Nightbreed (1990)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Clive Barker

Writers (WGA):

Clive Barker (novel)
Clive Barker (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 February 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy | Horror

Tagline:

Lori thought she knew everything about her boyfriend... Lori was wrong!

Plot:

A community of mutant outcasts of varying types and abilities attempts to escape the attentions of a...

Plot Keywords:

Redneck | Vigilante | Mutant | Serial Killer | Stabbed To Death

Awards:

3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Craig Sheffer	...	Aaron Boone / Cabal
Anne Bobby	...	Lori Desinger
David Cronenberg	...	Dr. Philip K. Decker
Charles Haid	...	Captain Eigerman
Hugh Quarshie	...	Detective Joyce
Hugh Ross	...	Narcisse
Doug Bradley	...	Dirk Lylesberg
Catherine Chevalier	...	Rachel
Malcolm Smith	...	Ashberry
Bob Sessions	...	Pettine
Oliver Parker	...	Peloquin
Debora Weston	...	Sheryl Ann
Nicholas Vince	...	Kinski
Simon Bamford	...	Ohnaka
Kim Robertson	...	Babette

Also Known As:

Clive Barker's Nightbreed (UK) (complete title) (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1992) | Finland:K-18 (uncut) (2007) | Netherlands:16 | Australia:M | France:-12 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Morgan Creek Productions

Trivia:

20th Century Fox drastically cut this film at the last minute prior to its theatrical release, omitting most of the more graphic violence and completely deleting rock singer Suzi Quatro's role from the final print. Moreover, the movie was misleadingly advertised as just another standard slasher feature.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the camera slowly pulls away, over Boone's dead body in the field in front of Midian, you can see him blink after several seconds.

Quotes:

Leroy Gomm: You heard what he said
Devil Lude: What chance have we got... they're armed
Leroy Gomm: So am I

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Fear in the Dark (1991) (TV)

Not a horror movie: A monster movie, with affection.

What's fun about Barker's Nightbreed is that it's the story of a human on a rampage, a deadly threat to monsters everywhere. In this one, the monsters (the night breed of the title) are the "good" guys. It shares its sense of celebrating the different, the twisted, and the dark with the first Addams Family movie, and much of Tim Burton's work. It also has the goriness that one expects from a piece by Barker.

Especially fun is the performance by Cronenberg as the truly evil human doctor who is bent on destroying the Nightbreed. As happens in most classic monster movies, the villagers surround the monsters' castle with torches and pitchforks. Only this time, the modern setting replaces the castle with an old mausoleum and the rustic "weapons" with guns and bombs. And this time the sympathy you felt when you saw Frankenstein's monster burned in the windmill is the very center of the movie.

This isn't a masterpiece, and even Barker has done more interesting, and certainly more chilling, work. But it's pure fun, it looks great, and remains light without mocking itself. Worth a look!