Nightbreed: The Directors Cut (1990)

nNightbreed (1990)

nDirector: Clive Barker

nCast: Craig Schaffer, Anne Bobby, David Cronenberg, DougnBradley

nFirst time I saw Nightbreed was in theaters, way back inn1990. Back then I must’ve been thirteen or fourteen years old and while thenfilm made a definitive impact on me, I also got the feeling that it was missingnsomething. I mean, even the title sequence lets us know there were creaturesnthat were filmed that never made it to the finished film, you got the feelingnthat more was filmed than what we ended up watching. Nightbreed had an epic feelnto it, for a horror film anyways. Years later I would learn that Nightbreed wasnin fact a troubled production. Not from the creative side, because creativelynit had energy and ideas to spare, but from the producing side. You see, thenproducers behind this film thought the film was ‘too weird’ and that it didn’tnplay by the rules. Which of course was entirely true, Clive Barker meant tonmake a film that would turn the conventions of the traditional monster movie upsidendown! Sadly when a filmmaker wants to try something new, studios usually lookndown upon it, especially if it’s within the realm of horror and fantasy, two genresnthat are generally treated with disdain by producers and studios. In spite ofnits troubled post-production, plagued with creative differences, the studionstill released the film. How did it farenat the box office?

nYou might be asking yourself how can a producer read thenscript, greenlight the film and then not like the film that ends up getting made?nMy take on it is that producers probably said yes to Nightbreed because of thenbox office success of Barker’s previous film: Hellraiser (1987). They wantednBarker to produce another hit, they didn’t care what it was. But still, whyngreenlight a film only to give the filmmaker hell when they shoot the scriptnthat was approved? I mean, it was right there in black and white. Monsters, Midian,ngore…why after its being filmed do they suddenly get cold feet? Did they evennbother reading the script? Maybe once the shooting commenced they realized justnwhat a strange and unorthodox film this was. Maybe then they realized thatnthere’s no target audience to sell this movie to, it’s a blending of genres,nits horror, it’s a love story, it’s a film in which the monsters are the heroes!nAnd that last point is the one that irked producers the most; they didn’t knownhow to market a film in which the monsters are the “good guys”.

nAnother possible reason why this film was treated with suchndisdain by the studio had something to do with the films subversive message, thenclear hatred towards authority and religious figures. I mean, this is a film innwhich a faithless priest ends up killing a cop! As you can see, many thingsnlined up against Nightbreed which resulted in a shitty trailer that gave audiencesnthe impression that this was a slasher film, even going as far as re-shootingnsome sequences to give it a slasher feel. And Nightbreed wasn’t a slasher, itnwas a dark fantasy. And if there’s one thing audiences hate its being lied to. Andnso, the film tanked at the box office, this even though it was made with a meren11 million dollar budget! In my opinion, a decent trailer and some faith in thenfilmmakers original vision would have increased Nightbreed’s chances of makingna bit more money upon its release. I mean, sure it’s not a mainstream film, butnit could have made more than 8 million, which is what it ended up making at thenbox office.

nBut as if often happens, audiences discovered Nightbreed on homenvideo and turned it into a cult classic. People love this movie so much that someonendid their own cut of the film called “The Cabal Cut” which included deleted scenes never seen on thentheatrical cut! They even made special screenings to show this cut of the film.nFans have always wanted a director’s cut of this film, and well, their screamsnwere heard because the fine gals and ghouls at Shout Factory made it possible.nThey gathered all the deleted scenes which were in a vault somewhere, they gotnthe original cast to dub some new dialog and they re-edited the film which isnnow twenty whole minutes longer! And they got Clive Barker to oversee the wholenprocess! How cool is all that!? Freaking sweet is what it is. But the questionnremained: which cut of the film is better? What are the differences betweenntheatrical and directors cut?

nThe main thing with this new cut is: we get more monsters! Incan’t believe they cut some of this stuff out, I guess they cut out the weirdernlooking monsters for whatever the reason, but there’s a ton of new monsters younnever got to see before, even if just for a second, but they are finally here,nwhich is of course cool because that’s what this whole film was always about, thenmonsters! This cut of the film is a bit gorier, but not by a whole lot. We getnto see that Boone was a mechanic, and that Lori was a lounge singer, which isncompletely unnecessary for the film if you ask me. I mean, with regards tonthese two scenes where we see Lori and Boone during their day jobs, well, I cannsee why the studio thought that they could be cut out. We really didn’t need tonsee Lori singing a whole song. But anyways, getting back to the good stuff, thenbiggest changes come during the ending of the film, which is all different.nScenes are switched around, and happen at an entirely different pace and ordernthan in the original theatrical cut. We get to see extended scenes involving Baphomet,nwhich I always wanted more of. I mean, Baphomet is the weirdest thing about thenmovie. What the hell is he exactly? I still don’t fully understand, but I wantednmore and I got it. On this new cut certain characters have a different demise,nand so we get to see them die in entirely different and violent ways. Priestsnturn evil (as they often do in Clive Barker films) and evil cops get their due,nwhich is probably why these scenes were cut out, cops are depicted as evil,nracist, violent bigots. There’s a lot of hatred on this film for intolerantnbigots in general.

nThe director’s cut is a bit more violent!

nAnd finally, the very ending of the film was changedndrastically; Lori and Boone have more moments together and their relationshipntakes a very interesting twist that I loved. Basically, the film ends on annentirely different note, with the doors left open for a whole series of filmsnto continue. I would have loved to see this series take off the way Barker hadnintended. After all, Barker wanted to make the “Star Wars of Monster Movies”nand if that isn’t an enticing enough remark about Nightbreed, I don’t know whatnis. My only gripe with this cut is that they deleted the ending we saw in thentheatrical release, the one in which Ashberry (the evil priest) puts his handsninside Decker’s chest and brings him back to life as Decker screams! When Inoriginally saw the film, that ending had such an impact on me! I still love it,nI wish it hadn’t been taken out, so you might want to hang on to yourntheatrical cut, because it still has that original ending which is pretty cool.nBut whatever, watching this directors cut is a real treat. And it’s a reason ofncelebration for Clive Barker fans and fans of the horror genre in general.nWhile the film still retains its flaws, like for example it’s often times cheesynsituations and dialog, Nightbreed still has a lot of heart, for underneath itsnmonstrous exterior, this is a film about learning to accept each other for whonwe are. There is space in this world for all of us, isn’t there?

nRating: 4 out of 5