he's very creepy, very weird, very scary but at the same time he's very super cool. The final scene shows Hadley handing over the old timetables to a yet-to-be-revealed Mahogany, which turns out to be an alias for the long line of serial killers. But, Clive was great, he was very supportive the entire time.. Leon heads to the hidden subway entrance in the slaughterhouse, arming himself with several slaughterhouse knives, and wearing a butcher's apron. Production designer is Clark Hunter (The Astronaut Farmer, All the Pretty Horses). So I was like a kid in a candy store any time we filmed the scary bits. The first thing I told Clive was, You've got to stop letting Hollywood make shit movies out of your great novels. Clive has a great imagination and it takes high motivation and effort to translate that imagination onto the screen. The FAQ items below may give away important plot points. The Midnight Meat Train is based on a 1984 short story by English horror writer Clive Barker. See production, box office & company info, Phelous & the Movies: Phelous Aboard the Midnight Meat Train. Come for the ONE DOLLAR MOVIES, stay to enjoy clips of all your favorites. And don't forget that he was already obsessed with Mahogany's work before that whole underground monster deal. I don't remember if the film clarifies this, but the short story explains that the under dwellers are the secret rulers of the city, so the motivations and details are best taken on an allegorical level (as representing secret government or cabals a la Illuminati and Freemasonry - or just ruling classes in general and their tendency to feed off the citizenry). budget, 3 mill. "The next time you find yourself at the heart of the city, stay put, be brave, keep shooting," Susan advised, and Leon is apparently a man who'll stop at nothing to please a potential patron. [9], Barker was angry with Lionsgate's treatment, believing the studio's president Joe Drake to be shortchanging other people's films to focus more attention on films like The Strangers, where he received a producing credit: "The politics that are being visited upon it have nothing to do with the movie at all. Assembling 15 of them to oversee what should have been a fairly simple shocker sounds like a textbook case of too many cooks ruining the MEAT. The pride he took in the genre contrasted forcibly with my own slightly furtive passion. The next day, he discovers this girl has gone missing. No, I thnk your interpretation of the movie is based on confirmation bias. It has been a long time since a major horror film has been given such loving treatment by its director. Stepping back on board The Midnight Meat Train today, its clear that this brutal but lyrical short story retains a narrative power that has not been dimmed by time. Like Kaufman and the Mahogany from the film,it is implied that allMahoganys are deprived from their voices by having their tongues removed by the Conductor and cut ties with their families and lives to fulfill a bigger role than them, without even sharing any sort of privilege from the government aside from protection since their work is done in complete secret, complete silence. With these words, the true purpose of the underground station is revealed, as horrible reptilian creatures enter the car, consuming the meat. Thinking about the influence he wanted to exert on readers, Clive had set down some (ultimately unpublished) thoughts towards his own possible introduction. Mahogany was getting old and sick, as evidenced by him coughing up blood and nearly losing to Rampage Jackson's character (the black guy in the subway). It only falters in an illogical last act. The reason for this procedure is for the bodies to be used as food for a race of monstrous beings that hide below the surface ofNew York City, theCity Fathers, who manipulate the whole country fromthe shadows. He doesn't kill her at the end. The origins of the story date to a visit Clive made with his great friend William A. Henry III, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and, at the time of his untimely death, Time Magazines theatre critic. In film, though, horror was very much the order of the day Hellraiser and its sequels made his reputation, Nightbreeds siding with the monsters confused a studio but found a huge audience that demands a forthcoming directors cut fully twenty five years later and Lord of Illusions is an underrated treatise on magic and illusion. This is the best adaptation and Im including my own work in this this is the best adaptation of any of my short fiction that has ever been made., The films director responded about Clives films: The best adaptation? When they come up, theyve got to be great, and Patrick has a handle on all that.. A concerned Maya and her friend