Story of movie Nightbreed :
Nightbreed (also Night Breed on publicity material, or Clive Barker's Nightbreed) is a 1990 American dark fantasy horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, based on his 1988 novella Cabal, and starring Craig Sheffer, Anne Bobby, David Cronenberg, Charles Haid, Hugh Quarshie, and Doug Bradley. The film features an unstable mental patient who is falsely led to believe by his doctor that he is a serial killer. Tracked down by the police, his doctor, and his girlfriend Lori, Boone eventually finds refuge in an abandoned cemetery called Midian among a "tribe" of monsters and outcasts known as the "Nightbreed" where they hide from humanity.
| Nightbreed | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Clive Barker |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Clive Barker |
| Based on | Cabal by Clive Barker |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Danny Elfman |
| Cinematography | Robin Vidgeon |
| Edited by |
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Production company | Morgan Creek Productions |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
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Running time | 102 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $11 million |
| Box office | $8.9 million |
At the time of its release, the film was a commercial and critical failure. In several interviews, Barker protested that the film company tried to sell it as a standard slasher film, and that the powers-that-be had no real working knowledge of Nightbreed's story. Since its initial theatrical release, Nightbreed has achieved cult status.
Over time, Barker expressed disappointment with the final cut approved by the studio and always longed for the recovery of the reels so the film might be re-edited. In 2014 a director's cut was finally released by Scream Factory.
Screenplay
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, who convinces Boone that he committed a series of murders. Decker is actually a masked serial killer who has murdered several families. Decker drugs Boone with LSD disguised as lithium and orders Boone to turn himself in. Before he can, 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. He encounters 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 tries to get him to turn himself in and then yells that Boone has a gun. 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, Boon's 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 after 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 is unable to 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. Boone and Lori are banished from Midian by Lylesburg. 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 is unable to control his thirst for blood and begins drinking. 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 stand and 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 Beserkers 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, 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 fearing she will become old whilst Boone will retain his youth and immortality, Lori stabs herself. Boone resurrects Lori as a Nightbreed. Narcisse is killed earlier in the battle by Decker, so he is not present during these events. Meanwhile, Captain Eigerman wanders the underground remains where he stumbles upon the transformed Ashberry, who now desires revenge. Eigerman shares this desire, but Ashberry rejects Eigerman's offer, kills him, and starts his hunt for the Nightbreed. The resurrection of Decker does not occur.
The surviving Nightbreed watch Boone and Lori in the distance. Babette asks Boone's name, and Kinski replies: "His name is Cabal. He unmade Midian". When she asks how soon he will come to take all of them to a new haven, Rachel's answer is: "In the next wind. If not tonight, then tomorrow". Babette repeats: "In the next wind", as the Nightbreed look expectantly at the couple, who are far away in the fields. It is then shown that Boone/Cabal and Lori are now part of their people's prophecy, and they are seen together as one of the paintings on the wall that relates the Nightbreed's history.
- 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, a psychotherapist who doubles as a masked serial killer.
- Charles Haid as Police Captain Eigerman, a police captain that allies with Decker.
- Hugh Quarshie as Detective Joyce
- 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 can not deal with sunlight.
- Bob Sessions as Pettine
- Malcolm Smith as 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 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
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.
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 announced that the release date for Nightbreed was being pushed back 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.
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