Took a flier and bought a DVD of this, probably because I'm a sucker for the very small subway horror sub-sub-genre of films, and Midnight Meat Train was a
generally coherent bloodbath that followed the Clive Barker story reasonably well. I also admit that the cover art on the DVD intrigued me.
Well... I guess there are some people who liked the film in small genre festivals scattered around Canada and the US. I also heard (maybe) a positive comment or two from last weekend's Monster Kid group. But I was terribly disappointed with the entire film. It's not the first time I've spent good money on a less-than-suitable production, and it won't be the last, but I'm still a bit miffed.
Psychiatric nurse Karen (Ilona Elkins) has been having some disturbing visions (jump scares in the opening minutes that are fairly effective, but barely connect to the main theme of the film), and her patients are extremely restless and unruly as she prepares to go home on the subway. One of her wards swallow his crucifix because "the demons are coming, the demons are coming." There are noticable advertisements for some sort of fundamentalist evangelist sprinkled around in the hospital and on the subway platform, so viewers are pretty sure there's going to be some sort of religious background or message to the main body of the film. What isn't expected is that almost all of the film occurs as a chase along subway tunnels with a handful of survivors from a mass murder set up by the religious sect trying to "save" humanity from the demons and the end of the world. That's pretty much the bulk of the film, using the religious fanatic angle as an excuse for depicting copious amounts of blood and gore from the fanatical method of salvation and some survivor retaliation. Are there demons? I won't give that part away. I'll just say the conclusion was abrupt and nihilistic, and for me, completely unsatisfactory.
Acting is very weak. This is only the fourth film that writer/director Maurice Devereaux has written and directed in 15 years, all genre films according to imdb. Subway or underground horror is a motif that is ripe for exploitation by the right people. This Canadian effort doesn't involve any of the right people.
... Reed
Well... I guess there are some people who liked the film in small genre festivals scattered around Canada and the US. I also heard (maybe) a positive comment or two from last weekend's Monster Kid group. But I was terribly disappointed with the entire film. It's not the first time I've spent good money on a less-than-suitable production, and it won't be the last, but I'm still a bit miffed.
Psychiatric nurse Karen (Ilona Elkins) has been having some disturbing visions (jump scares in the opening minutes that are fairly effective, but barely connect to the main theme of the film), and her patients are extremely restless and unruly as she prepares to go home on the subway. One of her wards swallow his crucifix because "the demons are coming, the demons are coming." There are noticable advertisements for some sort of fundamentalist evangelist sprinkled around in the hospital and on the subway platform, so viewers are pretty sure there's going to be some sort of religious background or message to the main body of the film. What isn't expected is that almost all of the film occurs as a chase along subway tunnels with a handful of survivors from a mass murder set up by the religious sect trying to "save" humanity from the demons and the end of the world. That's pretty much the bulk of the film, using the religious fanatic angle as an excuse for depicting copious amounts of blood and gore from the fanatical method of salvation and some survivor retaliation. Are there demons? I won't give that part away. I'll just say the conclusion was abrupt and nihilistic, and for me, completely unsatisfactory.
Acting is very weak. This is only the fourth film that writer/director Maurice Devereaux has written and directed in 15 years, all genre films according to imdb. Subway or underground horror is a motif that is ripe for exploitation by the right people. This Canadian effort doesn't involve any of the right people.
... Reed
