Midnight Meat Train IS Getting Theatrical Release
Posted by John Campeaon 15. 04. 2008in News Chat
Good new for Clive Barker fans. The new horror film based on his short story “Midnight Meat Train“, which recently was reported as going straight to dvd, is in fact getting an actual theatrical release… But not in Canada.
Apparently, the Canadian company that generally looks after Lionsgate distribution isn’t going to release it up there. Right now it’s unclear as to when Midnight Meat Train will be released, or if it will get a wide or only limited release.
On a related note, it’s also being reported that they’ve changed the fantastic name of the film from “Midnight Meat Train” to just “Midnight Train”. WHAT A FUCKING RETARDED MOVE! What the hell are they thinking? “Oh look, we’ve got this great horror title…. let’s change it to something that sounds like a Sarah Jessica Parker romantic comedy instead!” (Source: ShockTillYouDrop)
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All the responses on YouTube for the title indicated that they thought it was a corny title.
Apparently most of the posters were in theaters that burst out laughing when they saw the name (because it sounds like a porno).
This could be a reason they changed it.
It’s weird John, both horror films you’ve been pimping (Pathology and Midnight Meat Train) have had release/studio troubles with them.
That’s not a reflection/judgment on your tastes by any means so don’t take it that way. Just an observation.
Hey NBAKid,
2 Things:
1) Pathology isn’t a horror movie. Just to clear that up.
2) In 13 months we’ve posted 5 Midnight Meat Train posts. We’ve put up more posts about “Sex and the City”, “Shopaholic” and “Speed Racer” (all of which I think looks like total crap). So I hardly think that qualifies as “Pimping” MMT.
And don’t forget… Donnie Darko and Bubba Ho Tep never got wide releases…. Sometimes distribution companies are just idiots. Like MGM in this case.
Bubba Ho Tep rocks. I love that movie.
I enjoy Clive Barker, too. His video game “Jericho” was pretty cook and I always loved his novel “The Thief of Always.”
I’m not sure you can place Midnight Meat Train, in which Vinnie Jones runs around the subways bashing commuters’ heads in with a meat mallet (unless I’ve got the wrong impression from the trailer) in the same cult category as Donnie Darko and Bubba Ho Tep. And as great as those movies were, the distribution companies made the right call — both would most likely have bombed in wide release. Better to let them find their cult status on DVD, which is exactly what happened.
Honestly, and no offense to those who are eagerly anticipating these movies, the two movies are most likely have problems because, well they look terrible. Neither of the trailers have done much to inspire me to see them, that’s for sure — although I will at least concede that they’re not really my cup of tea.
And the title, “Midnight Meat Train”, while most likely at home within Clive Barker’s ‘Books of Blood’, I’d have to agree is an awkward title to try and market to an audience who aren’t familar with Barker’s work. I can completely understand their decision on this.
But hey, who knows — maybe Pathology will be Milo Whathisname’s breakout piece and MMT will be the best cimematic example of a serial killer bashing people’s brains with a hammer of the decade.
The problem with the title is that the trailer makes the film look too serious. If the film looked fun with a little cheese, like Dead-Alive(Peter Jackson’s Materpiece) or Bubba Ho Tep, then the title would be great.
John,
You make it sound like you think the word “pimping” or the fact that someone refers to you as “pimping a movie” is a BAD thing. It’s not intended to be, and quite honestly, yes, you HAVE been pimping these movies. You’ve been posting set pictures, and everytime you mention these films, you’ve been positively glowing about them. It’s not a bad thing. It’s just a fact.
And I realize that Pathology is not a horror film, but for our purposes here in this post, it’s close enough. It’s a dark film about murdering people and performing autopsies on them. You’re right, it’s NOT horror (at least from what we’ve heard from you and the writers), but it’s not far fetched for me to compare them both (in this post).
I agree with Dingo as well – most audiences would not have cared to see Bubba Ho Tep. Most people don’t even know who Bruce Campbell is.
As far as the movies mentioned here being interesting to a wide audience – I still believe Pathology will bomb. Most of the trailers have been terrible for it (except the last one, which I will admit perked my interest MUCH more than what I had previously seen and I want to see it much more than I did when the old trailers were out) and I can’t see many people going out to see this thing. Same with Midnight Meat Train, although that looked worse than Pathology in my opinion.
