Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut released this week on Blu-ray from Scream Factory.
There’s so much that goes into films, that with very few exceptions, the end result is truly a cumulative effort — not only as a collaborative art, but from the history of growth, revisions, production challenges, personnel changes, business decisions, and compromises. Sometimes the history of a film is as interesting as the final product itself, maybe even more so.
This review is intentionally a bit different than most you’ll see, and one of two that we’re posting. I’m approaching this film as a newbie. While I’m aware of its history, and have absorbed a lot of additional knowledge from the commentary and features, this has been my first viewing of any version of the film. Fan sentiments for different versions of this film are so polarizing that it’s our goal with this piece to remove any residual bias regarding the theatrical and “Cabal” editions and just look at the new vision independently. For a veteran’s approach, I highly recommend my colleague Jacob Knight’s very knowledgeable review from earlier this week.
Since being traumatized by a childhood experience in which his parents were murdered by a masked serial killer, Boone can’t seem to escape some sort of bizarre destiny. By day he feels like some sort of deviant, trying to stay in touch with reality with the help of a psychiatrist he trusts to exorcise his terrors. At night he is disturbed by dreams of strange creatures — dreams he believes to be real. Using his dreams as a guide, he seeks out Midian — the refuge of these “monsters” called the Nightbreed, located at the crossroads of the natural and supernatural — a rural cemetery in Alberta, Canada. There he meets the creatures who haunt his dreams, with whom he feels strange kinship — but their world is threatened by outside forces.
Though by conventional standards the Nightbreed are hideous creatures, the film tries to tell us that they are accepted in their exclusive world. The message gets a bit lost as some of the Nightbreed are actually quite vicious and nasty, but that’s just a touch of realism. The basic message of acceptance still gets across. The story reverses convention to some extent by featuring the monsters as protagonists and revealing humans as the invasive force that threatens them.
Because just like in the real world, the true monster — is David Cronenberg.
As with any Clive Barker production, Nightbreed is absolutely brimming with practical creature effects. The bizarre Nightbreed take on all kinds of kooky forms, many of which could be classified as deformities. A lot of it works really well but there’s such a wild variety of designs that there’s no theme or consistency at all, as if the designers just tried to throw every idea at the wall to see what sticks. Some of them simply look ridiculous.
The film features a fun score by Danny Elfman, which seems appropriate since Elfman’s primary collaborator, Tim Burton, would mine similar thematic territory in 2005’s The Corpse Bride. Like Nightbreed, Burton’s film would feature a mystical underworld where monsters dwell, and which seems more alive and colorful than the real world, which is full of drabness, pain and suffering.
What’s so exciting about this release of Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut isn’t so much the film itself, which isn’t especially great, but the occasion of an original vision restored. As writer-director Clive Barker and restoration producer Mark Alan Miller explain in the new introduction (and elaborate on in their commentary), Nightbreed was seriously compromised and hamstrung by studio demands in its theatrical incarnation. Suits balked at the idea of the monsters being the good guys, which seems ridiculous for a couple reasons: A) it’s the whole point of the movie and B) it’s not like this sort of story hadn’t successfully been done before, many times.
Attempting to re-produce a director’s cut of Nightbreed seemed a near impossible task since the original elements were hopelessly lost, but Mark Miller’s dedication to the project has yielded some amazing fruit. Through endless dogged searching, he assembled the materials and the results are stunning. This is no bootleg, “Cabal Cut”, or unrefined workprint. The re-assembled film looks absolutely terrific, and fans are going to be impressed.
That’s not to say that everything works. One particular scene, the re-added musical number, feels cringe-worthily anachronistic. It’s not just 24 years late in being re-added — the song’s style would’ve been classified as “Oldies” even in 1990. All that’s missing is a poodle skirt. And as mentioned before, the creatures designs are a bit hit and miss. Despite this, the monster makeup is pretty consistently amazing, though oddly enough some the “normal” makeup on human characters feels a bit garish. Either that or the color timing is just too hot in some scenes.
Perhaps because of the troubled production, the movie gets pulled in a lot of directions. There’s just a lot going on, such as a major subplot involving Boone’s girlfriend, multiple antagonists including the masked killer (who is a great presence but whose agenda is never sufficiently explained) and a group of law-enforcement types who mount an attack on Midian, as well many Nightbreed characters who are introduced but underused, including the much-ballyhooed Baphomet.
The biggest challenge with appreciating this restoration in its historical context is that you really need the theatrical version as well, if only for comparison. For that, you’ll have to spring for the very pricy 3-disc “Limited Edition” set which includes both cuts of the film as well as a slew of exclusive bonus features and exclusive packaging.
THE PACKAGE
Nightbreed was released by Scream Factory on October 29.
The regular release is a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack. Like most Scream Factory titles, it features a reversible cover featuring the classic poster and new artwork by Les Edwards. My copy included a slipcover featuring the new art.
Special Features
This edition of the film contains a very strong set of making-of features which clock in at well over two hours, not including the commentary track.
Intro with Clive Barker and Mark Alan Miller (5:30)
This isn’t selectable from the menus or listed bonus feature, but rather plays automatically before the film. Writer-director Clive Barker (who also wrote the novel Cabal from which the film is adapted) and Restoration producer Mark Alan Miller discuss the need for a Director’s Cut of the film, and the challenges they encountered in trying to assemble one.
Audio Commentary with Clive Barker and Mark Alan Miller
Clive has a rich, quirky British voice that is fun to listen to and the commentary from both men is fabulous. A great track which not only discusses the film but helps the listener to understand and view the Director’s Cut in the proper light.
Tribes Of The Moon — The Making of Nightbreed (72:17)
This exceptionally strong feature-length documentary has interviews with many of the cast and crew involved in the making of the film.
Making Monsters: Interviews With Makeup/Effects Artists (42:11)
The many and varied practical monster designs are such a huge part of the film, and they get their own feature. Again, a quite lengthy exploration.
Fire! Fights! Stunts! 2nd Unit Shooting (20:20)
Theatrical Trailer (1:06)
Scream Factory has also simultaneously released Nightbreed in a deluxe Limited Edition which includes a second disc of additional bonus features, and a third disc containing the theatrical cut of the film.
A/V Out.
Get it at Amazon:
Nightbreed — [Limited Edition Blu-Ray] | [Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack] | [Warner Archive Theatrical DVD] | [Instant]