Vinnie Gots A Hammer. Fresh Still From Kitamura’s MIDNIGHT TRAIN.

Posted by Todd Brown at 7:15pm.

Posted in Film News , Horror, USA & Canada.

All is not well in the land of Ryuhei Kitamura’s adaptation of Clive Barker’s Midnight Meat Train. It was yanked from Liongate’s release schedule to accommodate a last minute retitling - it’s now known simply as Midnight Train - and the rumblings are that it may end up going direct to video with the planned theatrical release abandoned. Well, there is a plus side to this. Our compadres at Bloody Disgusting weaseled their way in to a test screening, where they report the results were through the roof, and the managed to find themselves one nasty new still from the picture. Sure, Vinnie Jones aint much of an actor but the man’s got undeniable charisma and I can’t wait to see him in this ...

Reader Comments

crazybee 04/15/2008 @ 7:32pm

What are they thinking? Direct to video? What a freaking slap in the face to Barker and Kitamura. The test screenings have apparently gone really well. Either release it on DVD ASAP or put it in theaters, but stop making us wait. Just more proof that Lionsgate is run by idiots who would rather crank out countless Saw sequels than try something new.
bruzed 04/15/2008 @ 11:50pm

WTF?! Straight to DVD???? Is Lionsgate dropping the ball or what? They are unsure if they are releasing REPO! The Genetic Opera now to!? HEY LIONSGATE! Pull yer’ thumb from yer’ bum!!!!?
MechaYakuza 04/16/2008 @ 5:17am

Kitamura is getting a nice crash course in the Idiocracy (get it) of the american film industry. If this had been made in Europe we’d would have all seen it by now. What a bunch of crap.
dullboy 04/16/2008 @ 9:22am

While I was in the theater to see Rambo, the audience spewed giggles and embarrassed OMG’s when the title of “Midnight Meat Train” splashed across the screen at the end of the trailer. I’m thinking this is why they changed the name. People see the title and think it has to be a horrible joke of a film. IMO, though, not only should the title be preserved to honor the source material, but also to keep with the sleazy 42nd Street vibe.
Rhythm-X 04/16/2008 @ 11:57am

If they were going to change the title, and they damn well should have, the time to do that was before promotion had begun on the film. Now it’s too late. Now the title change reeks of desperation instead of common sense, which is how it would have played had it been changed before promotion of the film was really underway. THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN isn’t a viable title for a film in the United States, unless that film is gay porn. Simple fact. It is, however, one of the all time greatest titles for a gay porn, ever.

I read somewhere (so don’t quote me because it may be BS) that Clive Barker is the guy who really put his foot down and insisted that it was somehow a good idea to put trailers for something called THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN into American theaters. Nobody who’d ever set foot inside a crowded US theater would ever, EVER have used that title. Nobody. You just know what’s going to happen with a title like that. Unless, apparently, allegedly, you’re Clive Barker.
dullboy 04/16/2008 @ 12:05pm

Well...Clive Barker IS gay.
Rhythm-X 04/16/2008 @ 4:44pm

Then he of all people should have guessed at the reaction that the title would get in your typical multiplex.
pochiW 04/16/2008 @ 6:30pm

Now it’s as distinguishable from Night Train as possible. great.
crazybee 04/16/2008 @ 7:14pm

Sorry, I loved the original title.