Then again, as Dingo said, both movies aren’t really my type of thing. BUT that’s not to say they’ll BE bad, they just LOOK bad. We’ll find out anyway soon enough.
BTW John, where can I find the list of theaters (not that I’m expecting it to play around here) where Pathology will be released?
Personally I prefer the title change. Not because I hated the Midnight Meat Train, and honestly, i hadn’t even made the porn-name connection (though it makes perfect sense). But i prefer a more subtle approach to things like titles, names, and whatnot (it applies to more than just that, but keeping in the context of this post).
Dingo makes a good point about the wide-release/reject theory.
I didn’t make any connection to a porn film name until I read all the comments on YouTube either. But I guess a LOT of other people did.
I would strongly disagree with you John – the trailer has been playing all over theaters before movies like The Bank Job, Rambo, and Stop-Loss and the audience reaction when the title appears with the deep voice-over “MIDNIGHT… MEAT TRAIN” might have been the best time I’ve had at the movies so far in 2008. People are just in tears of laughter and it keeps going and going well after the trailer is over. Shit, I even knew it was coming the third time around but the massive appeal of group laughs is just too much. It’s not immaturity as much as the fact that they cut a trailer that builds up, builds up, builds up with an extremely serious tone and then BOOM! The pay-off takes everyobody by surprise! MIDNIGHT… MEAT TRAIN!
At the same time, I think it’s very sad for everyone involved in making this film that the absolute opposite effect is taking place when their work is being marketed in theaters. It’s like expecting a nice stack of ribs and getting punched in the face instead.
I don’t have a problem with the new title. Just as long as there isn’t a last minute song addition- “Don’t Stop Believin” by Journey – we should be fine. (“ “She took the midnight train goin’ anywhere…”) not a slam on the music or anything…I always loved Journey…I just don’t want it.
What is really odd, as pointed out…now…help me here…somebody…anybody…isn’t Lionsgate…. a CANADIAN movie studio-distributor. Pop in, correct me folks. Last time I checked…
Okay, lookit. Folks should not have to cross the Mackinaw bridge to see a freakin’ movie, alright? Yeah, I know, I’m not a Canadian, but y’know if some of my Toronto friends call me up, come on down, I have no illusions. They aren’t coming down to see my stupid ass. They will go see Midnight (Meat) Train in Port Huron.
As for “no one goes to see cult films”. I’m not so sure on that. Yes, folks avoided “Ruins” and the lepers went to ‘Prom Night” instead, but I got to tell you Dingo… I’m not agreeing with you.
For starters, you don’t know it’s a cult film until after the fact, and second, both “Darko” and “Tep” were not expensive films. Darko made us aware of Jake Gylennhaal and regardless of who is in what, Ho Tep was the best thing Bruce Campbell has ever done acting wise. In fact, I’ll say “Darko” had a bigger audience that “Tep”.
True enough, cult films don’t get released with that status (although I do believe marketers and distributors are smart enough to know when a film has the potential to become a cult hit).
And don’t get me wrong — of course people go to cult films — but not in the same numbers since the audience for them is very narrow. It’s not a slight against those movies — I have a love for a great many ‘cult’ movies.
But in terms of distribution decisions, it makes more sense to give a movie that seems like it may only appeal to a limited audience a limited release, build demand for it and let it establish its own ‘cult’ status (either in its limited run or later on DVD). Otherwise, you roll the dice by giving it a wide release and have it bomb — which is, undoubtedly a huge stigma to overcome. I think Southland Tales is a good example of this, although I’m sure some would argue whether it merited better box office than it got.
In any case, I got to agree with you Darren — Tep is definitely Campbell’s best work — and a great flick to boot.
Just for the record, I think Midnight Meat Train is a GREAT title. Sure a little corny (if you think about it) but it (to me) gets the job done. Obviously most other people don’t think so. Or if they do they think it’s funny, and apparently not in a good way, or at least that’s the way the studio feels.
I would agree with the Darko vs Ho Tep statement – most people I meet have seen Donnie Darko, while I’ve never heard Ho Tep mentioned (with most people).