midnight meat train Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I know today's supposed to be alllll about Watchmen lunacy, but there's another new flick that's really piqued my interest, mainly because it's a horror film (and I love horror films), but also because it stars Dennis Quaid, and I'll always find time to watch a Dennis Quaid movie. Even a lame one. But in the case of this particular film, the distributor (one Lionsgate) is working overtime to make sure I don't see it.

Reliable sources like Filmjerk and BOM indicate that The Horsemen (or, if you're going by the poster, Horsemen) is opening today in 75 markets. Or 75 screens, I'm not sure on that. But I can't seem to track it down on Moviefone, and selling movie tickets is, like, their big thing! They WANT me to find a ticket! Ive spoken to a few pals, and it doesn't look like the film is playing anywhere near Philly, New York, Austin, Orlando, or Chicago. I can only assume it's playing all around Hollywood, right?

Now, it feels really strange for me to be defending a film directed by Jonas Akerlund, since I consider his FIRST film (Spun) to be a rat turd of the highest odor. But what's the deal with Lionsgate already? I certainly don't want to slap the hand that gave me a lot of great horror flicks over the past five years, but between their virtual burials of The Midnight Meat Train (102 theaters, $83,000 gross), Repo! The Genetic Opera (11 theaters(?), $146,000), The Horsemen, and The Burrowers (straight to DVD, and a damn fine movie), I'm starting to take this an affront to the fine horror geeks of the world. LG sure didn't mind scooping $51 million out of My Bloody Valentine a few months back, and they've got Saw 6 in the oven as we speak, so clearly they're not averse to ALL horror movies ... just the smaller ones. Nice.

Thanks to advancements in movie-going technology over the years, all one needs to view tomorrow's slasher remake, My Bloody Valentine, in three dimensions is a special pair of glasses. And according to Lionsgate's marketing department, all one needs in order to see the film in four dimensions is a set of beer goggles.

The above picture is of an online ad that I just came across while watching a video on YouTube. (Whether or not said video was a RickRoll, I'll neither confirm nor deny.) Apparently, the studio is so confident in the quality of their film that they hope young viewers over the age of 21 will stumble up to the ticket window before tossing their cookies mid-movie in an effort to create an interactive "splash zone" of sorts for some lucky viewers.

When we were kicking around ideas for year-end superlative Cinematical Sevens, I was proudly tasked with chronicling the year's finest in big-screen mayhem, violence, destruction and other such shenanigans. When I was kicking around ideas for said feature between me, myself, and I, there were too many titles to leave off the list, so instead of highlighting only a mere couple of movies, I've opted to sort these puppies out by specific manner of cinematic excess.

So there.

1. Most pervasive destruction - The Joker may have terrorized Gotham to the tune of a destroyed hospital, a wrecked helicopter, a sunken SWAT truck, a toasty fire engine, and a golden district attorney, but even he can't top the Cloverfield monster's swath of destruction across the real-life Gotham. Statue of Liberty? Gone. Brooklyn Bridge? History. Central Park? Adios. And that's not including all the Hollister stores that our protagonists might've fled to. (On a smaller scale, though, Inside's lady in black terrorizes a pregnant woman on Christmas Eve to the point of all but painting every last wall in her house with the blood of her victims. Gotta love the French!)

Last year I spent a few weeks in London (Croydon, actually) at the home of a hardcore horror freak named Paul McEvoy. And since Paul is a co-founder and programmer for UK FrightFest, well, let's just say I had a whole bunch of horror flick festival screeners to pick through. It was awesome. One of those discs had the words FRITT VILT scrawled across it, and I didn't even know what language that was. Turns out it was Norwegian and the flick's English title is Cold Prey. Despite the fact that, plot-wise, it's a pretty conventional slasher flick, I quite liked Fritt Vilt, and I was pleased to learn that the sequel is on the way. Anchor Bay will be releasing the original, and you can check out the trailer and website right here.

Looks like After Dark Horrorfest decided to share their newest posters with a few different horror sites. Check out some of 'em at Bloody-D, two more at Shock, and another at Dread Central.

