Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Nightbreed Blu-ray Movie Review

Monsters, Unincorporated?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 24, 2014

Stephen King famously once intoned that he had seen the future of horror, and that its name was Clive Barker, but tell that to those meddling kids in Hollywood who tend to run studios and/or enjoy other positions of power which allow them to call the shots on any given film’s final version. Despite having at least relatively proven his mettle with his horror writing and then with his “real” feature film directing debut Hellraiser (after a couple of shorts), Barker found himself in a morass of machinations during Nightbreed, with the final cut of the film only tangentially resembling Barker’s original concept. Furthermore, the studio PR geniuses decided to take that final “cut” description literally, marketing the film as something akin to the then popular slasher craze, when Barker’s source novel Cabal and indeed his screenplay had something completely different in mind. Needless to say, Nightbreed tanked with both critics and audiences when it was released in 1990, and Barker evidently took the whole disappointing enterprise as something of a learning experience, albeit one fraught with a certain amount of trauma. Over the ensuing years, however, a couple of longer versions of the film surfaced in less than desirable presentations, and a slow but steady accretion of fan support grew and grew. Still, Barker was under the impression that a restoration of his original version was impossible due to missing elements. Finally through the perseverance of Barker’s Seraphim Films partner Mark Miller, it was discovered that the original footage was indeed simply languishing in a studio vault. A so-called Cabal Cut was also ultimately released, once again sparking interest in the film. That version ran over two and a half hours and contained a wealth of new material. Barker, now newly armed with enough material to more or less start over from scratch, was finally able to revisit Nightbreed and fashion his preferred Director’s Cut, which is somewhat shorter than the Cabal Cut, but which still contains around 20 minutes of new material as well as 20 additional minutes of alternate takes and the like that differ from the original theatrical version of the film. Shout! Factory’s horror imprint Scream Factory is releasing this latest version in both a standalone Blu-ray as well as this deluxe Limited Edition which contains an extra disc of bonus material as well as the theatrical version of the film (on a third Blu-ray disc).

That theatrical version admittedly provided the general outlines of a story involving Boone (Craig Sheffer), a guy who is haunted by visions of a place called Midian where monsters reside, and who of course ends up going there, only to discover not only is it different than he imagined, so is he (at least by the time he gets there). Boone transforms into one of the denizens of Midian after an unlucky interchange with police spurred on by Boone’s psychiatrist, a nasty guy named Dr. Decker (David Cronenberg—yes, that David Cronenberg). Decker is a madman and serial killer who wants Boone to be his patsy, but Decker, like Boone himself, is unable to control events, especially once Boone joins the ranks of the monster class in Midian.

Now any lover of Nightbreed reading the above summary is going to immediately be clamoring, "Hey, but wait, you forgot to mention [insert choice of plot points and/or characters here]," but the point is, so did the theatrical cut. Sure, there's still a heartbroken girlfriend named Lori (Anne Bobby), and a coterie of monsters, but in the theatrical cut there's little really knitting the various ideas together, and the result is a somewhat incomprehensible mishmash that only fitfully delivers chills, let alone any real emotional component.

While the so-called Cabal Cut went for broke and delivered just about everything that had ever been filmed for Nightbreed, the Director’s Cut takes a more judicious approach, while also providing some additional content that helps to solidify the early scenes of Boone and Lori together, as well as later machinations involving Decker and even some of the monsters like Dirk Lylesberg (Doug Bradley). But what the Director’s Cut does best, and what would seem to have been an obvious part of Barker’s approach from the very beginning, is to develop the culture of the monsters and their position as a kind of outcast minority, something that was more or less lost in the Theatrical Cut. That so central a thesis would have been jettisoned is almost mind boggling, but such are the vagaries of the film industry and those who feel they can “improve” a property by making changes.

What’s interesting about that central idea is how ahead of the curve Barker obviously was in “humanizing” (for want of a better term) monsters. It would be another few to several years until series like The X-Files and whimsical feature films like Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. started to traffic in some of the same concepts. It’s become more de rigeur lately with outings like Grimm, but in 1990 it was really a bracing reinvention, one that obviously may have zinged right over the heads of the reigning powers of the day.

Does this necessarily mean that Nightbreed is a neglected masterpiece? The case can certainly be made that the film, even in its butchered form, was probably better than it was credited as being at the time, and there’s no denying that the Director’s Cut absolutely smooths out some of the rough edges and provides better context for both Boone and Lori as well as the monsters in Midian. But performances are all over the place here (Mr. Cronenberg, don’t quit your day job), and Barker doesn’t quite have the directorial control that the subject requires, letting some other actors mug and leaving a few plot threads dangling precipitously. Still, in this latest iteration, Nightbreed certainly hits the mark more than ever before, and remains a consistently intriguing entry in the Barker filmography.

Nightbreed Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots 1-15 are from the Director's Cut. I've also included a few comparative screenshots from the Theatrical Cut in positions 16-19.

