Capsule Reviews: Midnight Meat Train, The Burrowers

Writing that little bit about Trick r Treat reminded me that over the last year I’ve seen some really awesome horror…. that you’ve probably never heard of. Since I saw most of them back when I wasn’t blogging as much (read: at all) I didn’t review them. Much time has passed now and I doubt that I’m ever going to get around to giving them a full out review, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t say *something* so here’s three capsule reviews of my favorite horror of last year.

Midnight Meat Train is the story of Leon and Maya, a young couple living in Mathattan. Maya works at the local diner and Leon struggles to support his end with photography of the city, which he occasionally sells to newspapers. One day Leon gets an opportunity some artists only dream of, the chance to show his work to Susan Hoff, a brilliant and moody gallery owner who is the best of the best when it comes to breaking into the high priced art world. She likes him, but his work needs, well, work. She tells him to go out and get some ‘real’ images of the city. One night while he’s out he hears a woman calling for help in the subway. When he gets there he finds that she’s being attacked by three gang bangers. As a way to diffuse the tension, he starts taking their pictures and they, very grudgingly, leave. The girl thanks him and gets on the next train, never to be seen again. The images he took that night get him a place in Susan Hoff’s next show, but in his search for more images, he finds evil instead. He begins following a tall man who he believes is responsible for the disappearance of the girl he saw that night. As he becomes more involved in this man’s world, something inside him begins to change…

This was one of the most entertaining movies I’ve watched in a long time and rapidly became one of my favorite movies. At every point that you think you know what’s happening, you really don’t. Every time you think you know what kind of movie this is going to be, that’s not what it is. Solid performances put in by Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb, Vinnie Jones and, especially Roger Bart, this movie is more than a little bit twisted, but so good. Based on a short story by Clive Barker, it’s extremely inventive and entertaining (and brutally gory). It’s an awesome watch and I think you should run out and get yourself a copy on DVD right now. C’mon. It’s called Midnight Meat Train and it’s got Vinnie Jones in it. You don’t need another reason.

The Burrowers is a movie about a man named Coffey, an Irishman in the old west, who is looking for his fiance. She and her entire family went missing from their home in the middle of the night with barely a trace. The attack is blamed on Indians and a task force of sorts is put together to go hunt for the band who took this, and many other, families. As they travel, it becomes clear that the families may not have been taken my Indians after all and that something much more deadly and sinister is taking these people. After finding more than one person paralyzed, but alive, in the ground, they begin to realize that mankind is being hunted, and it doesn’t have anything to do with your race.

The Burrowers is a great movie, but you need to let it take its time. It’s most certainly a western, but it’s a western with some of the better monsters I’ve seen in a long time. JT Petty, the director, had a very specific idea of what he wanted to do with the film and the commentary he was trying to make, which I find to be admirable. Many people were turned off by this film when they went to see it, but I think that this was largely due to the mixing of two genres that rarely, if ever, mix. On the one hand you have the long, drawn out character drama of the western, with very specific and traditional conflicts, but in the midst of that you have some pretty terrifying action and monsters. Somehow it all fit for me, but I’m well aware that it didn’t for everyone. It also bears mentioning that JT Petty is one very, very cool guy. He’s got some really specific ideas about what he believes that horror should do in today’s movie market and he aims to do it. I can understand why people have trouble taking to this, but if you ever get the chance to hear him speak you’ll be hooked on his movies and what they have to say forever. Just remember to be patient with The Burrowers when you see it. It needs a little more from you than the average monster movie.

Both The Burrowers and Midnight Meat Train are now out on DVD. I highly recommend them both.