Nightbreed (1990)

After watching "Nightbreed", you get the feeling that director Clive Barker had a lot more to show than what we saw in the allowed 90 minutes. The movie itself was entertaining to watch, but you could tell there were certain parts where the editing went to shit and the obvious cuts were made to deliver a shorter final product.

The story revolves around a guy named Boone, who is struggling with various mental problems and is plagued by terrible nightmares. Boone's shrink is a guy named Decker, played to perfection by genre director David Cronenberg. Decker tries to pin a series of recent murders on the unstable Boone in order to cover his own ass, as he in fact is the one guilty of the crimes. In his dreams, Boone journeys to a place called Midian, a sort of refuge for an ancient race of shape-shifters and monsters. Midian is located underneath an old cemetery and in his dreams, Boone is a frequent visitor. Thanks to Decker, Boone is shot by the police and of course, presumed dead. However, his body is transported to Midian (I forget how) and he eventually joins the group as one of them, with both Decker and his girlfriend trying to track him down, both knowing he is still alive in some respect.

One of the main things I enjoyed about this one was that I liked how Barker portrayed the creatures not as malicious, blood-thirsty beasts, but rather as a race wrongly persecuted through the ages simply by their being different. The creatures all look rather good, though you never get to see all one hundred or so that Barker said was going to be in the movie. Some of the f/x did look a little rushed, as some seemed like they just got a piece of foam glued onto their heads or something. The majority though, were finely detailed and looked good on the screen. If you can believe this, especially in a Clive Barker flick, the film is not overly violent or gory in any way. There was some blood, but nothing like that in "Hellraiser", as I think the focus was a little more on the people of Midian, and not on how they can mutilate someones body in a hundred different ways.

The main problem was with the editing and the obvious cuts made to the film. Some parts of the film seemed a little rushed and uneven, and I would love to see that rumored uncut print to see if that was indeed the films problem. Acting wise things are ok, with Cronenberg stealing the show as the murderous Decker, delivering a truly kick ass and frightening performance. Good stuff there. All in all, the film is fairly entertaining, though I think we need a special DVD edition (Anchor Bay anyone?), fully uncut, to truly appreciate it.