Nightbreed (1990) / Shudder / Director's Cut

 This was on the It Came from Shudder channel on Shudder not too long ago, and I had it on while I was putting together a review for another film that escapes me at the moment. I came into it as Aaron Boone (Craig Sheffer) was being inducted into Midian by their god, Baphomet, allowed to be a part of the creature community's "underground", disregarding humans who reject them as undesirable. Aaron's lover, Lori (Anne Bobby), loves him so much she'll risk her life descending into Midian to find him, even as she saw his dead, bullet-ridden body in the morgue. Treading ground other fans of the film have, in the past, when I was a youth renting this and watching it for the first, second, and third time, Cronenberg's involvement was always such a topic of discussion. It is also just a fun little nod by Barker, the director and creator, to the horror genre by casting him as the serial killer, Dr. Decker, an ice-water-in-his-veins therapist moonlighting as a psychopath. That mask, to me, is a distorted vision of his own psyche, the murders allowing that sickness and disease of evil within Decker to flourish as his victims suffer, bleed, and die. Decker sure has no qualms slaying entire families, framing a patient of his (Boone, a machinist who has visions of the creatures who live and "hide" in Midian, surrounded by a cemetery and gate, "tucked away" in isolation from any civilization in Calgary), while plying Boone with hallucinogenic drugs and influencing him to believe he might be a mass murderer. When Dr. Decker claims Boone has a gun, the cops gun him down, but that sure isn't the end of it!

Not too long ago while watching a podcast, this film was brought up and there was discussion about the director's cut. Some felt Nightbreed (1990) wasn't actually any better, just longer, perhaps even a slog. I don't agree with that, personally. I really enjoyed Barker's preferred cut, and Nightbreed is a very easy watch. In fact, I like it as a "background horror movie" while I'm writing a piece here or there. The additional material dedicated to the creatures of Midian, giving them room to breathe in the film sure wasn't a slog as far as I was concerned. More time given to them, the better. That was Barker's reason for making the film in the first place. And leave it to the studio and producers who just didn't get Barker's vision to dick around with it, add dubbing and bring the shears to the film in order to try and market it. Not to mention, the MPAA, a censorship committee seemingly designed to make sure horror films were neutered and "cleansed". Amazing how a few decades gone can help right the wrongs of the past, allowing a filmmaker the chance to see his vision restored to the film he intended at the onset.

I have already written about the film some while discussing Fright Night Part 2 (1988) on the blog, and inevitably I'll return to the film again...Nightbreed is a nostalgic favorite even if it was butchered and often felt abused by hands other than Barker's. Dr. Decker and his blood thirsty police force (and a priest with a quest against Midian's god) bringing the weight of their ammunition down upon the denizens of Midian, resulting in slaughter on both sides, remains such a tragic and seemingly unnecessary conclusion...humans are shown as the monsters while the residents of Midian, considered ugly, hideous, undeserved to live, come off as heroic in trying to preserve their way of life and home, decimated by gunfire and explosions. Barker, though, does allow the Midian creatures to fight back, with a remnant able to escape, Boone commissioned to be their leader.