In The Midnight Meat Train we follow undiscovered talent Leon Kauffman (Bradley Cooper best known from TV's Alias) trying to make a name for himself in the world of artistic photography. His photographs are indeed cutting edge but nothing that we had not seen before. A meeting with Gallery owner Susan Hoff (Brooke Shields) gives him food for thought "You were in the right place, at the right time!" she tells him, then finishing by telling him that he does not have the guts to go further. In the middle of the night Leon goes out into the subways to capture the image of fear in a photograph. Disturbing an assault Leon gets just the photographs he needed while saving a young model in the process as she faced a group of young thugs. In doing so however the model boards a train, a train ride that will cost the model her life, for on this train rides Mahogany (Vinnie Jones) a vicious killer who attacks and murders humans like cattle.

Even though I knew this was Clive Barkers big comeback film, under the directorial eye of Ryuhei Kitamura and screenplay writer Jeff Buhler; having seen the trailer earlier on this year I was not sufficiently convinced that lessons had been learned, the trailer looking no different from the average gore filled slasher, but watching the movie was something very different.

Like the very best horror movies, The Midnight Meat Train moves into continuously new ground, one minute it's one thing, the next it's another. The wonder of the movie is that you never quite know where the movie is going, and to be honest unlike many others you cannot even begin to hazard a guess. As I sat watching the movie, my thought on who Mahogany was and why he did these unspeakable acts, soon passed, there was just far too much going on all round. Between Vinnie Jones hitting people's eyes out with hammers, to these strange dream sequences and more confusing who the dreams actually belong too; there are so many aspects to this story. This could sound like a bad thing, but this is honestly not the case, this constantly evolving, frequently changing story keeps the movie fresh, rather like Barker's Hellraiser and Candyman did. Around 30 minutes in something really interesting happens between Mahogany and a thug on the train, if at this point you have had any doubts about the movie, particularly fears that it is going in the same direction of other movies, then your mind will be changed, the scale of the situation increases two-fold. And this is only the beginning.

The special effects of the movie are pretty "out there"; they are very good indeed but not entirely realistic, indeed it seems that the production team have gone for something visual above everything else. In one specific scene Mahogany attacks a group of people after a night out, the first victim is struck on the back of the head, with such force the victims eyes fly out while still moving, and a woman's head is literally knocked off her shoulders, again still moving. Far from realistic bearing in mind that the weapon of choice for Mahogany is a meat tenderiser, but as far as viewing entertainment goes something special, to hear an audience cry out "Oh my God!" and the like is really quite funny.

I'm always convinced there is a strong argument for casting ex sport stars in movies then referring to them as actors, this is not something I approve of; when you see Vinnie Jones as out midnight butcher you realise that for once this was absolutely the right decision. From a standpoint of girth, to the rather unusual way his eyes sink back into his head, Jones looks like the role was created for him. In the first 20 minutes, when he has committed seven murders you look at him and realise he is the embodiment of fear, rather like Rutgar Hauer was in the original Hitcher movie.

The casting of Bradley Cooper as Leon is a masterstroke, if you ever saw Alias, Cooper played Will Tippen, the best friend of Sydney, and the one that in your heart you wanted her to be with, rather like real life he was the loser in love and as a result overlooked. Here he bears a similar resemblance, a failed photographer and a coward that you like as the movie begins, but as he moves further and further through the movie, encouraging all sorts of nastiness you have to look again. By the time the movie has ended he is something so far removed from how he started, but this is not like putting a skinny man in a fat suit, you see him progress, grow, become stronger; and this transition makes him far scarier than Mahogany. Cooper made the movie his own, to the extent that if the movie was ever remade you would not understand how anyone could replace him.