Jurgis begin to examine the photos Leon has been taking of Mahogany, leading them to the killer's apartment. No punches are pulled. He's determined to impress snobby gallery owner Susan Hoff (Brooke Shields), who once dismissed Leon's work as "arresting yet empty.". Sometimes it's pure old-fashioned exploitation, with high-pressure bursts of bloodshed, eyeballs being scooped out of sockets, bones being twisted, etc. the attempted rape scene in the staircase is also entirely cut (so is the clue with the ring, or the model's murder)brooke shield's character also never appears and leon's motivations are not about fame and money but more about morbid voyeurism.the theatrical version is more dreamlike and confused, as it is mainly focused on cooper's character | He is somewhat of a depraved sadist who likes to mock his victims if he finds them alive, and seems to be quite xenophobic as he had some kind of grudge against the Jews. Bill Condon would subsequently enlist Clives help in getting his Academy Award-winning adaptation of Christopher Brams novel about James Whale to the screen in the shape of Gods and Monsters. Soon, his terror becomes a twisted dose of obsession to learn more about the mysterious "Subway Butcher," one that leads Leon down a track he can never come back from. About Lakeshore Entertainment: Founded in 1994 by Chairman and CEO Tom Rosenberg, Lakeshore is the Academy Award winning producer of Million Dollar Baby and producer of such hits as the Underworld franchise, Exorcism of Emily Rose, Crank, Shes the Man, Runaway Bride and Arlington Road. I'm a big figure collector myself but I've been buying the same thing you know? There is a twist at the end its the reason why Im doing it. He picks up Leon and, with the same supernatural strength as the deceased butcher, rips out Leon's tongue and eats it. Mahogany, also known as simply The Butcher, is the main antagonist of Books of Blood Volume 1 short storyThe Midnight Meat Train, later adapted into a 2008 horror film of the same name. Walking through the derelict station, they notice piles of bones, and remnants of a world stretching back centuries, before a final battle between Mahogany (who is still alive) and Leon ensues. Leon is a photographer who wants to capture unique gritty shots of the city. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your California Privacy Rights (User Agreement updated 1/1/21. In the Japanese director's first English-language film, he has taken his visual genius from Alive and Versus and translated it into an action-packed bloodfest. So thats where it all began.. | The film was directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, and stars Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb, Brooke Shields, Roger Bart, Ted Raimi and Vinnie Jones. Cut! and I went, Oh yeah we got the shot meanwhile, I was terrified, and I ran over to the producers and said, Hes it, hes Mahogany!. Thus the fathers chose Leon to become the new butcher (the mark on his chest). The movie isnt special effects driven, but there are a lot of effects in the final reel physical effects, not CGI effects. The Midnight Meat Train was released theatrically in Australia on 19 February 2009, with a rating of R18+ for high level violence, blood and gore. At the same time, this would be, 1971, something like that, there was some kind of slasher guy going around the trains. We ended up with this 50s kind of cool suit and super-cool bag. Ryuhei Kitamura does a masterful job of directing this bloodbath with . Great effort, guys. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Goals While this is never explained, this, along with the occasional bouts of him coughing up blood, suggests that Mahogany isn't the No. That's why I had a discussion with my costume designer Chris Lawrence, and with Vinnie himself. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Through his desperation to uncover the city's seedy side, he crosses paths with Mahogany (Vinnie Jones), a serial killer whose hunting ground is the deathly quiet subway where several passengers meet a grisly demise. Anyway, as far as I understand things, the butcher and the conductor feed people to these lizard zombie alien things. "[15] Conversely, DVD Talk said that while the story is "an interesting concept," it's "subpar" compared to the rest of Clive Barker's work, and criticized the film's "melodrama" and computer-generated effects. Full Name [16], Official: Midnight Meat Train Knocked Out of May, March 25, 2008, 'Midnight Meat Train': Lionsgate Nearly Butchers Its Own Horror Film, Ubisoft Presents Fantasia 2008 | Films + Schedule|Midnight Meat Train, "BD Horror News - A Letter From the Editor RE: 'Meat Train', Help Save Horror! 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