They had a swanky little booth at San Diego Comic Con, and now they've given Dread a new (nasty) clip for your approval. The flick is called Laid to Rest, and I'm certainly looking forward to it. Here's the official site, and yes, you should expect more gore: Director Rob Hall runs a make-up / FX house called Almost Human, and it looks like his team worked overtime on this flick.

Ti West has a new one called The House of the Devil. Early info and promo poster right here. Also at BD, a set report from the Friday the 13th remake.

Wanna watch The Midnight Meat Train right now? Online? For free? Cool. Click here. Curious about when the hell you can see Trick 'r Treat already? Nobody has an answer, but Ryan Rotten delivers a good rant anyway. Anyone out there still interested in the Creepshow franchise after the monumental crap-heap that was Creepshow 3? If so, check out the details on Creepshow: Raw right here and here.

Toronto After Dark has announced their winners, and of course top prize goes to Let the Right One In. Full details over at Twitchfilm. And then check out a free clip from the film right here.

Dear Midnight Meat Train,

It was so great to see you on Wednesday night at the old, one-screen Clay Theatre in San Francisco. Pretty awesome that someone caught your pitiful theatrical release and decided to book you for a two-night run here. Actual people do things so much better than corporations sometimes.

Anyway, there's no easy way to say this: I love you. In fact, I think I might be in love with you. Deep inside I think you know the depth of my affection. But let me list just a few examples of your awesomeness.

I love how artfully, how meticulously, you were directed. You're freakin' beautiful, is what you are. What happened to the Ryuhei Kitamura who made the smug, ugly, useless Versus? I wasn't prepared for this evocative, moody plunge into bleakness. Every shot is a wonderfully unreal composition of light and shadow; every angle and camera move seems calculated to make you as unsettling as possible.

I love that you took the time to get the details right. The little things -- they're so difficult. The relationship between the main character and his girlfriend/fiance is believable and sweet; there are some genuinely lovely scenes in the first half, moments where you just pause to regard these people outside of the plot. And those photos that are supposed to make Leon a star in the New York art world? Those are actually some great freakin' photos. I bought it, y'know?

Just about a year ago, Comcast's FEARnet video-on-demand service dug into the Lionsgate vault and pulled out Catacombs, which they offered at no charge on their VOD network. Turns out the flick wasn't all that hot, but hey, horror fans love to see stuff for free ... especially if it hasn't been released on video just yet.

So this year FEARnet is doing it again -- only this time it's a movie that did have a (rather insultingly) limited theatrical release. Like, VERY limited. Yes, gore-fans, Ryuhei Kitamura's adaptation of Clive Barker's The Midnight Meat Train may very well be viewable in your own living room -- at this very moment! (If you get FEARnet on your cable box, that is...) Last year Catacombs was also made available on the FN website prior to its DVD release, but we don't know if that will be the case on Meat Train. Lionsgate has yet to announce a DVD date for the film, so anything could happen.

Best of all, unlike Catacombs, I've already seen and have strongly recommended this particular horror movie -- and I certainly wouldn't sneeze at the source material either. For our earlier reports on this strangely controversial little horror flick, check here, here and here.

It is no secret that horror maestro Clive Barker has not had good luck lately with feature films. But to his credit, it hasn't made him bitter about seeing his work translated for the big screen. In an interview with MTV, Barker got the chance to weigh in on the upcoming remake of Hellraiser for Dimension Films -- and judging from his comments, he seems to be in a good place with the project. Barker told MTV, "I never get tired of revisiting [characters] if there is a good story to be told." He seemed genuinely excited about what he has planned for the story of a puzzle box from another dimension and the 'human pin-cushion'.

Back in February, Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton were hired to work on the re-write of the Barker-approved script. But the project had another setback when the French directing duo of Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo (À l'intérieur) left the project due to "creative differences." So for now it looks like Pin-Head and the Gang are without a director. Hopefully, Dimension can get the ball rolling on the remake, because I don't think Barker could take another disappointment at the box office.

