Nightbreed (1990): The Real Monster Might Be the Film

Halloween is a great time for monsters. Everyone loves a good monster, and no one loves them more than Clive Barker. After all, what were the Cenobites if not a group of monsters with a predilection for S&M garb? So when it came time to follow up the success of his 1987 directorial debut, Hellraiser, Barker was attracted to making a film about a “horror mythology from the ground up.” The property that most interested him was expanding on his 1988 novella Cabal. The producers were receptive giving him an eleven million dollar budget for the film (which was more than five times the Hellraiser budget), and they secretly hoped that they would have the Star Wars of horror films on their hands. There was one change they wanted made immediately. They insisted the title Cabal meant nothing to the movie going public, and insisted Barker change it to Nightbreed.

In Barker’s film, Boone (Craig Sheffer) is tormented with dreams of monsters and a place called Midian, and to make matters worse, his psychopathic psychologist, Dr. Decker (David Cronenberg) convinces him that his visions are connected to series of grisly murders plaguing the area. Boone’s search for answers leads him to a remote graveyard where he discovers the inhabitants of Midian, the Nightbreed, and a clan of monsters descended from ancient tribes who were long ago driven underground. The police corner Boone in the graveyard and gun him down thinking he is the masked slasher, and that is where his story really begins. He is resurrected as one of the Nightbreed, and his presence will fulfill an ancient prophecy becoming the breed’s salvation or their ultimate demise.

The free hand that Barker had with Hellraiser was contractually reined this time, and it shows in the final product. He was required to make Nightbreed an ‘R’ rated film, but he also could not make it as graphically gory as his previous film. Through a series of test audiences, filming of additional scenes, and the reworking of special effects sequences, Barker’s film went through the wringer in post-production. Then to make matters worse, his original cut came in at almost two and a half hours, a figure the studio wanted to be cut by at least sixty minutes. His editor left the project in protest, and Barker had to scramble to get the film ready for release. It was not an auspicious debut either. The studio didn’t know what to make of the English writer’s film, and the marketing focuses on the slasher elements which made up only a tiny portion of the finished product. In the end with grosses that did not top nine million, Barker’s sophomore effort was a failure.

I have to wonder what the movie might have been like if it were not for the large amount of cuts and studio influence. So far there has not been a director’s cut issued even though Barker has been keen on the idea for years. It’s hard to tell from the finished product whether Nightbreed could have become a more cohesive film or if it was destined to be a mess no matter what. There’s no reason to linger on what might have been. The film that Nightbreed became is a rambling and often incoherent affair that never manifested the same directing promise that Barker showed off in Hellraiser.

First off, I have to talk about the acting. Craig Sheffer was a major point of contention between the wife and me as we watched Nightbreed. I kept seeing him as a cut rate Richard Marx crossed with Richard Dean Anderson, but the wife insisted that he has that vaguely caveman-ish look that could only be compared to David Boreanaz. Either way, his acting prowess is no where near that of any of those men, even Richard Marx. The character of Boone was considered for both Rutger Hauer and Christopher Lambert, and I could only imagine what a difference that would have made. Sure Sheffer had an amazing mullet, but he weakly works his way through the scenes with a minimal amount of skill.

Someone in the film that does have a lot of skill is David Cronenberg, the director of classic such as Videodrome and Dead Ringers, but the director’s skill does not lay in the acting department. While his character is quite creepy looking, Cronenberg’s skill lies behind the camera. I do have a lot of good things to say about his character design, and perhaps the whole feature would have been better if it was the slasher that the studio marketed it as. The supporting cast fares no better, and there’s really no call to single out any single performance that was not the gift of monstrous makeup. The monsters are where the film has its shining moments. The makeup effects are extremely fine, and they give the film quite a boost. Several of the film monsters, including a blue horned demonic fellow and a red dreadlocked guy who looks like one of the Predator’s relatives, are among the best and my favorites. The problem becomes that much of the makeup is wasted in the final climactic sequence that is so filled with smoke they are all but obscured.

As if the lackluster acting and the heavily chopped film were not setbacks enough, Nightbreed also sports one of the most annoying scores ever put to film. Danny Elfman is a very talented musician and composer writing impressive scores for Tim Burton’s Batman and Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, but the tunesmith needs to learn how to keep his crescendo in his pants. The score is overpowering and pointlessly overdramatic during scenes which called for a quiet moment. It had a the same relentlessly quirky cute quality that works in Burton’s films, but a more reserved tone could have enhanced the scenes rather than trying to create a false sense of tension and drama.

Barker’s second film ultimately has to be judged a failure, and it would be five years before he went behind the camera again for his feature Lord of Illusions (a film that also has as many fans as detractors). Nightbreed is a great concept with its underlying themes of monsters as heroes and humanity as the real villains, but poor execution on all levels of the film ruined its chances. While I will always be interested in Barker as a writer and director, Nightbreed is a film that is forgettable at its best.

Bugg Rating