The Worm And His Kings and THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN (2008)
As a relocated New Yorker, I love stories that transport me back to my home city. What's most fascinating about New York City is how it radiates the illusion of glitz and glamour while also maintaining its reputation for gritty and gruesome realities. Its dual nature makes it the perfect setting for horror, tempting and terrifying. In this month's pairing the predominant storyline is people disappearing without a trace, a common fear in any major city.
THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN (2008) is based on a short story of the same name from the first volume of Clive Barker's Books Of Blood. It follows photographer Leon Kaufman (Bradley Cooper) who photographed a young woman nearly getting assaulted before saving her. When he finds out she went missing the same night he starts investigating. As he uncovers a pattern of similar disappearances, he ends up on the trail of Mahogany (Vinnie Jones), a literal butcher he suspects may be responsible for the missing persons. He follows him, witnessing his brutal killings and discovers the horrible secret behind his motivations.
Naturally, the adaptation is slightly different from the original story. In fact, I don't believe the city is ever named in the film. My brain likely filled it in because it is a major element of the short story. The story was also expanded with the addition of the model's disappearance and Leon's investigation, adding to the similarities with its match.
Written by Hailey Piper, The Worm And His Kings (Off Limits Press, 2020) is a novella that follows Monique as she searches for her girlfriend Donna, who’s been missing for three months.
After roaming the streets and asking around, she takes to the tunnels under the city in search of the rumored monster snatching homeless women off the street. The monster called Gray Hill is tall, taloned, and very real.
In the hopes of finding Donna, or at least knowing what happened to her, Monique follows Gray Hill from the tunnels to Empire Music Hall. There she meets Corene, also looking for a missing friend. Together they enter the music hall as Corene explains and warns Monique about the people they may encounter during their search—worshippers of The Worm.
As I already mentioned, both stories revolve around people going missing. But it's not just about the specific disappearances. What stands out is how inconsequential it seems to people other than the protagonists. In the movie, Kaufman's girlfriend, Maya (Leslie Bibb) is completely disinterested in the missing woman and says very nonchalantly that people go missing all the time. Meanwhile, The Worm And His Kings revolves heavily around characters that easily disappear without anybody noticing. It's no coincidence the main characters are homeless and queer. Neither Monique or Donna had been in contact with their families, and they likely wouldn't look for them even if they knew they were missing. There's also the mention of homeless women disappearing daily for three months and yet not even one news story had appeared.
Both stories involved the city's underground tunnels playing with various urban legends about creatures living beneath the city. In MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN, the subways are Mahogany's hunting grounds and the butchered bodies are delivered to an abandoned station as food for you can guess what. The slaughterhouse where Mahogany works also happens to house an entrance to the subway tunnels. While these all remain nameless in the movie, The Worm And His Kings opens with Monique venturing through Freedom Tunnel, an out of use railroad tunnel that famously housed the homeless, dubbed mole people in books and articles written in the mid-‘90s. There is also the underground world Monique discovers exist underneath the music hall.
Lastly, neither story gets a happy ending. While Leon and Monique both find what they were looking for it, there is a tragic and unexpected cost. Their quest for answers leads them to mysteries they didn't know existed.
