Nightbreed (1990)

Simply A Masterpiece

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Nightbreed (1990) ** (out of 4)Aaron Boone (Craig Sheffer) is a troubled man whose doctor (David Cronenberg) has convinced him that he could be a masked serial killer. Soon Boone is shot dead due to the doctor's lying but his body and soul are then transferred to Midian, a place where monsters are the good guys.NIGHTBREED was the first movie I ever watched in a theater by myself. I still remember the experience quite well and I always remembered that I wasn't too fond of the picture. It was several years later before I learned that director Clive Barker had all sorts of issues with the studio and that the version released was cut beyond his control. I never bothered to revisit the movie until the Director's Cut was eventually released and that's what I will be reviewing here.Did the Director's Cut help things for me? Not really. I must say that I can honestly understand why people love this film but to me it just doesn't work for a number of reasons. For starters, even with the longer running time and the more detail to plot, I still can't really make heads or tails out of what's going on. Yes, this is a movie where the monsters are good guys and the humans are the bad guys. There are countless elements thrown together here and there's a mythological idea flowing throughout. I get all of that. I really do but do we really need two hours of this? I can understand what Barker was going for but I think his direction here just doesn't pull everything off.I say that and it's really disappointing because there's some great stuff here. The serial killer and his mask is downright creepy and there are some really effective scenes with him. I thought an entire movie based on this character would have been terrific but the problem is having Cronenberg play the doctor. He's okay in small parts but he certainly can't build anything major to this character and it's really too bad. I thought Sheffer was good enough for the part and the supporting players are good. The main thing here are the special effects. In particular the make-up effects, which are downright terrific. The various monster creations aren't as memorable as those seen in HELLRAISER but these are still very creative.NIGHTBREED isn't an awful film by any stretch of the imagination but there's no question that it's a disappointment. All of the elements are here for something special but I think the film, both versions in fact, fall a bit short.

Aaron Boone (Craig Sheffer) has disturbing dreams of Midian where monsters live. Psychiatrist Dr. Decker (David Cronenberg) is treating him and convinces him that he committed a series of murders. He tries to go to Midian for real and is rejected by its inhabitants. The police catches up to him outside the gates and Decker tricks the police into killing Boone. Boone is resurrected and he is accepted into Midian. His girlfriend Lori Winston tracks down Boone but she is followed by Decker who turns out to be the real monster.Clive Barker is not quite good enough to direct this. Cronenberg is competent as a villain but he would have been a far superior choice as the director. This is filled with the grotesque and weird monstrosities. Some of it is very effective gore. Narcisse slicing through his own head is amazing although other creatures are less effective. There's only so much real makeup can do and CGI is rather primitive. The movie attempts for grand horror but Barker doesn't have it in him. He is still stuck in a lot of B-movie horror tropes. The cops are too silly. There are not enough good actors for the minor roles.EDIT: Director's Cut It's been so long that I can't tell what's been added in this version. There's almost twenty minutes more. This probably flowed a bit better although it could cut down Anne Bobby's singing. Neither her nor Craig Sheffer are A-list performers. The limitations are still the same in this extended cut. I still don't see why body-horror expert Cronenberg isn't doing the directing. He's right there on set already. The creature creations are pretty good especially considering the limited budget although Midian is short-changed. It needs to be more other-worldly. The secondary acting is still B-level. This will never be better than a relatively good B-movie. I do wonder if a bigger remake could be great.

Clive Barker is one of my favorite authors because of how he mixes both horror and fantasy and really creates an elaborate world or mythos to them. Out of a lot of the live action adaptations of his work, this one believe it or not is my favorite one and it's also one of my favorite films of all time.I really like the story which is a wild but cool idea, in a way the story is kinda an "X-Men" tale only instead of mutants endangered by racism and prejudice it's monsters (ok, it's kinda the same difference). I like how these monsters are not portrayed as mindless, two dimensional brutes but actually as living people. We see that these are a species that have always lived amongst us in secret and aren't looking for trouble but unfortunately trouble found them.The music is excellent as it's by one of my favorite composers Danny Elfman whom in the 90's was really on a hot streak at that time, I love the theme which is one of my favorite themes of all time. The make up work is just fantastic, this is probably the finest practical make up work I've ever seen in any movie and a prime example showing that old fashioned is still the best way to go. The Nightbreed are all colorful and unique they all have different features about them. I even like the underground world Midan they've constructed, from all the passages and everything and the culture that exists it really made me wish to know more about it.There is even some action mainly the final battle at the end which is one of my favorite battles of all time. It's not exactly wall to wall but that's because it's kinda realistic as we are betting on the monsters to survive and overcome the supremacists that are trying to destroy them. I like how each of the monsters beat their opponents in unique ways, one favorite kill of mine is a I dare say a sexy female Nightbreed woman (forgot her name sorry) whom is kinda a humanoid porcupine as she produces quills which then stab one of the supremacists in multiple places, I thought that was cool.The characters are really solid if not the deepest. Arron Boone/Cabal (Craig Sheffer) is a decent/solid protagonist, his character is sympathetic because he's on the run from a crime he didn't commit but worst of all has no memory of his origins. Once he discovers them he it makes him struggle all the more as he is finding balance with both his human and monster identity.Dr. Philip K. Decker played surprising well by David Cronenberg whom is one of my favorite movie directors and turns out to be a capable actor; I can't help but wonder what this film could of been if he directed it. Anyway he's a solid antagonist as he is a psycho that is highly intelligent and uses that as his guise for his insanity, which makes sense with most serial killers. He's really creepy he's armed with giant knives and has that really creepy mask almost as creepy as the Michael Myers mask. But also we see he want to hunt and kill the Nightbreed not out of racial prejudice but out of jealousy and envy because this is a human monster that desires to be a monster which I'll admit is something different.It's true there is a lot of them and we don't know them in great depth but each of them have a particular personality which gives you a good feel for them and even makes them all the more sympathetic. Which is part of why I love this film because usually in a horror film we are sympathetic toward the human protagonist that is being hunted and chased by the monster. Here it's the other way around as we see it's the monsters that are being hunted and chased.I really like how this film deals with the issue of racism and prejudice. We see that the real monsters are the supremacists that hunt them which makes sense because Supremisists are the greatest human monsters in history from the Nazis to the Ku Klux Klan whose sole desire is to wipe out any living creature that is different by their false and corrupt standards; pretty much putting up more tombstones for humanity and their own conscious.Overall, this is a great horror film that any fan of Clive Barker and horror should check out. Real monsters aren't always hidden in the dark but are in plan sight where you least see them.Rating: 4 stars

A Fantasy cult horror film from 1990 from Clive Barker creator of 'Candyman' and 'Hellraiser' and tonight's movie is 'Nightbreed' A troubled young man is drawn to a mythical place called Midian where a variety of monsters are hiding from humanity.One of Clive's films I never really got the chance to see Nightbreed is a part slasher part supernatural part monster movie and it works on all ends its creepy and cool and very fun to watch. It kind of has a lovecraftian feel to it, and I really like it, The acting its pretty good along with the acting. The monster and gore effects are very will done and trademark of any Barker film and that and the really good music make this film work. that and the good camera work and lighting, the sets are also really good. No real negatives here.On the gore meter from one to ten One being something like 'The Corpse Grinders' and Ten being something like 'Braindead'. Nightbreed is a 5.5 nothing too extreme but there is more gore than I expected! Nightbreed is a classic and my new favorite Clive Barker film 5/5