Why is it that I find it so much more difficult to write a positive review than I do a negative one? Is it just easier to bitch? That's probably part of it. Mostly however, I have to think that I don't find the content of a lousy film to be as sacred as the content of a great one, and that severely limits the amount of conversation I can create about the latter. Midnight Meat Train is one of those great films, and I don't use the phrase lightly. I wish I could leave it at that, and have you trust me enough to do whatever you can to see it.

If you do trust me enough, then leave it at that. Read no further. If you need some convincing or have seen it already and perhaps don't see in it what I do, then feel free to muscle on. I shan't be wordy.

What makes a good horror movie? Something you can say is solidly good. Makes it stand out. Gore. Atmosphere. Suspense. The ability to prey on fears that are intrinsic to certain aspects of human nature. They're all present in Midnight Meat Train. And in spades.

This is much to the credit of the masterful work done by Ryuhei Kitamura in directing what seemed like subject matter that he perhaps wasn't the best suited for. He's always been on the edge for sure, but for those people who are familiar with Kitamura's work on Alive, Versus, or even Godzilla: Final Wars, a thoughtful and suspenseful atmospheric horror film may have been expected to not be the most ideal material for him to tackle. Like Robert Rodriguez, Kitamura is a “fun” director. You don't walk away from his pictures without thoroughly having enjoyed yourself. Midnight Meat Train proves that he can work it straight as well. Kitamura doesn't compromise his style one iota, instead using it to unnerve and terrify you. It's something that I couldn't have seen coming. Considering how we've seen Takashi Shimizu and the Pang brothers come over to America only to compromise themselves and make films greatly inferior to what they are used to, it is astonishing to see this much success here. This is not only distinctly and unabashedly a Kitamura film, it is also his best.

Much of the hype about Midnight Meat Train both positive and negative, is due to its violence. Most of the articles I have read praise this as being a great picture for “gore-hounds” and the like. I think it's important to note that it does work on this level if that's what you're in it for, but to give it props just for being gory is not doing it justice. This has plenty of graphic violence in it, but it also has what elevates a good horror movie (elements mentioned above) to a great one, and that is that it has ideas. You can watch it and be entertained and horrified by scenes of graphic intensity, but if that's all it had, you'd probably forget about it not too long after your initial viewing. When all is said and done Midnight Meat Train gives you something to dwell over; something to make you smile in a knowing kind of way. It doesn't beat you over the head with its hidden aspects and allows you to contemplate them for yourself.

If you have seen this picture, and liked it, but haven't yet seen what I have in it, that's understandable. I don't expect it to catch on necessarily immediately. But trust me. If Midnight Meat Train becomes known enough (it has been given the inexplicable shaft by Lionsgate), it is destined to go down in history as one the most beloved horror flicks of our time. If you don't see it now, when you look back in twenty years at all the other horror flicks you've seen in that time, and realize that Midnight Meat Train holds a special substance that the others do not, you will understand what I mean.