Nightbreed (as aslo known Night Breed) is a 1990 dark fantasy horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, based on his 1988 novella Cabal. It stars Craig Sheffer, Anne Bobby, David Cronenberg and Charles Haid. The film is a co-production between Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Plot[]
In Calgary, Aaron Boone dreams of Midian, a city where monsters are accepted. At the request of girlfriend Lori Winston, Boone is seeing psychotherapist Dr. Phillip Decker, a serial killer who convinces Boone that he committed Decker's murders. Decker drugs Boone with LSD disguised as lithium and orders Boone to turn himself in. Before he can do so, Boone is struck by a truck and taken to a hospital. There, Boone overhears the rants of Narcisse, a seemingly insane man who seeks to enter Midian. Convinced that Boone is there to test him, Narcisse gives Boone directions to the hidden city before tearing the skin off his face in order to show his "true" face. He is quickly subdued by hospital staff, and Boone leaves.
Boone makes his way to Midian, a city beneath a massive graveyard in the middle of nowhere. Upon encountering supernatural creatures Kinski and Peloquin, Kinski says they should bring him below, but Peloquin refuses to allow in a normal human. Boone claims to be a murderer, but Peloquin smells his innocence and attacks him. Boone escapes, only to encounter a squad of police officers led by Decker. Boone is gunned down after Decker tricks the police into believing Boone is armed. Due to Peloquin's bite, Boone returns to life in the morgue. When he returns to Midian, he finds Narcisse there and is inducted into their society by the Nightbreed's leader, Dirk Lylesburg. In an initiation ceremony, Boone is touched by the blood of their deity, Baphomet.
Seeking to understand why Boone left her, Lori investigates Midian. She befriends a woman named Sheryl Anne and drives to the cemetery with her. Leaving Sheryl Anne at the car, Lori explores the cemetery, where she finds a dying wolf-like creature. A woman named Rachel (a nightbreed with the power to transform into smoke) pleads from the shadows for Lori to take it out of the sunlight. Once in the shadows, it transforms into a little girl, Rachel's daughter Babette. Lori asks about Boone but is rebuffed by Lylesburg and scared off by Peloquin. While leaving the cemetery, Lori discovers Sheryl Anne's corpse and her killer, Decker. Decker attempts to use Lori to draw Boone out of hiding. Boone rescues Lori, and Decker learns Boone cannot be killed due to his transformation. Decker escapes, and Boone takes Lori into Midian. Rachel explains to Lori that the monsters of folklore were peaceful beings who were hunted to near-extinction by humans. Lylesburg banishes Boone and Lori from Midian. Decker learns how to kill the Nightbreed and murders the residents of the hotel where Boone and Lori are staying. When Boone discovers the crime scene, he uncontrollably drinks the blood. The police find Boone and take him into custody. At Decker's urging, the police form a militia led by Police Captain Eigerman. A drunken priest named Ashberry joins them as God's servant in their upcoming battle against Midian. Lori, Rachel and Narcisse rescue Boone, and the four return to Midian, where Boone convinces the Nightbreed to fight.
During the battle, Ashberry learns there are women and children amongst the Nightbreed. When he tries halting the attack, he is beaten by Eigerman. Ashberry finds the idol of Baphomet and swears allegiance to it. When he is splashed by its blood, he is burned and transformed. Boone learns from Lylesburg that Baphomet plans to destroy Midian. Boone argues to release the Berserkers, a monstrous feral breed that were imprisoned due to their insanity. When Lylesburg is killed before he can open the cages, Boone releases them and the Berserkers turn the tide of battle. Decker confronts Boone and is killed. When Boone faces Baphomet, Baphomet says that Boone has caused the end of Midian, which had been foretold. Baphomet charges Boone with finding a new home for the Nightbreed and renames him Cabal.
Boone leaves Midian with Lori and meets with the remaining Nightbreed in a barn, where he says his goodbyes to Narcisse and promises to find a place where they will be safe. In the ruins of Midian, Ashberry stands in front of Decker's corpse and states that he wants vengeance on Baphomet and the Breed. When he presses Baphomet's blood to Decker's wound, Decker springs back to life with a scream as Ashberry repeatedly hollers "Hallelujah!".