In the movies passing of the lead title (as the film progresses you are given the opportunity to see events through the eyes of other characters) you focus on Maya, Leon's Girlfriend played by Leslie Bibb (Iron Man), and Jurgis (Roger Bart - Desperate Housewives, Hostel 2); while both are weaker actors, they effectively need to be, they enter events in the dark, but are quickly put in the firing line. As the movie moves to the third quarter you actually have to ask yourself who is the leading actor, as Maya becomes a one woman army; at this point I addressed whether her acting was weaker deliberately from the offset, as towards the conclusion this was far from the case.

Despite his lack of input, this is clearly a tale from Clive Barker, from the fact that the director has given you this very visual look, where you can see all the textures and there is this wonderfully unique filming style, to the down and dirty horror of the movie, On the basis of this movie expect to see a bold return of the author into the movie industry, and above all... Prepare to be scared.

Set in the 1920's Roy Walker (Lee Pace from Pushing Daisies, and nothing to do with Catchphrase) is in a hospital on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Roy while filming on his latest movie took place in a stunt that has now landed him in a hospital run by the church, incapable of feelings from the waist down. At that same hospital is Alexandria (Catinca Untaru)a very young girl suffering with a broken arm; one day while walking through the hospital her path crosses Roy's who tells her an amazing fact about Alexander The Great. Overwhelmed by his tale, Alexandria agrees to return the following day when Roy will tell her of a story set in a faraway place, but one that has a suspiciously familiar ring about it. For Alexandria this is a friendship with a man who could be a substitute father, for Roy his reason for striking up this relationship is far less innocent, he has an agenda and Alexandria is a pawn in his game.

I should begin by saying there is nothing of a sexual nature to Roy's intentions to Alexandria, this is very far from his mind. As you watch the movie you slowly get to understand what he wants from Alexandria, while being fairly innocent it is tragic, you can see that clearly Alexandria needs a father and as most of the movie is set in images from her head, you soon realise that Roy is the only man that can fill that role.

While the real world that the story is anchored in is set in normal surroundings, it's what happens when Roy and Alexandria when they start imagining the story Roy tells that sets this movie alight. Tarsem Singh (known in credits simply as Tarsem) is an Indian director best associated with the world of commercial and music video work. Tarsem should have come to the attention of the world back in 2005 when he was the original Director assigned to make the movie Constantine, Warner recruited him for his incredible eye for detail. But when Sony Pictures approached Tarsem with The Fall, it was something that the director could not resist, dropping (rather wisely in my opinion) the weaker Constantine for The Fall. Tarsem does indeed have an eye for beauty and wonder, and nothing would tell you otherwise when watching The Fall. If you are not blown away by the sheer majesty of this movie then sadly you had better get on to the hospital because you do not have a pulse.

I really cannot put into words how wonderful this movie looks; it looks so fantastic and in a world where computer generated effects are used in pretty much every movie you cannot believe that none were used here. From the colours, to locations that literally look out of this world; everything visually about this movie is just breathtaking. From the magnificent structures that have sat for thousands of years, to gloriously designed hedgerows. Tarsem uses some of the worlds man made wonders and completely reinvents them. A race across the top of The Great Wall Of China, which you would only know was the Great Wall if you swotted up on it. But it's not just the sights that are familiar and re-imagined, it's also the sights you have never seen that really create the icing on this movies cake; you would indeed need to be a world traveller to identify many of the sights seen in this movie. But it's not just the locations that are striking, it's the costumes, the make-up, and the unique cast that make this an experience like nothing you have ever seen before.

While visually you have not seen anything like The Fall, the story as not quite as satisfying. The story which for the most part is told from the mouth of Roy and imagined in the head of Alexandria follows the trails of movies like The Neverending Story. But don't go getting excited that this might be another great family movie; because while the movie seems like a fairly standard piece of family viewing, suddenly 30 minutes before the movies end things suddenly get much more adult, and brutally so. As is the case with all great adventure movies along the way there are casualties, and as Roy's alter ego The Bandit in the second story leads his motley crew of geniuses, explosives experts, shaman, and warriors through a sprawling landscape some must die.

