Video: Clive Barker’s “Midnight Meat Train”

This one is an interesting story of behind-the-scenes weirdness going on at Lionsgate films. It seems that when Joe Drake took over the distributor, one of his first orders of business was to bump the much-anticipated adaptation of Clive Barker’s 1984 horror story Midnight Meat Train from its release date so that the movie he exec-produced, The Strangers, would have no competition - outside of Sex and the City of course. But let’s face it, creepy hack-’em-ups and high-heeled fashionista flicks generally don’t mix crowds - although a combination of the two would be gangbusters. How do you get men to go see the Sex ladies? Charlotte snaps and picks up a meat cleaver!

Anyway, this little jerk move has left a lot of horror fans perturbed, and perturbing horror fans is generally not a wise move. They often like knives, you see. When it turned out that Midnight Meat Train was going to be quietly released in limited quantities and then shuffled off to DVD, Barker started actively encouraging his Clive-amaniacs to start making some serious noise, in the belief that enough complaining could really help the film’s chances.

As it stands now, though, it’s coming out July 11, and it’s supposed to be a truly innovative and disturbing work from director Ryuhei Kitamura, who also did the fantastically entertaining Azumi. It’s the story of a photographer (Bradley Cooper) who starts to stalk a notorious subway serial killer (Vinnie Jones) as part of his growing obsession with the dark side of human nature. That could definitely get creepy.

Watch the trailer for Clive Barker’s Midnight Meat Train right here and see if you think it’s worth all the hubbub.
Watch an interview with Clive Barker about Midnight Meat Train.