Alternative ending[]
In the alternative ending used in The Cabal Cut and Director's Cut of the film, Narcisse is killed earlier in the battle by Decker, so he is not present during the subsequent events. The Nightbreed await Boone in a barn whilst Boone says his goodbyes to Lori, as he must find a new home for the Nightbreed. Boone promises to return to her, but knowing that Boone will retain his youth and immortality as she grows old, Lori suddenly stabs herself, forcing Boone to resurrect her as a Nightbreed. They profess their love for one another and begin their journey.
Meanwhile, Captain Eigerman wanders the underground remains of the cemetery, where he stumbles upon the transformed Ashberry, who longs for revenge after his burning by Baphomet. Eigerman shares this desire, but Ashberry rejects Eigerman's offer, kills him, and starts his hunt for the Nightbreed.
The surviving Nightbreed watch Boone and Lori in the distance. Rachel tells Babette that Boone will return soon, perhaps the next day, to lead them to a new haven. Boone and Lori now appear together as part of a prophecy in a Nightbreed painting.
In The Cabal Cut, the resurrection of Decker plays as a post-credits scene.
Cast[]
- Craig Sheffer as Aaron Boone / Cabal, a man who is turned into a Nightbreed.
- Anne Bobby as Lori Winston, Aaron's girlfriend.
- David Cronenberg as Dr. Philip K. Decker / Curtis, a psychotherapist who doubles as a masked serial killer.
- Charles Haid as Captain Eigerman, a police captain that allies with Decker.
- Hugh Quarshie as Detective Joyce
- Bradley Lavelle as Cormack
- Hugh Ross as Narcisse, a Nightbreed with a removable face.
- Doug Bradley as Dirk Lylesberg, a Nightbreed who serves as their acolyte and lawgiver.
- Catherine Chevalier as Rachel, a shapeshifting Nightbreed that cannot deal with sunlight.
- Bob Sessions as Pettine
- Malcolm Smith as Father Ashbury, a drunken priest who allies with Decker.
- Oliver Parker as Peloquin, a Nightbreed that is responsible for biting Aaron.
- Debora Weston as Sheryl Ann, a woman that Lori befriends.
- Nicholas Vince as Kinski, a Nightbreed with a crescent moon-shaped head.
- Simon Bamford as Ohnaka, a tattooed member of the Nightbreed.
- Kim Robertson and Nina Robertson as Babette, the Nightbreed daughter of Rachel who has the same traits as her.
- Christine McCorkindale as Shuna Sassi, a Nightbreed with an animalistic face that is covered in quills.
- Tony Bluto as Leroy Gomm, an overweight Nightbreed who has retractable tentacles coming out of his stomach.
- Bernard Henry as Baphomet, a demon who is the deity of the Nightbreed
Production[]
Development[]
Clive Barker always loved monsters and felt that "there's a corner of all of us that envies their powers and would love to live forever, or to fly, or to change shape at will. So, when I came to make a movie about monsters, I wanted to create a world we'd feel strangely at home in". He was interested in creating a "horror mythology from the ground up" and developing characters that would live on in sequels. As he finished writing the novella Cabal, he realized that it would make a good film that he would direct himself. He originally envisioned a trilogy of films.
Nightbreed was the first of a planned three-picture deal Barker had with Morgan Creek, Joe Roth's production company, that included an adaptation of Son of Celluloid and a sequel to Nightbreed. The first compromise Barker made was to change the title of the film from Cabal to Nightbreed because Morgan Creek insisted on a more commercial title and thought that the original one did not mean anything. He was given a budget of $11 million, which was a considerable increase from the $2 million he had to work with on Hellraiser. His goal was to make the Star Wars of horror films. The monsters in the book are represented impressionistically over two or three paragraphs and the challenge Barker faced was to visualize them in much greater detail for the film.
Filming[]
For the film, Barker used three soundstages at Pinewood Studios shooting some scenes on location at Wexham Park Hospital, Slough, Berkshire, UK over several nights and in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Bob Keen and his crew had two months to play around with ideas before doing any modeling work. They used computer-controlled animatronics but only where necessary. Towards the end of principal photography, Barker brought Star Wars concept artist Ralph McQuarrie in to paint mattes for the Necropolis sequences and design the history of the Breed in a symbolic way on an enormous mural across a 60-foot space on the set at Pinewood to be used in the opening credits.