Nightbreed is presented on Blu-ray by Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1 (for both the Director's and Theatrical Cuts). The Director's Cut was sourced from the original camera negative, while the Theatrical Cut was sourced from an interpositive. Are there noticeable differences? Maybe—but they're negligible at best. There is arguably minutely less detail in the Theatrical Cut (contrast screenshot 1 with screenshot 16), though color space, contrast and sharpness are virtually identical.

The Director's Cut is a remarkable piece of restoration, given what must have been the varying conditions of the elements utilized. There's a pleasing consistency to this presentation, including a stable grainfield (which some may find on the heavy side), and no overt problems with variable color timing or differences in sharpness and clarity. Black levels are impressively deep throughout the presentation. Colors are somewhat subdued here at times, though Barker and cinematographer Robin Vidgeon often tweak the brown, beige and taupe world of Midian with red or blue filters. Barker also tends to shoot the Midian sequences in very low light conditions, perhaps to help mask some of the makeup effects, and that results in some "baked in" loss of detail and shadow detail. But even in many of these somewhat dim and heavily filtered scenes, there is palpable fine detail at times, especially with regard to some of the prosthetics and makeup the monsters wear. In brightly lit scenes, colors and detail pop manifestly more vividly, and fine detail is often exceptional.

There are no signs of intrusive digital manipulation in this presentation, and there are also no problematic compression artifacts, especially notable given how much of the film takes place in shrouded environments.

Nightbreed Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Both versions of Nightbreed feature lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks, but the Director's Cut ups the ante by also including a DTS- HD Master Audio 5.1 mix which significantly opens up Danny Elfman's score as well as some of the more bombastic sequences like the climactic battle. Dialogue and effects are extremely well prioritized and dynamic range is likewise very wide and effective. Once again considering the restoration efforts that must have gone into the Director's Cut, things are surprisingly consistent, though there are occasional minor amplitude fluctuations. Fidelity remains excellent and there are no issues of any kind to warrant concern.

Nightbreed Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Nightbreed The Director's Cut Disc:

• Tribes of the Moon: The Making of Nightbreed (1080p; 1:12:17) is an exceptionally well done piece that gets into the convoluted history of the film and its shoot. There are copious interviews with a lot of the participants.


• Making Monsters: Interviews with Makeup Effects Artists (1080p; 42:11) is another great piece, featuring interviews with a number of people like Bob Keen and Martin Mercer, who discuss some of the techniques utilized for the film's creature effects.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:06)


• Fire! Fights! Stunts!: 2nd Unit Shooting (1080p; 20:20) takes a look at the often unsung second unit.


• Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Clive Barker and Restoration Producer Mark Alan Miller. This is a first rate listening experience, with an easy conversational tone but tons of information being imparted. Miller acts as the de facto moderator here, peppering Barker with questions and insights. Both men are obviously overjoyed to be presenting this version to the public.

Though it isn't officially listed as a supplement, selecting Play Film from the Main Menu offers an Introduction (1080p; 5:30) featuring Barker and Miller. It's possible to bypass this by going to Chapters and selecting the first entry there.

Bonus Disc:

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 22:48)


• Monster Prosthetics Masterclass (1080p; 11:11) features some great looks at the film's makeup, often seen here in considerably better light than in the film itself.


• Cutting Compromise (1080p; 13:55) is an interesting featurette detailing some of the editing choices, featuring interviews with Mark Goldblatt.


• The Painted Landscape (1080p; 5:08) profiles concept artist Ralph McQuarrie.


• Matte Painting Tests (1080p; 8:57)


• Makeup Tests (1080p; 4:52) shows some variations of ideas, again in better lighting than is often in the film.


• Stop Motion Lost Footage (1080i; 7:01) is a fascinating look at some of the Harryhausen-esque effects that were at one point going to be a larger part of the film.


• Extended Torture Scene (1080p; 3:29)


• Rehearsal Test (1080p; 2:56)


• Extensive Still Galleries includes Early Sketches, Deleted Scene, Poster and Pre-Production Art, On the Set of Nightbreed, and Cast and Crew.

Nightbreed Theatrical Cut Disc:

• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:06)

For the record the Theatrical Cut runs 1:41:40 and features only DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 audio.

Additionally, the three discs (in two keepcases) come housed in a sturdy chipboard box which also includes a nicely illustrated booklet.

Nightbreed Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Editor Mark Goldblatt (X-Men: The Last Stand) attempts to couch it in as polite a way as possible, but in the featurette devoted to him and the editing choices made on Nightbreed, he quite openly states the film "needed help" when it got to him (original editor Richard Marden left the project). Goldblatt himself wasn't satisfied with the Theatrical Cut, despite having helped to fashion it (perhaps under duress), but the underlying fact that Nightbreed has a few outstanding issues can't be totally washed away by the heroic efforts made to restore this film to Barker's original vision. It is a manifestly better film now, with much more emotional heft and a more logical storyline, even if it now features an ending which may rankle some fans. That doesn't mean the film is perfect by any stretch, and some may find the final act's hyperbolic tendencies too overwrought for what, in this new version, tends to be more of a character(s) study than a traditional horror outing. These probably niggling qualms aside, this Scream package is certainly going to be one of the must-haves for horror aficionados in 2014. Highly recommended.