Nightbreed

source: Nightbreed

A masked serial-killer is slaughtering families. Meanwhile, the youngster Aaron Boone (Craig Sheffer) has nightmares with monsters in a place called Midian. He has therapy with the psychiatric Dr. Philip K. Decker (David Cronenberg) and his girlfriend Lori Winston (Anne Bobby) wants to travel on vacation with him. When Aaron visits Dr. Decker for a session, the doctor convinces him that he is a serial-killer and asks Aaron to turn himself in to the police. He also gives a medication to calm him down. However it is indeed a hallucinogen and Aaron is hit by a truck. He awakes in a hospital where he shares a room with the insane Narcisse (Hugh Ross). When he overhears the man talking about Midian, Aaron learns the direction to reach the place. He heads to the place and finds that Midian is a cemetery. Further, there are monsters hidden from the humans in the underground and is bitten by Peloquin (Oliver Parker). Aaron flees from the monsters and finds Dr. Decker, Detective Joyce (Hugh Quarshie) and a team of police officers waiting for him outside the cemetery. Decker lies and yells that Aaron has a gun and he is murdered by the police. However the bite revives him and he goes to Midian, where he joins a society of monsters hidden in the underground. Meanwhile Lori is seeking him out while Decker wants to destroy the ancient breed of monsters. "Nightbreed" is a cult-horror-fantasy film by Clive Barker. The film is highly entertaining but screenplay has an abrupt beginning and a deceptive conclusion. The DVD I saw does not have an alternate ending in accordance with the director's cut, but the description gives a perfect conclusion to this film. Aaron says goodbye to Lori, but she suicides and resurrects as a Nightbreed. There is no resurrection of Decker and Ashberry kills Eigerman that is seeking revenge. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "Raça das Trevas" ("Darkness Breed") Note: On 19 July 2020, I saw this film again.

Clive Barker's 'Nightbreed' is a lavish, senseless horror film underpinned by a half-baked metaphysics. It's "more is less" plot features a psychopathic psychiatrist (unusually played by David Cronenberg, who has never directed a film as bad this one he appears in), a quasi-fascist police force and a bizarre "community" of undead monsters, all apparently living in the Cascade mountains. I say "community" in quotes as the supposed social dynamics of this group are never remotely plausible; instead, the film simply throws something new at us (a new monster, a new idea, a new enemy, a new place) at every turn of the plot, when just a fraction of the ingredients would have sufficed. It's not scary or funny, and having the monsters swear a lot renders them not frightening but banal. The film also has the most intrusive music of any movie I can remember. The result is a film with all the depth of a pop video; though sadly not the brevity.

Don't ask me why I love this movie so much...Maybe it came at a time in my life I desperately wanted to fit in, maybe it is the amazing monster effects, maybe because I enjoyed the novel "Cabal", but It's probably because I LOVE Clive Barker. I think it's fair to warn you the movie and the novel have no true resolve and like me you'll probably have a WTF moment at the end. At least two sequels were planned but never came about due to the fact the movie flopped for a few reasons. The studio made drastic cuts to the film cutting a good 30 or so minutes out of it and they did a HORRIBLE job promoting it. The adverts made it look like just another cheap slasher showing mainly the "Button face/Mask" Decker character. This is a movie about the monsters! About fantasy! About a place called Midian! It's a story where the monsters are the good guys. There is truly nothing else out there like it! It's not a movie for everybody I suppose but it stands as one of Clive's many great works. Sit back and be prepared to be taken to Midian - where the monsters are.

Reading other peoples comments I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels this film is as bad as it was. I saw this recently on British television. I'm really glad I didn't waste my money by paying to see the film at the cinema. I now feel that I wasted my time watching it at home. I was hoping for great things considering Clive Barker's reputation and previous work but this was awful. Muddled plot. Really bad acting. Non believable characters. Rubbish end. The only good points. Great make up and special effects. But that's it. My advice. Hire/rent a different film if you're hiring/renting a film to watch. Don't buy it. Watch something else on TV.