During an interview in 2022 on The Ghost of Hollywood, cinematographer Robin Vidgeon, mentioned that he disliked working with David Cronenberg, stating Cronenberg complained to Clive that he was being usurp.
Barker was contractually obligated to deliver an R-rated film and could not make it as gory as his previous picture Hellraiser. Barker previewed the first cut of Nightbreed with a temporary soundtrack that did not go well, as people were confused by the characters' motives. He made some changes and the second test screening was much more successful. However, the ending with Decker's death was not well received and Barker changed it. In late July 1989, the studio pushed the release date for Nightbreed from its original autumn 1989 date to early February 1990 instead. The press release cited "the complex demands of the film's ground-breaking post-production optical effects", but this also included McQuarrie's mural and matte paintings, and a week of additional shooting in late August that would see key parts of the narrative re-shot. Barker shot extra scenes over three days in Los Angeles in late 1989 which included additional scenes with David Cronenberg which expanded and clarified his character. Barker's original version ran two-and-a-half hours and Fox asked for almost an hour to be cut prompting editor Richard Marden to leave the project in protest. Nightbreed was cut to two hours and then again to 102 minutes.
Release[]
Marketing[]
According to Barker, the studio did not promote it well with posters that misinterpreted the content. When he saw the way they were selling Nightbreed, he freaked out and said: "What you doing? This isn't the movie, and was given all kinds of excuses ... Well, there isn't time to change it, we have to release it now". The head of marketing at Morgan Creek never watched all the way through because it "disgusted and distressed" him, according to Barker. The studio did not understand it, it had no movie stars, it was violent, and it had elements of fantasy and horror which they saw as a weakness while Barker saw it as a strength. They ended up marketing Nightbreed as a slasher film with television teasers that were confusing and did not represent it. The trailer was sent to the MPAA and it was rejected 12 times. They forbade any monster footage, and it was cut down to someone being terrorized with a razor, which constituted only five minutes of Barker's film. Looking back, Barker realized that Fox was better at promoting films like White Men Can't Jump but "not so good at selling the quirky stuff".
The studio argued that there was no point showing Nightbreed to critics because the people who see horror films do not read reviews. Therefore, the film had to be sold to the lowest common denominator. They refused to preview the film for critics, a decision which angered Barker.
Reception[]
Critical response[]
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports 43% of 30 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 5.4 out of 10. The site's consensus states: "Nightbreed's imaginative world-building and startling creature designs are no match for its clumsy, uneven plotting". In his review for the Toronto Star, Henry Mietkiewicz wrote "Nightbreed might have been a monster movie milestone, if Clive Barker's directorial abilities had kept pace with his skill as a master of British horror fiction. Unfortunately, Nightbreed probably will be remembered as much for its haphazard plotting and underdeveloped characters as its delightfully daring concept". Derek Malcolm wrote in his review for The Guardian that "it is neither direct nor subtle enough as a piece of film-making. It is difficult to suggest that evil is human and monsters have souls within the context of a mountain of special effects. The result is patchy in the extreme and not always capable of transcending a genre that has become less and less intriguing as less and less is left to the imagination".
However, Entertainment Weekly's Ty Burr gave the film a "B" rating, writing: "From the film's Gothic sets, fantastic makeup, and nightmarish plot line, it's clear that Barker owes as much to Poe and Lovecraft as to classic Hollywood screamers like Island of Lost Souls. But Barker's most perverse touch is that he makes these creatures the good guys (no wonder the PR flacks were bamboozled). Despite their grotesque appearance, they're a more colorful and engaging bunch than the emissaries of the normal world. Barker piles on more subversive subtext than his story can bear — it's a monster movie, after all — but his daft, Grand Guignol vision has real power. The quality that freaked out the studio, Barker's ambition, is precisely what makes Nightbreed so impressive".
Filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky liked the film, calling it "the first truly gay horror fantasy epic", explaining how the unconsummated relationship between doctor and patient is in his view the central theme.
Box office[]
Nightbreed was released on February 16, 1990, in 1,488 theaters, grossing $3.7 million on its opening weekend. It went on to make $8.8 million in the United States and Canada and $7 million internationally for a worldwide total of $16 million on an $11 million budget.