BOOK OF BLOOD
(Review)

“The dead have highways, running through the wasteland behind our lives, bearing an endless traffic of departed souls. They can be heard in the broken places of our world, through cracks made by acts of cruelty, violence, and depravity.
“They have signposts, these highways, and crossroads, and intersections, and it is at these intersections where the dead mingle, and sometimes, spill over into our world.”


For Clive Barker fans, the opening words which echo out from the black will be familiar, and for those diehards, I am extremely pleased to report that following Ryuhei Kitamura’s The Midnight Meat Train, John Harrison’s Book of Blood is another solid Barker film adaptation.
Based on the Books of Blood framing stories “The Book of Blood” and “On Jerusalem Street: A Postscript,” Harrison’s take follows visiting American professor and noted author, Mary Florescu (Heartbeat’s Sophie Ward), who investigates a purportedly haunted house in Great Britain, in the interests of her next book.
But when she asks for the help of one of her students, Simon McNeal (Jonas Armstrong, BBC’s Robin Hood), she sets off a chain of events that will bring her the long-sought after proof of the existence of the paranormal which she has been chasing after for the past decade.
And it won’t be a pretty sight.
Not at all.


Harrison and co-screenwriter Darin Silverman expand nicely on the pair of short stories, altering some motivations and personal histories in such a way as to enhance and reinforce the material for the purposes of this adaptation.
There’s much to be noted here, and Armstrong’s sad-eyed portrayal of the apparently “gifted” McNeal is one of the film’s central strengths, thankfully making up for whatever lack we may find in Ward’s Florescu.
Though her bravery in going starkers matches Armstrong’s commitment to his own role by freely dropping trou whenever called for, there’s still something seemingly tired and non-committal in Ward’s performance, which is quite probably the key drawback to Book of Blood; her iffy line delivery also slightly hobbles what could have been a stupendous opening. (Barker’s prose most definitely carries the day in that initial voice-over.)
Then again, Ashley Laurence wasn’t exactly Meryl Streep either, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying the first two Hellraisers, eh?
And if you still need a little convincing, Pinhead and Butterball* are in here too…


Though this is getting a theatrical release in other parts of the globe, that may very well not be the case in the USA. Sadly, even as Kitamura’s Midnight Meat Train got a bum American theatrical deal, Book of Blood (by virtue of it’s having been completed just as the global recession hit) is also looking like it’s going to have a major US cable launch this September, with a DVD release thereafter. There also could be a US theatrical release, though in late 2009 or even early 2010, via Lightning Media. (Whether wide or limited is still up for grabs.)
One can only hope that Anthony Diblasi’s upcoming Dread will have better luck in American theatres…
Till then though, this, along with Kitamura’s Midnight Meat Train now make for a nice double feature to celebrate the resurgence of Barker on the big screen.
Hurrah!


* Well, Doug Bradley and Simon Bamford, to be more precise.
And, having mentioned Simon Bamford, it’s rather appropriate that he has a role in the film adaptation, as Barker reportedly based the character of Simon McNeal on Bamford himself.

Parting shot: A review of The Midnight Meat Train can be found in the Archive.

(Book of Blood DVD cover art and images courtesy of shocktillyoudrop.com.)

A Rundown of the 13 Best, Most Recent Horror Movies I’ve Seen
[13 of 13]
THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN (July 2008)


The horror in Midnight Meat Train can be found just as much in Leon’s descent into obsession and the gradual fraying of his relationship with Maya, as it can in the spectacularly over-the-top gore, delivered on-screen by a silently scowling Vinnie Jones, who plays the butcher Mahogany.

Read the entire review here.

Parting shot: Well, that’s it for this year’s list. Let’s see what the next dozen months have to offer horrorwise, so we can see how those titles will impact 2009’s rundown.
Happy Halloween!

(The Midnight Meat Train UK quad courtesy of shocktillyoudrop.com.)

THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN
(Review)

Down the subway steps, token in hand. Through the automatic gates. The smell of the tunnels was in his nostrils now. Not the smell of the deep tunnels of course. They had a scent all of their own. But there was reassurance even in the stale electric air of this shallow line. The regurgitated breath of a million travellers circulated in this warren, mingling with the breath of creatures far older; things with voices soft like clay, whose appetites were abominable. How he loved it. The scent, the dark, the thunder.


So, for whatever reason they may have had—petty studio politics, or a conscious attempt of a studio to move towards more mainstream fare—this one was screwed by Lionsgate in the US, dumped into a pitiful 102 dollar and second-run theatres simply to fulfill contractual obligations.
I can only hope that this finds blazing life on DVD, because it certainly deserves it.