Fascinating is an excellent word to describe NIGHTBREED: it doesn't necessarily mean it is good or bad, just interesting. Indeed, Im still not sure whether or not this film is good or bad. On the credits side, the sets, costumes, make-up, special effects, even the matte paintings are gorgeous, grotesque, perfect for what is required. I was amazed that such fantastic production values could be found in a movie that on the surface seems so schlocky. There is such a wealth of imagination here that one can hardly take time out to think about the flaws. I was so amazed by the knock-out apocalyptic finale that I could barely think about how silly the context is (a bunch of redneck Canadians blow-torching a cemetary.) he film's biggest flaw is it's sheer magnitude- there are SO many characters, plots, subtexts, overlays, and so on, that no really coherent or involving center emerges. It can be interpreted as: a story about how love conquers the supernatural (a la Dead Again), a Silence-of-the-lambs-like psychodrama about a serial killer; a dreamy horror flick reminiscent of Nightmare on Elm Street and especially Little Monsters; a Gilliam-inspired fantasy (the teeming underworld city is strongly reminiscent of Brazil and the Fortress of Ultimate Darkness in Time Bandits, while other parts are reminiscent of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen); a symbolic tale of racial tolerance; and on and on. So much happens, so many characters are involved, so many subtexts present themselves, its hard to know what is going on at all. Still, one really does have to see the film to believe it. The underworld city is stunning, its atmosphere created perfectly by both the production design and a series of bizarre tableaux of its residents. It is a mark of Barker's screenwriting talent (so often evident in his other films if you can look beneath the shlock) that all the characters, even monsters seen only briefly, ring true in some strange way. The many stories are actually touching. Also, the ending is cleverly conceived; it doesnt go out of its way to leave the door open for a sequel, rather the open door is integral to the plot. I would love to see a follow-up just to know how Barker carries through the mythical aspects he introduces in this film's last part. Perhaps the film could have been more focused, with fewer subsidiary characters; perhaps the completely inappropriate (but obviously intentional) humor could have been dropped; perhaps the entire serial-killer sub-plot could have been excised completely. In any case, this film is a knock-out.

Boone has dreams of a city called Midian where the monsters live. He is not alone -- others have dreamt of it, too, and the reason is because it may just be real. That is interesting enough, but then we have the other plot: Boone is also suspected of being a masked serial killer who has amassed more than fifteen victims. Clive Barker wrote this story (as "Cabal") and directed the film. It is probably his weakest film, despite an underground fan following. It clearly does not rank on the level of "Hellraiser". Yes, it has a decent cast such as Doug Bradley and Simon Bamford (though Doug was almost completely unrecognizable). And there is David Cronenberg, probably one of the greatest directors who ever lived, playing a really creepy psychiatrist. I think it is fair to say he is the highlight of the film. In fact, without Cronenberg, the film would have been a complete waste of time. The film has some major plot issues Where did the priest come from? He shows up and acts as though he was in the film the entire time, though we know this to be false. In fact, he then becomes a main character somehow. Is there an earlier scene with him that got edited out? Why is the psychiatrist so intent on wiping out Midian? Why does he care? And why should we care about the "nightbreed"? None of their characters is ever developed. And why are they called a different race when it is clear that people can cross over? It is just so strange that the more questions you ask, the fewer answers you will get. The film as a whole has too much going on. Focusing on the serial killer part would have been enough, but they introduce thirty characters and develop none of them. Recently, an additional 44 minutes of footage was found from the film. Would it probably explain the plot better? Yes. But is it worth sitting through a three-hour version of this film? I suspect not. If two hours was just average (at best), the longer version could not improve on this. Now, I still support its release. Clive Barker is fighting Morgan Creek, who refuse to release or sell the footage, so for those who want to see it, they cannot. And, to be fair, some is just a second here or there cut by the MPAA (the hospital scene where the man removes his face was trimmed down, for example). Should you see this? Well, if you like Clive Barker, yes. Or Doug Bradley (though you cannot even recognize him due to the German voice dub). But it is not one of the better films I have seen... none of my reference books even mention it! That is a sad state of affairs!

What's fun about Barker's Nightbreed is that it's the story of a human on a rampage, a deadly threat to monsters everywhere. In this one, the monsters (the night breed of the title) are the "good" guys. It shares its sense of celebrating the different, the twisted, and the dark with the first Addams Family movie, and much of Tim Burton's work. It also has the goriness that one expects from a piece by Barker. Especially fun is the performance by Cronenberg as the truly evil human doctor who is bent on destroying the Nightbreed. As happens in most classic monster movies, the villagers surround the monsters' castle with torches and pitchforks. Only this time, the modern setting replaces the castle with an old mausoleum and the rustic "weapons" with guns and bombs. And this time the sympathy you felt when you saw Frankenstein's monster burned in the windmill is the very center of the movie. This isn't a masterpiece, and even Barker has done more interesting, and certainly more chilling, work. But it's pure fun, it looks great, and remains light without mocking itself. Worth a look!