After the jump...find out what Barker really thinks about PG-13 horror.

I'm glad to have seen The Midnight Meat Train in a theater earlier this month, even if it was a run-down dollar theater. But Lionsgate certainly made it difficult for horror fans, booking the film into only about 100 locations and carefully avoiding theaters anywhere near the city centers of New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Portland, etc.

When the limited release strategy became known, Clive Barker, who wrote the story upon which Ryuhei Kitamura's film is based, expressed his support for a fan-made viral campaign to get a wider release. Now that the limited release has come and gone, he told MTV News of his displeasure toward "small-minded" Lionsgate president Joe Drake. Barker believes that Drake shortchanged MMT to avoid competition with The Strangers, on which Drake had a producing credit. "You don't have to sh-- on somebody else's work to advance your own material," Barker said.

Barker feels that Kitamura made "a beautifully stylish, scary movie." He's convinced that "people will find it, and whether they find it in midnight shows or they find it on DVD, they'll find it, and in the end the Joe Drakes of the world will disappear."

In his review from Comic-Con, Scott Weinberg opined that The Midnight Meat Train would be a tough sell on 1,200 screens because it's such a dark, "horror fans only" experience. On the other hand, the apparently inferior Mirrors (as per William Goss' review) opened on 2,664 screens and made $11 million in its opening weekend. But Lionsgate took that decision out of (most of) our hands. The DVD should be out Real Soon Now.

When was the last time you saw a first-run movie on opening night and paid just $1.75? Hardcore horror flick The Midnight Meat Train has been relegated to second-run theaters in its limited, 100-screen release this weekend, as William Goss nicely detailed for us. (Thanks to commenter Christopher for pointing out that Dread Central compiled a very handy list of theaters.) Let me testify: watching the movie at a theater with cheap seats did not enhance the experience.

Here's why: The Midnight Meat Train is a very good flick -- I agree completely with our own horror hound Scott Weinberg that "it's one of the most effective horror films of the year" -- and horror fans who sought it out deserved to see it in the best possible environment. I was fortunate in that one of the six theaters playing it in the Dallas / Ft. Worth Metroplex is only about 10 miles away, though I had a devil of a time finding it. Unfortunately, the theater has seen better days, the seating layout is not optimal, and the audio equipment is lacking.

It felt surreal to watch the far inferior The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor at a Cinemark complex with great sound and a huge screen and then travel 10 miles to see The Midnight Meat Train at another Cinemark complex with sound that lacked any oomph and a much smaller screen. Nonetheless, the 9:25 p.m. show drew a mixed crowd of 60-70 people, despite zero advertising in the local newspapers, and folks seemed satisfied with what they saw.

In a development noted on several horror sites, not the least of which are Shock and BD.com, it appears that Lionsgate is indeed opening the oft-shuffled adaptation of Clive Barker's The Midnight Meat Train on roughly 100 screens this Friday. However, all currently-posted showtimes are at second-run theaters -- otherwise known as dollar theaters, although it never seems to be that cheap anymore, not even on Tuesdays.

In my neck of the woods, one theater has it booked for two evening shows a day, for an engagement that I'm willing to bet will last only one week. The last time I remember a first-run film being shown at this theater, it was the Weinsteins' Feast, although that usually neglectful studio did so as part of a clear strategy to boost general awareness of that movie before its DVD release a month later (and wouldn't you know it, that wasn't a bad flick at all).

Despite all the fuss between Barker and the studio and the frequent release date changes, Scott saw it at Comic-Con and really dug it, and he doesn't seem to be alone among the genre gurus, which leads one to wonder just why Lionsgate would go to such curious lengths to so poorly fulfill a contractual obligation when it seems that fans might, y'know, actually turn out and pay full price to get the grisly goods. (On the flip side, at least it'll hit more cities than Pathology or Rogue did when they were similarly dumped.)

What do you guys think? Are you still interested in catching the film, and if so, do you find yourself inconvenienced by this odd distribution tactic?