Review of Nightbreed (1990) by Vince K — 16 Mar 2010

Nightbreed was a major flop when it first came out, and to be honest, I thought it was pretty mediocre until it became a cult favorite of mine on VHS a few years later. This is Clive Barker's second film he wrote and directed, and he has expressed disgust with how it was released, promoted, and heavily edited for 2 decades at horror movie conventions.

He was always promising the Directorâ??s Cut; which he mentioned every single time during an appearance. It had been repeatedly stated that over an hour was cut out, and the studio was holding 20 missing minutes of the film ransom.

Well, recently, the footage was found, and the long-awaited Director's Cut is premiering at the Horrorhound Fest at the end of March, 2010. Hopefully a Blu-Ray will soon follow. After watching the film again, I already consider it a masterpiece, and the only problem I had with it is that it could've been wildly expanded.

Nightbreed takes place in Calgary, Canada (although you won't find anyone saying "aboot" throughout the course of the film for some reason.) It follows a young man named Aaron Boone who dreams about going to Midian - a place where the monsters go.

He is prescribed Lithium by his deranged psychiatrist, Decker (played by David Cronenberg, more about him soon). I was also prescribed Lithium once as well, and ended up going to Midian myself (a mental institution) with a wide assortment of monsters (crazy people), so I can relate to Booneâ??s struggle.

My all-time favorite director David Cronenberg stars in the role of a lifetime as Decker, Booneâ??s brilliant psychoanalyst who moonlights as a serial killer. Decker wears a button-eyed mask with the mouth zippered-shut (which he obviously cannot see out of), and should be a more recognizable and memorable horror movie icon today.

He kills families, trying to rid the world of "breeders" (nice gay reference there, Barker). Finding Midian would lead him to the ultimate breeders, the "Nightbreed", so he can exterminate them all.

So, he frames Boone for the murders, leading him to the cemetery where Midian is so the killing can begin. But Boone is bitten by one of the monsters there (my favorite, Peloquin) and becomes one of them, Cabal, the obvious chosen one.

The back-up story is engaging; when the Tribes of the Moon came to earth they were chased down and executed by the Spanish Inquisition. 8-eyed Lyseberg (played by Hellraiser's Doug Bradley) led them to safe haven underneath a cemetery ruled by Baphomet, their god, to hide in the darkness forever where it's safe.

The wide assortment of monsters are astonishing; each one looks completely different. The dreadlocked savage Peloquin, the moon-faced Kinski, the scalpless Narcisse, porcupine woman Shuna Sassi, a woman who can turn into smoke, etc.

Disappointingly, so many more monsters were cut-out of the final film (there's even a bunch on the ridiculous poster that you will not see in the movie.) Nightbreed is one of the few movies where the monsters are the heroes, and they are hunted down at the end by bigoted humans in an all-out-war, with Decker on the loose as wildcard.

Clive Barkerâ??s script for Nightbreed, based on his book Cabal, is so well-written, with many great lines (my favorite is when Peloquin states â??Everything is true. God is an astronaut. Oz is over the rainbow.

And Midian is where the monsters live.â??) The ending is set-up for a sequel, in a very exciting way I might add, but sadly that would never happen. Thankfully, a Nightbreed comic book series ran in the early '90s for 25 issues.

It followed the characters after the ending and greatly elaborated on the Nightbreed and contained many origin stories. They even later fought the cenobites, who stood for order (as the Nightbreed stood for chaos), in the beautifully painted Hellraiser/Nightbreed crossover - Jihad.

They even later fought Rawhead Rex. Thankfully I still own all those issues, and am excited about the film once again with the impending director's cut.