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The Midnight Meat Train movie is based off of Clive Barker’s short story of the same name.

Midnight Meat Train stars Bradley Cooper, Brooke Shields, Vinnie Jones, Leslie Bibb, among others.  There is also a cameo by Sam Raimi’s little brother Ted Raimi.

We find ourselves watching a very well dressed man hunting down the passengers of a late night subway train.  All of the killings actually take place after 2:00 AM, so I’m a little confused why it’s called Midnight Meat Train, but I digress..  He kills with the use of a large meat hammer and wears a ring with a star upon one of his fingers.

Leon, a photographer is tasked with taking the best photograph of his life, to capture the “heart of the city”.  With this he heads down into the bowels of the subway system to find this mythical photograph.  He finds a gang harassing a girl and Leon saves her with some smooth talking.  He reads the newspaper the next morning only to find that the girl was a famous model and she has gone missing. He photographs her as she gets into the subway train, a hand is also captures in the photograph. (name one famous model that goes about without an escourt)

Leon starts to investigate, more or less moving his search for the ultimate photograph aside, and finds that there have been other people who have gone missing.  His investigations take him back to the subway where he follows the well dressed man and photographs him.  Leon begins to suspect it is this man that is doing the killings as he compares the photgraphs he has taken and finds that the ring with the star is on the hand holding the door open for the model is the same ring this well dressed man wears.

Leon tries to show the police the photographs but the cop becomes suspecious of Leon instead.  Leon decides to continue his investigations himself without help from the authorities.  He follows the well dressed man and finds that he works as a butcher in a meat factory, then follows him to the subway.  At about 2:00 AM Leon watches as the well dressed man enters a subway car, he follows, though into a different car.  Shortly thereafter Leon witnesses the well dressed man killing a few different passengers and then hangs them on meat hooks.

Leon takes photos of all of this, but is seen by the well dressed man.  The chase begins and Leon is caught, then passes out after being attacked.  He comes to, is hanging upside down, and is molested by what I can only figure is some kind of demon.  A large marking is cut into Leon’s chest.  He awakens the next morning in the basement of the butcher shop, confused why he was not killed he goes to his girlfriend’s apartment.

She is none too happy and urges him to give up on his investigation.  Leon cannot let it go and explains what he saw the night before.  She pleads for him to take the photos to the authorities but the camera was taken.  Leon leaves but now has a new mission.  He is going to put a stop to this butcher.  He has put together that the train offloads the human meat and it is there that Leon is going to end this.

Meanwhile, his girlfriend (Maya) and another friend (Jurgis) find the butcher’s (the well dressed man) apartment and break in to steal back the camera.  The butcher returns while they are there and attacks Maya’s friend Jurgis.  Maya runs and tries to explain things to the cop (The same one that Leon spoke with earlier).  Again the cop won’t listen and tries to pin the killings on that Leon may be the one doing it. Maya threatens the cop and is told about the midnight train.  It is there that Maya now goes.

Maya enters the train, Leon sees her and enters just as the butcher is about to attack her.  Leon attacks the butcher and tosses him out of the speeding train.  The train soon stops and Leon and Maya find themselves deep underground. 

They exit the train, there is a battle with the butcher, Maya is injured, Leon kills the butcher. The conductor enters the scene and begins to explain what is actually going on.

Evidently, if human meat is not provided to these certain underground demons, they will rise to the surface and begin to really make a mess of things.  He futher explains that it is the butcher’s job to make sure they get fed each night.

He then rips out Leon’s tongue, eats it, then tears out Maya’s heart.  He then explains that with the old butcher killed, it is now Leon’s job to take over.

I will say this though, I am going to try and find Clive Barker’s Volume 1: Book of Blood in which this story originally appears.  I’d love to know what the actual story has to say.

ZombieMall is mainly about well, zombies.  But we do have a taste for other genre monsters, werewolves, mummies, and others.  Among these others is Vampires.  I’ve heard about the Swedish film Låt den rätte komma in  and have looked everywhere for it.  Blockbusters did not have it, Hollywood video did not have it, Redbox did not have it.  I could have grabbed an illegal copy from online, but I don’t do that.  However while surfing Netflix I ran across it and immediatly signed up.  Two days later it was in my hands ready for me to watch.

