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The Midnight Meat Train

(2008, Rated R, Horror, Starring Brooke Shields, Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb)
  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 17, age appropriate for kids over 18; suggested age 17.
  • Is it any good?

    1.0
  • Common Sense says

    Public-transit terror tale is beyond bloody. Pass.

Themes in this movie include:   revenge
updated 09.25.09

Why We Rated This not for kids

What to watch out for

  • Messages:

    Any possibly positive message is washed away in the crimson tide of bloodletting that it unleashes in the name of extreme "thrills."
  • Role models :

    The main character, a photographer, takes pictures of a group of youths threatening a young woman before he acts to stop them. Another character, researching a city's history of crime, contrasts her work with the popular perception of the past as a kinder, gentler time by noting "it turns out there never were any good old days." A security guard checks a character's bag in the subway, noting that "Condition Orange means I can search whatever I want."
  • Violence:

    Constant, brutal, and explicit violence, including endless buckets of blood. Brutal murders are portrayed in graphic fashion, with weapons including a butcher's hook, a hammer, knives, guns, and bare hands; other weapons include severed limbs, bones, and skulls. Multiple scenes of intense fighting, with characters punched, head-butted, slammed into windows, walls, the floor, and more. Deep and bloody wounds are created and shown. Throats are slit; multiple stabbings; a character's head is impaled with a long knife; a character's tongue is ripped out of their mouth and then eaten. A man is struck with a hammer so hard that his eye dislocates from its socket; a female character's demise is shown from her point of view, beginning with a hammer blow so fierce it severs her head -- viewers see her headless body from a distance through her eyes as she dies. Human beings are hung like meat, dangling upside down by hooks rammed through their flesh; their teeth, fingernails, and eyes are shown being removed post-mortem. A character removes (and then keeps) bizarre growths from his flesh by slashing at them with a knife. A heart ripped from a human chest is held aloft while still beating. Piles of dead bodies are seen; animal and human corpses are hung as raw material for butchers.
  • Sex:

    Some kissing; discussions of sex in the context of a committed relationship; some nudity, including a nude female murder victim. It's suggested that a supporting character is promiscuously bisexual. Brief phallic imagery. A young woman, threatened by a group of thugs, is told "You gotta pay on your knees, baby." Characters have rough sex, with the clear implication that this isn't the norm for them.
  • Language:

    Some, including "f--k," "motherf---er," "s--t," "ass," "bitch," and "s--t."
  • Consumerism:

    Not an issue.
  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Friends drink hard liquor in celebration; beer and wine are enjoyed at an art reception.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About The Midnight Meat Train

Parents need to know that horror-loving teens may want to see this movie based on a short story by Clive Barker, but there's enough here to test even the strongest stomachs. The movie is literally drenched in blood from the opening moments to the finale. It's also loaded with gruesome special-effects violence -- decapitations, eyes popped from sockets, hearts ripped from chests, and more. A sequence in which viewers witness a female character's death from her point of view is deliberately, deeply disturbing. The film's food-and-flesh subtext also involves multiple images of human and animal corpses hung in preparation for the butcher's art; there's also graphic and explicit surgical and medical imagery, some nudity, and strong language.

Did this review help you decide?

Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about the nature and character of bloody horror films -- why does Hollywood make them, and what purpose do they serve?
  • Do violent horror films release negative emotional energy or create it?
  • Can violent, graphic images in films like this desensitize viewers?
  • Does it matter whether the goriness seems "over the top"?

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Our Members Say

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Most Recent Reviews

  1. Parent Reviewer
    I rate this title off for age 16 and give it 4.0
    My concerns are:
    • Excessive violence
    • Inappropriate sexual content

    GROSS!

    Clive Barker has a sick, f**ked up mind!!!!!!!!!!!

  2. Parent Reviewer
    I rate this title off for age 16 and give it 4.0
    My concerns are:
    • Excessive violence
    • Inappropriate sexual content
    • Inappropriate language

    BARF!!!!

    this movie is soooooooo sick!

  3. Adult Reviewer
    Lives in Arizona
    I rate this title off for age 17 and give it 4.0
    My concerns are:
    • Excessive violence
    • Inappropriate sexual content
    • Inappropriate language
    • Negative message
    • Negative role models

  4. Kid Reviewer Age 12
    Lives in Illinois
    I rate this title off for age 16 and give it 3.0

    Midnight meat train is a fun, little gory flick

    Sex/Nudity: A couple is seen having an affair for about a minute. (They are clothed). A woman is about to get raped by three men and one of the guys says "You gotta pay on your knees baby". Then they are stopped when a guy points out they are being recorded on a camera. A woman is partially naked and covering the top portion of her body with her hands. A couple is seen kissing in some scenes. Violence/Scariness: Lots of over-the-top gruesome violence. A guy rides a train and he slips and falls on blood. He enters another door of the train and we hear the guy screaming. We don't see this action, but we hear crunching noises. In the next scene a guy is hit with a hammer so hard both his eyeballs pop out on-screen. You can see the gashes of blood. The subway butcher is going for the girl now. The girl slips on the man's eyeball and crawls on the bus with blood on her body. A man tries to stop him, but the subway butcher smashes his face in with his hammer (lots of blood). Then the subway butcher decapitates the girl's head with a hammer and we see her head afterward. We see a black man entering the train. Both the subway butcher and man are fighting. The subway butcher hacks him to death and we see the blood. Another man enters the train and all we hear is screaming. Afterwards we can see the man dead on the floor. The subway butcher is shown taking his eyeballs out, toenails out, and his teeth out. A creature rips a human heart out of a lady's body. We see the heart beating. A creature rips out a man's tongue and he is later seen eating his tongue and we see lots of blood in this scene. More gruesome kills should be noted. Profanity: Around 12 f words and it's derivatives. Some anatomical terms, scatological terms, some uses of the word "b****". Name-calling and mild obscenities are heard. Substance use: Characters are seen drinking at a place. One character appears to be drunk from alcohol. Consumerism: A lady is seen listening to her iPod. Message: Bad. A subway butcher that hacks, bludgeons, and decapitates people. Age recommendation: 16+. There are lots of gruesome violence and over-the-top gore in the kills. Some scenes push the R rating. Brief sexual content. A moderate amount of profanity.

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