Rather than allowing the time honoured tradition of killing one or two per quarter of the movie, the deaths occur as the movie draws to a conclusion, and these deaths are borderline horrific. One of The Bandit's crew is butchered to death with axes, while birds fly from his mouth; you suddenly are teleported from beauty to horror at the movie takes a stark transition becoming more like Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain. And then as quickly as the horror raises its head it movies back do to innocent adventure style story telling. It's very hard to understand where The Falls target audience is, and this makes the story a touch disjointed, movie the film away from the mainstream to something more along the lines of Cult. In fairness, the storyline regardless of confusion, is a little bit lacking and for most of it I never really knew what was going on completely, but it hardly matters the biggest story is in the visual feast before you.

The movies warriors, a group of masked soldiers that make noises that cross between a dog and a crying child provide one of the most unpleasant bad armies of all time in my opinion. Ruthless in their assaults they have no time for hostages, cut off their heads and ask questions later. Their systematic execution of The Bandits men towards the end literally highlights this.

The performances in the movie are pretty good, with the exception of Lee Pace and the odd familiar star most of the movies cast are complete unknowns, some never having acted before. Its Catincu Untaru who really shines here, this Romanian actress does not speak a word of English, yet she delivers her lines (in a language she did not understand) with a quirkiness that really endears the actress. As an inexperienced actress and naive to the way of movies she was allegedly mortified when she discovered that Pace was not actually a paraplegic.

Over the last thirty five years Dario has directed sixteen films, many of them falling into the Italian genre known as Giallo, meaning Yellow. This is a reference to the lurid Yellow covers of murder mystery novels popular at the time and just like the novels, Giallo movies are a heady mix of gritty American detective caricatures blended (and in Dario Argento case quite often literally) together with a European, Baroque viscosity of violence and excess.

To say that Dario's moves are visual is putting it mildly. Less concerned with character or plot he focuses on the visually disturbing. Probing the human mind, (again, quite often literally) for the things that make people squirm and writhe. He languishes in the cruel and mindless violence that would leave normal people at a loss as to how they would remove such thoughts from their minds should they ever have sprung up there in the first place.

He is, after all, the man who showed us what it would be like to be held down while a woman in red high heals repeatedly stamps and stamps on our mouths. Or what it looks like for a woman to be torn apart by barbed wire. Or, how it might look if an old cripple is eaten half to death by hungry rats, only to survive to be hacked apart by a random, cleaver wielding maniac. As to what Dario has to say on the mater it's this.

"I like when people are disgusted, because it means you've made an impression on them.”

No ambiguity there.

Subtlety is not his forte. In fact it seems to abhor him almost as much as his films abhor their viewers. And when it comes to the lusty, beautiful women in his movies he is really quit clear. I quote "I like women, especially beautiful ones. If they have a good face and figure, I would much prefer to watch them being murdered than an ugly girl or man.”

Of the Sixteen film directed by Dario Argento, Deep Red and Suspiria are considered to be his best work. Suspiria, made in the seventies, was the first in “The Three Mothers” trilogy he planed to make about three ancient witches living in three modern cities. In the eighties he made the second movie in the series called Inferno. The third

Film in the series is finished and is currently awaiting release. Three other films Argento made in the early seventies, The Cat O Nine Tails, Four Flies on Grey Velvet and The Bird With The Crystal Plumage, have been linked together in the minds of the people who admire him and are commonly referred to as the “Animal Trilogy”

There is no doubt that Dario Argent is a master at what he does and like him or loath him he has inspired many of the best know horror makers around the world today. John Carpenter has said that he was greatly influenced by Dario's work when he was making his own, Horror epic, Halloween. In fact it could be said that if Edgar Allen Po had had access to the technology that Argento does now he probably would have films every bit as gruesome.

To sum up I will leave with the words of the Maestro himself.

"Horror by definition is the emotion of pure revulsion. Terror by the same standard is that of fearful anticipation"---Dario Argento