Every day Robert Saucedo shines a spotlight on a movie either so bad it’s good or just downright terrible. Today: Where the wild things are!
Twenty years ago, Clive Barker laid the groundwork for what could have been one of the greatest horror/fantasy franchises ever made.
Nightbreed, a 1990 film written and directed by Barker, was adapted from the horror writer’s 1988 novella Cabal. Full of engaging ideas, spectacularly designed monsters and a rich mythology, Nightbreed had the potential to be something truly special in a decade that was decidedly light on memorable horror films.
Aaron Boone (played by Craig Sheffer looking like Patrick Swayze on steroids) is plagued by dreams of Midian, a city where monsters dwell.
Boone dismisses the dreams as pure fantasy and is undergoing therapy to help sort out his psychological deficiencies. His therapist (played by filmmaker David Cronenberg) is Decker, a tall, gaunt man who hides behind large-framed glasses and who happens to moonlight as a button-mask-wearing serial killer.
After Decker frames his patient for the murders he has been committing, Boone takes the opportunity to flee from the police and finally search for the city of his dreams, Midian.
Arriving at a seemingly abandoned graveyard, Boone discovers a race of underground-dwelling monsters that call themselves the Nightbreed. Very much the bogymen from his dream, the monsters reject Boone — that is, until a stray bite from one of them turns Boone into a Nightbreed himself.
Now, Boone must join his newly adopted family to ward off a posse of gun-toting, action hero cliché-spouting rednecks that hope to destroy Midian once and for all. Leading the posse is none other then Decker, who desires nothing more then to squash out the monstrosities that have been breeding under the cemetery.
As much as I love the film, I’ll be the first to admit that Nightbreed suffers from some serious defects in plot and pacing. Details that could have helped flesh out the story and shine a light on some of Barker’s more exciting ideas are rushed over or just plain ignored.
The real star of the film, and an element that was thankfully given plenty of time to shine, were the creature designs. Barker really outdid himself in crafting a menagerie of the horrifying. By utilizing a combination of animatronics, makeup, prosthetics, and stop-motion animation, Barker filled his movie with monsters of every shape and size. Some are ferocious, fanged-toothed nightmares. Others are relatively innocuous looking men and women with birth defects. All are amazing to look at.
Besides the costumed monsters, though, props must be given to the acting delivered from Cronenberg, the director of The Fly among others. Delivering a pathos-filled performance, any actor who can terrify audiences more then any of the beasties Barker conjured up with the help of special effects deserves plenty of accolades. With nothing more then a mask (of which clearly inspired the one worn by Scarecrow in Batman Begins), Cronenberg stalks through the movie — dealing out his twisted sense of murderous elitism on any unfortunate soul that Decker deems unworthy of sharing the same air with.
A relative newcomer to the business, composer Danny Elfman also delivers in spades. Elfman composed a remarkable musical score that, while retrospectively reminiscent of much of his catalogue, in 1990 was a clear sign of emerging genius.
The film, due to a critical and commercial scrubbing, never warranted more theatrical installments in what could have been an amazing film franchise. A comic book series did continue the story – even offering readers a crossover with Barker’s other memorable characters, the Cenobites from Hellraiser.
One thing the film has never received, though, is an action figure line. With such wonderfully designed characters available from the film, is it too much to ask for a few Nightbreed action figures to pop up on my shelf?
As I said above, the film suffers from some choppy editing that leaves audiences feeling as if they are missing out on something.
Apparently they were.
Barker’s original cut of the film ran nearly 150 minutes — a noticeable difference from the 108-minute cut released in theaters.
While Barker had always claimed that the missing footage was lost, a recent investigation turned up the fact that the footage is not lost — merely sitting on a shelf in some studio warehouse. Warner Brothers has apparently said that they have no intention to release a director’s cut of the film — there just isn’t enough consumer demand.
Horror fans shouldn’t loose faith just yet, though. A 145-minute work print version of the film was recently discovered and will make its audience premiere at this month’s Horrorhound Weekend in Indianapolis.
While I can’t make the trip myself, I would love to hear from those that get to see the footage. I’d love to learn what was excised and if its reinsertion dramatically improved the story’s flow.
Nightbreed is a film chock-full of potential. It’s also a film waiting to find its audience. Whether you wrote it off when it first arrived in theaters twenty years ago or you’ve never even heard of it, do yourself a favor and add Nightbreed to your Netflix queue. Your nightmares will thank you.
Robert Saucedo wants his balls, and his eyes… unless you want them. Follow him on Twitter @robsaucedo2500.
