The
director’s cut of Clive Barker’s Nightbreed has been a very, very long time coming, and rare is a
film more deserving of a top to bottom reworking than this one. Released
theatrically in 1990 in a tragically butchered form by Fox, the film should
have been Barker’s leap to the big time. While it didn’t necessarily derail his
movie career, it certainly didn’t help it, nor did it likely endear the movie
business to Barker himself. With a two-hour running time, including 40
minutes of new footage, this is the
version of the movie that should have been released 25 years ago.
Yet this new Nightbreed is such an unusual film
that it probably wouldn’t have been any more popular at the box office than the tainted theatrical
version. It’s just too strange to ever have appealed to mainstream audiences,
regardless of its form. But it surely would have amassed a far greater
following over the years, and would now be looked back on as one the great
horror fantasy films of its time. Maybe it isn’t too late to attain such a
title.
Adapted
from Barker’s own novel Cabal, the
story tells of disturbed young man Aaron Boone (Craig Sheffer), who sees therapist
Dr. Decker (David Cronenberg) for help with the visions he suffers – visions of
a place called Midian. Meanwhile, a vicious masked psychopath is serial
killing, and Decker convinces Boone he’s committing the crimes by slipping him
psychedelics. But all is clearly not as it seems, and Midian is a very real
place beckoning to Boone. Midian, located in a remote area beneath a forgotten
graveyard, is where the monsters live – the freaks and genetic misfits that
society has no room to accommodate. There they live in peace, away from
mankind. But a war is coming, and the inhabitants of Midian will find their reclusive existence threatened by man, with Boone and his girlfriend Lori (Anne
Bobby) at the center of the conflict.
The
whole point of Nightbreed is that the monsters are the good guys, and humanity
is morally corrupt, indecent, and without conscience or empathy. This is also
very much the point that was gutted from the theatrical version all those years
ago, leaving viewers wondering what the object of the exercise was. The
Director’s Cut restores the crucial character and story arcs so that the film
now feels well-rounded and full-bodied. Most importantly, the inhabitants of
Midian have been brought to the forefront, and Nightbreed is populated
by dozens and dozens of creatures – I do not exaggerate when I say that 50
feels like it might be low balling it – many onscreen for just seconds at a
time.
Lylesburg
(Doug Bradley, Pinhead of the Hellraiser films) is the leader of
the colony. Aged and wizard-like, the old man has perpetually bleeding slits on
his cheeks, which open to reveal eyes. Narcisse (Hugh Ross), the wild man with
peeled back skin and an exposed skull, is Boone’s first tangible proof that
Midian exists. Peloquin (Oliver Parker) is the red-skinned, tentacle-headed
alpha male of Midian. Kinski (Nicholas Vince), whose head is shaped like a
crescent moon – looking like Jay Leno via a Mighty Men and Monster Maker - is
one of the first to show Boone kindness. Shuna Sassi (Christine McCorkindale)
is covered in deadly needles, like some sort of sexy, birdlike porcupine. And
the list could go on and on.
Much
like its banner mission of flipping the good guys and the bad guys, Nightbreed
seems to thrive on turning horror conventions on their ear, always in the
service of casting its heroes in a positive light. It’s almost as if while
writing it, Barker would come to a spot and say to himself, “Now what would
every other horror writer do here? I think I’ll do just the opposite.” Its
themes of persecution frequently hit home emotionally, and it’s sort of amazing
how easy it is to care and root for these ghastly creatures in this “horror
movie.” It’s the sort of the stuff that’s often the domain of science fiction
and fantasy, but almost never horror. And the humans really are awful, terrible
people, chewing into their roles with great relish. Charles Haid, best known
for his work in Hill Street Blues, tears into it as a local cop, and
Cronenberg is such an ideal choice for Decker that it is practically impossible
to imagine anyone else in the role. Here the infamous visionary behind fare
such as Scanners and Videodrome embodies evil incarnate,
and a more subversively malevolent movie figure you’ll be hard-pressed to find.
Craig
Sheffer has all the makings of a standard, B-movie hero of the time period.
There’s little that’s remarkable about his work here, and yet he unquestionably
gets the job done. Anne Bobby, however, is a little treasure, and Lori’s story arc
is far more the backbone of the picture than Boone’s. Midian calls out to Boone;
it’s his destiny. Lori has to work for it, and in many ways she goes on far more
of a traditional hero’s journey than the picture’s leading man. One of her
great scenes, cut from the theatrical version but restored here, is a musical
number early in the film. Set in a raucous dive bar, Lori howls “Johnny Get
Angry” to an enthusiastic crowd (all while Boone, in the midst of the worst drug
trip ever, looks on). The scene shouldn’t work, and yet it’s now impossible to
imagine Nightbreed without it. Perhaps the greatest tragedy to come out
of this movie’s mishandling is that Bobby didn’t get a bigger career out of it, which
she more than deserved.
Blu-ray/DVD Extras: Shout only provided the
Morgue with the standard Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, as opposed to the limited
collector’s edition Blu-ray set, which has two extra discs, one of which
features the original theatrical cut. While I was initially disappointed that I
didn’t get the big set, as I really wanted a copy of the original cut, once I
viewed the new version I no longer cared. Frankly, it’s been so long since I last
viewed the theatrical cut, I couldn’t line list the differences. I only
instinctively know that the new version is clearly and vastly superior, and
viewing it makes the old version a relic, probably deserving of being lost to
posterity.
Extras
include an introduction from Clive Barker and Mark Alan Miller, the gentleman largely
responsible for making the Director’s Cut a reality. It plays automatically
with the film, but is skippable. The pair also has their own commentary track. Beyond
that, there’s a 72-minute making of/remembrance called “Tribes of the Moon,”
which includes Craig Sheffer, Anne Bobby, Doug Bradley, Hugh Ross, Simon
Bamford, and Christine McCorkidale all waxing light-heartedly nostalgic about
their time making the picture. While not definitive (frankly, I’d have killed
for some Cronenberg on here), it remains a great deal of fun, and most any fan
will be delighted by it. “Making Monsters” is a 42-minute featurette on the
makeup and effects, which are stars of the film unto themselves. Here we get
thoughts from artists Bob Keen, Martin Mercer, and Paul Jones, who only represent a sliver of Nightbreed’s behind the scenes
talent, though they frequently discuss all of the other artists’ contributions.
“Fire! Fights! Stunts! 2nd Unit Shooting” is a 20-minute interview
with action director Andy Armstrong. Lastly, there’s the film’s original
theatrical trailer. All bonus programming is duplicated on both the Blu-ray and
the DVD.
