I'm hungry for horror. The Strangers was OK, but The Happening was a major disappointment and nothing else is scheduled until August 1. That's when Ryuhei Kitamura's Midnight Meat Train, starring Bradley Cooper, Vinnie Jones and Leslie Bibb, is now set to open, delayed from May 16. But will you get to see it?

Shock Till You Drop reported last week that Lionsgate planned only a limited, 100-screen release in major cities, followed by a quick release on DVD, thus denying many horror fans the opportunity to see the film on the big screen. Someone suggested a viral campaign to get a wider release, which has now been endorsed by the man who wrote the story on which the movie is based: Clive Barker.

As quoted at The Official Clive Barker Resource, he says: "I am very excited about this possibility and I would passionately encourage everybody who cares about my work to use this chance to change the minds of the folks at Lionsgate. ... I really think, this late in the day, that grassroots support for our movie could significantly improve our chances of reaching a much bigger audience theatrically. The picture is worth the effort, I believe."

With three wide releases already scheduled on August 1 (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The Rocker, Swing Vote), it's a tough sell, but I'd love to see it happen. A thread at the IMDb boards has contact information.

[ Via Bloody Good Horror ]

Adult-skewing horror thriller Midnight Meat Train has been bumped from its planned May 16 release date, according to Shock Til You Drop. Citing distributor Lionsgate as their source, Shock says no new release date has been offered. As of this writing, the official Lionsgate site does not even mention the film, and production company Lakeshore Entertainment still shows May 16 as the release date.

Midnight Meat Train promised to be one of the relatively few dark films in the summer marketplace, offering a menacing alternative to light-hearted blockbuster fare. The film is adapted from a Clive Barker tale that our own Scott Weinberg described as "one seriously nasty story." If you've seen the pulse-pounding trailer (which you can check out at Moviefone), you know that Bradley Cooper plays a photographer who catches a mysterious man (Vinnie Jones) doing hideous things to people on subway trains and then hiding the evidence in meat lockers.

The trailers I looked at this week seemed to be forming a pattern, so we're going to follow the bouncing ball as it moves from one preview to another, starting with...

Midnight Meat Train
This one is based on a particularly grisly story from Clive Barker's pretty grisly to begin with Books of Blood series. Scott Weinberg first discussed this one here on Cinematical back in May of 2006. I'm always leery of films based on a short story, especially one I enjoyed. Expanding the tale to feature length requires so much padding the original material can easily get lost. The trailer does a nice job of presenting the premise with a lovely sense of dread. A photographer trying to capture the essence of the city on film witnesses an unspeakably brutal act in a subway car. Someone or something is literally butchering people and harvesting the meat. I did say grisly, right? And speaking of trains...

Rails and Ties
A suicidal woman parks her car on the train tracks and waits for the inevitable. Kevin Bacon plays the conductor who is unable to stop the train in time. The woman's son witnesses the tragedy, and eventually forms a bond with the conductor and his wife (Marcia Gay Harden), apparently being accepted as part of the family. A fairly intense looking human drama that represents a nice change from all the explosions, super heroes and such from the summer movie season. Bacon is one of the greats and it looks like he carries this one well. This film also marks the feature directorial debut of Clint Eastwood's daughter Alison Eastwood. You can read Kim Voynar's review of the film here. And speaking of unusual family dynamics...

Just around the time I'd finished devouring every Stephen King paperback known to man, a friend of mine asked me if I'd read "Clive Barker's Books of Blood" yet. I said "no." (This was over 20 years ago, so don't get all crazy on me, horror freaks.) My next trip to the local book store sent me home whistling a happy tune with all three editions of the Books of Blood tucked beneath my arm. (I've since graduated to this omnibus edition.) And to say I loved these slick, sick, twisted little terror stories would be an understatement on par with "Halloween is a good movie."

(For the record, in the U.S. the "Books" are known as Books of Blood Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, The Inhuman Condition, In the Flesh and Cabal. So now you know how to track 'em down. Previous films based on some of these short stories include Rawhead Rex (from a Volume 3 tale), Candyman, which is based on a story from Vol. 5 called "The Forbidden," and Nightbreed, which came from the title tale in Vol. 6. The classic Hellraiser sprang not from the Books of Blood series, but from a standalone novel called The Hellbound Heart. The upcoming Midnight Meat Train is based on a story from Volume 1 -- and it's one seriously nasty story, believe me. Lastly, my very favorite "BoB" story is one called "In the Hills, the Cities," and if you've ever read it, then you know why you could never make a movie out of it. Darnit.)