Based on Clive Barker’s short story from his landmark Books of Blood collection, Ryuhei Kitamura’s The Midnight Meat Train finds struggling photographer Leon Kaufman (Alias and Kitchen Confidential’s Bradley Cooper) on the brink of staking out some wall space at a group exhibit by noted art dealer Susan Hoff (Brooke Shields); all he needs is to “capture the heart of the city.”
But what happens when a city’s heart isn’t exactly pure?
We all know what Nietzsche said about staring into abysses, yes?

New York was just a city.
He had seen her wake in the morning like a slut, and pick murdered men from between her teeth, and suicides from the tangles of her hair. He had seen her late at night, her dirty back streets shamelessly courting depravity. He had watched her in the hot afternoon, sluggish and ugly, indifferent to the atrocities that were being committed every hour in her throttled passages.


It’s Cooper’s portrayal of Leon—in tandem with that of Popular’s Leslie Bibb (who plays Leon’s supportive girlfriend Maya)—that serves to ground this dark tale of servitude and ritual and death, as the photographer finds himself spiraling into the shadows of the inner workings of the vast metropolis, where people go missing every day, some never to be found again.
The chemistry between Cooper and Bibb brings a warm and tender life to the couple, making them genuine and real, thus making the inexorable slide to the film’s brutal climax all the harder.
The horror in Midnight Meat Train can be found just as much in Leon’s descent into obsession and the gradual fraying of his relationship with Maya, as it can in the spectacularly over-the-top gore, delivered on-screen by a silently scowling Vinnie Jones, who plays the butcher Mahogany.

Another reason why I so looked forward to this adaptation was because Jonathan Sela was the cinematographer on-board, and though I do feel he captured more striking and riveting imagery in The Omen remake and in Rohtenburg (review in Archive), Sela’s contribution here is nonetheless undeniable.
Kitamura—who brought us Versus and Azumi—is the kind of director who needs a great cinematographer to bring his wild visions to the screen, and Sela certainly does that.

“We are the City fathers,” the thing said. “And mothers, and daughters and sons. The builders, the law-makers. We made this city.”
“New York?” said Kaufman. The Palace of Delights?
“Before you were born, before anyone living was born.”


If there’s somewhere Midnight Meat Train falters, it’s in not quite living up to the portrayal of New York-as-moral cesspool that Barker nailed down so eloquently with his brilliant prose in the short story; the setting doesn’t quite crystallize into its own seedy character here.
There’s also the climax, which doesn’t manage to convey the awful breadth and enormity of the horror that lies beneath the streets of New York, Leon’s “Palace of Delights.”
It’s as if, post-9/11, the thought of emphasizing the depiction of the city as something built on the foundations of an ancient—and on-going—inhumanity seemed in, ahem, bad taste.

Whether or not that was part of the reasoning behind screenwriter Jeff Buhler’s choices when he adapted the short story, it’s ultimately still an aspect of the film that doesn’t work as well as I’d hoped.
Which is not to say the final stretch of the third act goes all pussy on us, mind. There’s still some wild bits in there; it’s just not as potent as the source material.
Sadly, we also don’t get that chilling “original American” moment…

Beyond its ability to successfully capture certain aspects of the short story, there’s also the matter of the underutilization of Roger Bart, who doesn’t really do much here.
I’m also not quite sold on the film’s use of CGI, particularly in the train bits…

The meat of her back had been entirely cleft open from neck to buttock and the muscle had been peeled back to expose the glistening vertebrae. It was the final triumph of The Butcher’s craft. Here they hung, these shaved, bled, slit slabs of humanity, opened up like fish, and ripe for devouring.


Still and all, The Midnight Meat Train is worth a look-see, whether or not you’re a Barker fan.
It’s also a very promising sign for the upcoming adaptations from the Books of Blood collection, Anthony DiBlasi’s Dread, John Harrison’s Book of Blood, Pig Blood Blues, and The Madonna (the last two still without attached directors, as far as I know).
After that initial cinematic flurry back in the day which included the first two Hellraiser films, Nightbreed, Candyman, and Lord of Illusions, Barker’s name has been mostly absent from big screen horror. (Yes, he produced the excellent, Oscar-nominated Gods and Monsters, but that wasn’t a horror movie.)

Barker’s inactivity on the film front is a crime as far as I’m concerned, considering all the blackly wondrous sights he’s brought to the screen in the past, whether as director or as the writer whose work has been adapted.
I’d still like to see that Director’s Cut of Nightbreed, or actually have Barker in the director’s chair again (though he’s gone on the record to say that this isn’t anywhere on his to-do list at the moment), but barring that, excellent adaptations of his fiction certainly sound delectable to me.
Yes, there have been some less-than-thrilling ones: Rawhead Rex, anyone? But when it’s a Candyman, how can you argue with that?
And yes, I’m still waiting for that Thief of Always adaptation…


There was a horrible familiarity about this ritual. It rang a bell—not in Kaufman’s conscious mind, but in his deeper, older self.
His feet, no longer obeying his mind, but his instinct to worship, moved. He walked through the corridor of bodies and stepped out of the train.

