Nightbreed | Rotten Tomatoes

Nightbreed

R

1990

1 hr. 39 min.

Horror

List

53%

34 Reviews

Tomatometer

60%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Aaron Boone (Craig Sheffer) is haunted by terrifying nightmares of a city of monsters. He goes to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Decker (David Cronenberg), for help. But what Boone doesn't know is that Decker is really a serial killer. Decker frames Boone to take the fall for his murders, and Boone is killed by the police. But Boone is brought back to life by the monsters of his dreams, the Nightbreed, who in turn join Boone in his quest to stop Decker from killing again.

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Critics Consensus

Nightbreed's imaginative world-building and startling creature designs are no match for its clumsy, uneven plotting.

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Grimm R

Nightbreed is a horror fantasy that is directed by Hellraiser's Clive Barker and follows Aaron Boone as he's haunted by nightmares of a city of monsters. He goes to a psychiatrist named Decker who turns out to be a serial killer and is framed for the murders. After Boone is killed by the police and brought back to life by the Nightbreed, they join him on a quest to stop Decker from killing again. The movie stars Craig Scheffer and David Cronenberg and I first want to mention how I've never seen a Clive Barker film before and for my first time, I can say I really enjoyed the world-building that was going on and the story revolving this city called Midian and the rules that are put in place for the Nightbreed I thought were interesting. Following Scheffer through the movie as the protagonist, I thought he did a great job as he does give off that 80s lead look and style as well as the whole movie does but there was something about him that reminded me of a Patrick Swayze or Matt Dillon from Outsiders and his performances in certain scenes I thought were pretty good. This movie also has a score from Danny Elfman who is just phenomenal as ever and truly helps make the story come alive with the tone especially during the action sequences which were also shot really well. I also thought the practical effects were pretty amazing and this made me truly miss how incredible the effects were back then than they are now. I also noticed that some elements in this movie feel similar to 1989's Little Monsters. I thought this movie used them nicely with a more mature tone. Now even though this movie has many things that I like, I also had many issues which involve the choppy flow of the story and the plot feels all over the place in some places, now I know there is a Director's Cut and I'm not sure if that version fixes this issue but it was hard to not notice the amount of skipping from scene to scene there was. There was also a big part of the movie that I thought came out of nowhere which is when the police attack Midian as I didn't see that coming from the premise and thought this movie would've been more of a revenge story, with that in mind though the practical effects and the action was shot really well, I just did not expect the story to take this turn at all. Overall, Nightbreed is a great horror/fantasy that has a more mature Tim Burton tone and is carried by the world-building, special effects, acting, and the premise that I think was executed well but the movie is all over the place and some creative choices left a bad taste for me. Nightbreed gets a B-.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/17/24

Full Review

Alec B

There's a lot going on, maybe too much for one movie. That being said it's hard not to admire the pure unadulterated vision of Barker here and I like that the movie isn't coy about its message or who the real villains are.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/09/24

Full Review

Keiron D

My absolute favourite monster horror! The first horror I watched as a young kid, I love the mind of Clive Barker. The music by Danny Elfman is really great! Perfect! Dr. Deckers mask still freaks me out!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/04/23

Full Review

Jonathan O

Nightbreed is on hellva ride is fantastic fantasy action horror film with both MCU and DC style. It does have Guillermo Del Toro, Sam Raimi and Tim Burton style the make up effects looks phenomenal the story was alright but there's a bit hit and miss but David Cronenberg as Dr. Philip/Slenderman performance is really incredible very disturbing sinister and both scary and creepy and clever villain.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

09/17/23

Full Review

Steve D

An aimless film with an odd tone.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

09/10/23

Full Review

Ryan J

Despite a prolific and acclaimed career spanning nearly 40 years in literature, Clive Barker has only directed three feature films to date. The reasons for this aren't particularly difficult to understand: Barker's first film cashed his check in Hollywood, so to speak, while his sophomore effort, the divisive Nightbreed, was unfortunately a victim of creative compromise and studio interference. The result, however credible in its ambitions, ultimately squandered more than a bit of the goodwill that Barker had established with his previous film. A Clive Barker Primer Barker, of course, is an artist who needs no introduction. As the author of essential works of contemporary horror such as The Damnation Game (a Faustian tale of unholy pacts) and the tremendous Weaveworld (a sprawling work of dark fantasy in which an entire, imagined world is discovered sewn into the fabric of a carpet), Mr. Barker has established himself as nothing less than one of our great living masters of horror. To hear Quentin Tarantino tell it: "To call Clive Barker a 'horror novelist' would be like calling the Beatles a 'garage band' ... He is the great imaginer of our time." RELATED: The Clive Barker Franchise That Never Was Barker's most famous cinematic offering, of course, is the immortal 1987 nightmare Hellraiser, itself based on the author/filmmaker's own novella, The Hellbound Heart. Hellraiser is one of those movies that is so totemic, so instantly iconic from the moment you first lay eyes on it, that you soon come to understand, to one degree or another, why Hollywood felt it necessary to construct an eleven-film franchise based on the success of the original work. The image of the Cenobites – that pale cavalcade of fiendish inter-dimensional sadists, personified largely by their terrifying master, the aptly-dubbed Pinhead – is one that has worked its way into our popular movie-going consciousness; this is true even if, for one reason or another, you've yet to see Hellraiser itself.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/23/23

Full Review

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Clive Barker

Director

Craig Sheffer

Aaron Boone

Anne Bobby

Lori Desinger

David Cronenberg

Dr. Philip K. Decker

Charlie Haid

Captain Eigerman

Hugh Quarshie

Detective Joyce

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Jake Cole

Slant Magazine

In the end, the monsters emerge as the good guys defending their right to life, capping the film on an oddly sweet note that makes it one of Clive Barker’s most endearing works.

Aug 7, 2023

Full Review

William Thomas

Empire Magazine

Decent horror thriller which gets more renowned with age.

Rated: 3/5

Nov 13, 2017

Full Review

Noel Murray

The Dissolve

At its best, Nightbreed is like a living version of a coffee-table book, with each page filled with tentacled, quilled, or moon-faced monsters.

Rated: 3.5/5

Oct 27, 2014

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

The Director's Cut is vastly superior to the theatrical version, expanding on the secretive realm of Midian and the monsters who reside in this underground lair.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 10, 2023

Full Review

Kevin Carr

Fat Guys at the Movies

Visionary and weird, though uneven at times, this is classic Clive Barker finding a place in his heart for the misfits.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 5, 2023

Full Review

Juan Barquin

them.

There’s something beautiful to be found in the way Nightbreed plays out, however messy it might look from a distance.

Oct 27, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

Aaron Boone (Craig Sheffer) is haunted by terrifying nightmares of a city of monsters. He goes to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Decker (David Cronenberg), for help. But what Boone doesn't know is that Decker is really a serial killer. Decker frames Boone to take the fall for his murders, and Boone is killed by the police. But Boone is brought back to life by the monsters of his dreams, the Nightbreed, who in turn join Boone in his quest to stop Decker from killing again.

Director: Clive Barker
Executive Producer: Michael G. Plumides Jr., James G. Robinson, David Robinson
Screenwriter: Clive Barker
Production Co: Morgan Creek Entertainment, Seraphim Films
Rating: R
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 25, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $8.9M
Sound Mix: Surround

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