A few things to keep in mind when watching this for the first time:

Yes, it is in Swedish.  Yes, it does have English Subtitles (and English dubbing for those that don’t like to read). 

On a small screen the words in the beginning are very tiny.  There is no sound during the first bit so don’t worry that there is something wrong with the audio.  Once you get to the falling snow give it a few more moments and you will hear a childs voice saying “Squeal like a pig”.  No, you are not watching Deliverance.

Having watched many Vampire movies, this one is perhaps one of the more unique ones.  It really makes me thirst to read the book as there are several elements within the movie that give rise to several questions.

In essence we have a young boy, Oskar, (12 years old) who is tormented at school by bullies.  A …”girl”… , Eli, moves in next door to his apartment.  Oskar’s mother and father are divorced, which further leads to Oskar’s turmoil.  One evening while on a playground he meets up with Eli who is also 12 years old (more or less).  Oskar notes she has a bad smell about her.  He is playing with a Rubick’s Cube and she inquires about it.  He offers it to her and goes home.  A friendship has begun.

As we progress, they continue to meet at night in the playground.  He explains to her about being bullied at school, she tells him next time to stand his ground and to hit hard.  He states there are 3 bullies.  She says to hit them back even harder.

While we do see Eli having to go out to feed, the focus is less upon the aspect of your traditional vampire flick and more focused upon these two kids developing a friendship.  This is one that I will not give away anything else, it is a movie I highly recommend. 

There are many more elements to this film, what I’ve provided is simply a brief cover of it.  It’s not a fast paced movie, in fact it’s rather slow.  But that’s what helps to build to suspence and horror of what happens. 

ZombieMall gives this one 10 fangs out of 10.

I can recall back in Junior High School having a list of books to choose from with which I had to read and produce a report on to the class. There were such titles as Animal Farm by Orwell, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck, anything by William Shakespeare, and the list went on and on.

I’m sure that Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen was also among that list, but I’m pretty sure I never read it. I’ll admit when I was younger my taste in books was usually found in works by Stephen King, Clive Barker, Richard Matheson and the like. Dracula, Frankenstein, Voyage of the Space Beagle, classics, but admittingly, darker classics. If it had monsters in it, chances are I was reading it.

It’s a good bet that if Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters was on that list I would have read it. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is the second book to come out from Quirk Classics in which a classic of Jane Austen’s has been developed into an adaptation of sorts. The first being Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith (keep your eyes out here by the way for a review of that one from ZombieMall as well).

What Ben H. Winters has done is taken the original novel and has injected pirates, giant lobsters, two-headed sea serpents, and of course massive sea monsters, all while staying true to the original theme of Austen’s writings, romance, heartbreak, and lasting happiness. This book features “60% Austen and 40% additional monster chaos!”.

What I find fascinating is after the read there is a readers discussion guide consisting of 10 questions and observations brought up within the novel itself. Seriously, this is an element that I immediately found myself jumping into! I just wish I had someone else to call up and talk with in regards to those questions! Damnit, I was ready to jump right in and start discussing this book!

This is the synopsis provided with the sell sheet:

“As out story opens, the Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon. Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles that are forever snapping at their heels?”

Here is what ZombieMall will add to that; If you are into Lovecraft, enjoy pirates and sea monsters, can’t get enough steampunk (yes steampunk), then look no further than Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. There are several deaths in the first few pages as well as blood stained beaches. There is a wonderful “city” deep under sea, a large living island, and much much more. If you are looking for an escape into a different reality, this is certainly the book for you.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is set to be released on September 15th.
It is in Paperback and runs at 344 pages and has a retail price of $12.95 US Dollars.
It should be available at places like Amazon and all of your major book stores.

Check this out! It’s a trailer for the book!

A couple of weeks back I had the opportunity to sit down with Director Matt Spease.

There are two things that made this interview especially fun. The first, while we talked about his current movie projects, Indestructible and his upcomming Silent Vengeance, we also delved into his beginnings and how his visit came to be what it is today. The second, listen closely to the interview, interspersed within are some pretty creepy sounds. I can’t go into too much detail where we actually did the interview, but suffice it to say there was plenty of blood and chopping of bodies…

You can find more about him at Dark Night Films and on his Matt Spease MySpace Page.

Interview with Director Matt Spease on ZombieMall.com Play Now | Play in Popup | Download