(The Midnight Meat Train OS and images courtesy of shocktillyoudrop.com.)

(All italicized quotes by Clive Barker, from “The Midnight Meat Train,” Books of Blood Volume One, 1984.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (76)
BARKER’S TRAIN NEEDS A PUSH

After getting its release date repeatedly pushed further and further down the line, Ryuhei Kitamura’s adaptation of Clive Barker’s The Midnight Meat Train will reportedly his theatres on August 1st, in a very limited release of approximately 100 screens, apparently only to fulfill contractual obligations, before being shuffled off to DVD.
It’s a sad move, given the recent resurgence of R-rated horror at the box office. The success of both M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening and Bryan Bertino’s The Strangers has, at least for the moment, put the kibosh on the industry thinking that only PG-13 horror could turn a profit.
The Midnight Meat Train could very well be a hit as well, if it actually reaches a wide enough audience.
To that end, Barker himself has released this statement:

“As you may or may not have heard, due to certain politics, Midnight Meat Train is in danger of Lionsgate not giving it a wide release. I’m asking you to please help spread the word in order for all to enjoy this film. I want to passionately encourage everybody who cares about my work to use this chance to change the minds of the folks at Lionsgate.
“Anything any of you can do—be it e-mails, web postings, word of mouth and the like—to help encourage this movement would be deeply appreciated. The film is worth the effort in my mind, and I do not want to see my work fall by the wayside.”

The “certain politics” Barker makes mention of apparently refers to the recent studio regime change at Lionsgate. The changing of the guard at studios always causes upheaval, and sadly, some films get caught in the backwash.
It seems The Midnight Meat Train could end up as one of those films.

So, you heard the man.
Head on over to Revelations, and help get the Train into theatres where it belongs.

Parting shot: The Midnight Meat Train, based on the Books of Blood short story, stars Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb, Roger Bart, Brooke Shields, and the one and only Vinnie Jones. And it’s shot by the excellent Jonathan Sela (DP on Martin Weisz‘s Rohtenburg and John Moore‘s redux of The Omen), so it should also look spectacular.
The film enjoys its World Premiere at this year’s FanTasia Film Festival in Canada; see Afterthoughts (75) in the Archive.

(The Midnight Meat Train OS courtesy of twitchfilm.net; images courtesy of shocktillyoudrop.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (75)
FANTASIA 2008

Canadian genre fans have the distinct pleasure of going whole hog from July 3-21 as this year’s FanTasia Film Festival (“North America’s Premier Genre Film Festival”) gets underway, with a lotta titles to go rabid for.

Among them: Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza’s [REC]; Tomas Alfredson‘s Tribeca champ, Lat den ratte komma in (Let The Right One In); Ryuhei Kitamura’s adaptation of Clive Barker’s The Midnight Meat Train; Trygve Allister Diesen and Lucky McKee‘s adaptation of Jack Ketchum’s Red; Dario Argento’s La Terza Madre (Mother of Tears); Jonathan Levine‘s All The Boys Love Mandy Lane; Daniel Myrick’s The Objective; Nacho Vigalondo‘s Los Cronocrimenes (Timecrimes), Jim Isaac’s Pig Hunt; Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom‘s Faet (Alone); Hideo Nakata’s Death Note spin-off, L: Change The World; Phedon Papamichael’s From Within; Ole Bornedal’s Vikaren (The Substitute); and Yam Laranas’ English-language remake of his own Sigaw, The Echo.
Both The Midnight Meat Train and The Echo are getting their world premieres at FanTasia 2008.

And, to the delight of Balaguero fans (like myself), FanTasia will also be screening his entry from the Spanish TV production, Películas para no dormir (Films To Keep You Awake), Para entrar a vivir (To Let). Another Pelicula para no dormir getting the big screen treatment at the festival is Alex de la Iglesia’s La habitación del niño (The Baby’s Room).
Sadly though, I can’t do the bilocation thing, so I’ll miss all the fun (Balaguero or otherwise)…
Sigh.
But for all you Canadian horrorheads, have a blast!

Parting shot: Reviews of Balaguero’s Los sin nombre (The Nameless), Darkness, and Fragiles (Fragile); Nakata’s Honogurai mizu no soko kara (Dark Water) and The Ring Two; Argento’s Suspiria and Inferno; Isaac’s Skinwalkers; Pisanthanakun and Wongpoom‘s Shutter; and Shusuke Kaneko’s Desu noto (Death Note), can be found in the Archive.

(OS’s courtesy of shocktillyoudrop.com [[REC] and Let The Right One In], twitchfilm.net [The Midnight Meat Train], bloody-disgusting.com [The Objective], and impawards.com [Timecrimes].)