The rumor on the tubes is that Joseph Drake, newly-appointed director of Lionsgate, has a serious problem with The Midnight Meat Train, the hard-R horror from Clive Barker and Ryuhei Kitamura.  Based on a gruesome short story from Barker's legendary "Books of Blood," the adaptation may strike the wrong note for Drake, who's supposedly interested in revamping Lionsgate's image as more than a producer of horror films.

In fairness, nothing's wrong with diversifying your business strategy, as Drake seems to be doing.  But it's a sad irony that Lionsgate has been the exact opposite of "fair" to The Midnight Meat Train almost since its inception.  It's been frequently delayed, cut due to the MPAA's requests, and now, in the most disappointing news yet, Lionsgate has not only reduced the number of release screenings - they've placed the prints in second-run theaters.

Why?

It can't be for financial reasons.  The film likely cost somewhere between ten and twenty million to produce.  Most likely, the company is seriously concerned about the film's image.  Casual viewers were put off by the title, and the film is supposed to be gory as hell.  I will admit that there's a lot of speculation in this article, but what we know for certain is this:

Lionsgate never once gave this film a chance.

Thanks (of a sort) go to Bloody Disgusting for posting this.