Directed by Clive Barker and based on his 1988 novella Cabal, this movie was a commercial and critical failure. Barker has always claimed that the producers tried to sell the film as a run of the mill slasher, when it is anything but. In 2014, he finally was able to release a director's cut that fixed many of his issues. Aaron Boone (Craig Sheffer, Fire in the Sky) dreams of a place called Midian where monsters are accepted. His girlfriend Lori has convinced him to start seeing a psychotherapist named Dr. Phillip Decker, who is ably played by David Cronenberg of all people. All along, Decker has been setting Boone up for the murders that he's been committing, giving his LSD instead of lithium and filling his head with details of the murders. Decker urges Boone to turn himself in, but he's hit by a truck and sent to the hospital where he meets Narcisse, another man who knows about Midian. He explains to Boone how to get to the hidden story while he cuts off his own face. Boone makes his way to Midian, where he meets the creatures who make it their home like Kinski (Nicholas Vince, the Chattering Cenobite from Hellraiser) and Peloquin, a demonic creature who smells Boone's innocence, letting him know that there's no way that the murders could have been his doing. He bites Boone, who runs into a police trap led by Decker and is shot and killed. He'd be dead if it wasn't for Peloquin's bite. Soon, he returns to life in the morgue while his girlfriend decides to come looking for Midian herself. Boone becomes part of the Nightbreed thanks to their leader Dirk Lylesburg (Doug Bradley, Pinhead himself) and from the touch of their god, Baphomet. What follows is a battle between the police and clergy versus the Nightbreed, ending with Boone rallying the supernatural creatures and destroying their home to stop the attacks. Decker is stopped, Baphomet discusses that this was all part of the prophecy and he renames Boone Cabal. There are two different endings of the film, depending on the original and director's cut that change the story significantly. One raises Decker from the dead while another places Lori into the Nightbreed. Both set the stage for further adventures that never happened, sadly. Barker wanted this to be the Star Wars of horror films and envisioned a trilogy of stories. But the film wasn't marketed well and never made back its budget. Barker said that the producers expressed a concern that "the monsters are the good guys," to which he replied, "That's the point." Marvel's Epic imprint put out several comic books and there were serveral video games, but soon the film slided away into obscurity, Luckily, with the excitement around the director's and Cabal cuts of the film being released, SyFy, Morgan Creek and Barker have announced an entirely new series based on the movie. Interestingly enough, Filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky spoked well of Nightbreed, calling it "the first truly gay horror fantasy epic", as he saw the movie being all about the "unconsummated relationship between doctor and patient." There are plenty of music ties in this film, as the role of Ohnaka was first intended for singer Marc Almond and Suzi Quatro was in the film, but her scenes were cut. It's also one of the first films that Danny Elfman scored after Batman. Barker stated that "The most uncompromised portion of that entire movie is the score." Nightbreed has more than held up, reminding me of the convention season of 1990 when you could see buttons and shirts of this movie everywhere. My excitement was at a fever pitch and I thought, "This is going to be huge." Shows how smart I was.

Clive Barker is, by far, the best horror writer of this century, and a fine visual artist as well. Few of the films made from his fiction are satisfactory "Clive Barker Experiences". This is partly because his main strength as a writer is, naturally, his use of language to provoke emotional reactions and to evoke very special moods above (beneath?) and beyond ordinary shock and revulsion. He raises horrific imagery and psychological situations to the level of poetry. This is not easy to do in film, a purely visual medium. The image of a monster or a monstrous act in film is a picture: there it is before you. A description of same in fiction can be given all sorts of depths and angles in the mind in writing. "Nightbreed" almost works as an adaptation of Barker's "Cabal". Unfortunately, as is apparent, most of Barker's budget was blown on the monsters (which are excellent movie monsters), with insufficient funds remaining for factors like cast. The actor who played the all-important role of Boone was not up to it at all. He conveyed almost nothing of the depth of Boone's torment, which exists on a number of levels. A talent should have been sought instead of a hunk. This is symptomatic of the film's weakness in general. Too many (albeit high-quality) monsters and too little time and attention spent on the basic human values (simply, character) which must underlie all fiction, no matter what its genre.