Anyway, all that geek blather poured out so I could share some news from ShockTillYouDrop.com (a fine new horror site with a really goofy name), and that news is this: Looks like the company behind Meat Train is planning to unleash a whole bunch of Books of Blood adaptations over the next few years. The next two on the docket look to be "The Book of Blood" and "Pig Blood Blues," both of which can be found in Volume 1 -- and yes there are some stories in that book that don't have the word "blood" in the title. But like Mr. Barker says: "Everyone's a book of blood; whenever we're opened we're red."

We were psyched when Clive Barker announced that his production company was mounting a big-screen version of the author's Midnight Meat Train story -- and then we were bummed when director Patrick Tatopoulos had to leave the project for undisclosed reasons. But then we were psyched again when hardcore filmmaker Ryuhei Kitamura was signed as the new director -- and now we have a leading man!

Set to star in Midnight Train is "familiar face" actor Bradley Cooper, a guy probably best known for his TV work (Alias, Kitchen Confidential, Jack & Bobby), but he also played the hilariously nasty bully in Wedding Crashers. He also appeared in My Little Eye and Wet Hot American Summer, a pair of underrated flicks if ever there were one. (Er, two.) And out of respect for the young actor, we'll neglect to mention that he was also in Failure to Launch, because that flick stunk on ice. On the other hand Cooper hails from Philadelphia, which means he's gotta be cool.

Midnight Train is set to begin shooting very soon, and if you'd like a brief plot synopsis, I can't really help you out. The short story is pretty brief and exceedingly simple ... but it's one I think you should read for yourself. And the rest of the book is pretty damn good too. (And yes, they removed the "meat" from the movie title. Somehow I doubt they'll excise it from the actual story.)

The only reason I'm reporting on news this relatively small is because, well, The Midnight Meat Train is one of my very favorite Clive Barker stories -- and I've been salivating over the prospect of a movie version since it was announced earlier this year. So here's the latest:

A little while back we learned that Patrick Tatopoulous was all set to make his directorial debut on Midnight Train, but after he left the project, the pre-production just sort of stalled for a little while. But now, according to Bloody-Disgusting.com, the producers have found a new helmsman, and his name is ... Ryuhei Kitamura. Yes, the action expert who directed Versus, Alive, Azumi and Sky High.

Apparently the BD.com boys heard this info while attending the AFM festivities, so let's see if we get any corroborations any time soon. Fingers crossed, because this story and that director would make for one fascinating mix. A blood-soaked one, too.

For those who might be less than fluent in author Clive Barker's cinematic output, I can tell you that he directed Hellraiser, Nightbreed and Lord of Illusions. He also produced the very fine Candyman and has his name plastered on a whole slew of Hellraiser sequels. His most recent project was the direct-to-video release The Plague, which was half-solid and half-tiresome.

Long before he got just a little bit weary of churning out nothing but high-end hardcore horror tales, a young Clive (Hellraiser) Barker wrote a handful of volumes called The Books of Blood. (Here in the U.S. they're known as Books of Blood Vol. 1 - 3, The Inhuman Condition, In the Flesh, and Cabal  ... and they're all pretty darn awesome.) Anyway, one of the best stories in the very first book was called The Midnight Meat Train, and it was about a stupidly intrepid NYC photographer who travels deep into the bowels of the hellacious subway system to track down a vicious serial killer ... and discovers a whole lot of horrible gruesomeness for his trouble.

So get ready for Midnight Train, the movie version. I could have sworn I'd read that Barker would be involved as a producer, and I certainly do hope that's true. (Anyone out there remember Rawhead Rex?) If so, he'll be working from an adapted screenplay by first-timer Jeff Buhler, and he's also hired himself a first-time director: Patrick Tatopoulos, a veteran production designer / FX wizard whose work you might have enjoyed in Dark City, Pitch Black, Underworld, and Silent Hill ... all flicks that are dark, dangerous, and pretty damn slick.

Midnight Train goes into production this summer, and you'll never guess who'll be releasing the flick stateside. Yep, those wonderful horror freaks over at Lionsgate. Gotta love 'em.

(OK, I'll admit it: I kinda liked Rawhead Rex ... but most of those Hellraiser sequels are just awful.)