I was hoping to find a better movie to review today, I admit it. Perhaps something with giant killer zombie easter bunnies. I'm sure such a movie exists. I probably watched it back in the 80's. However, I decided to watch Nightbreed instead. Mostly because searching Netflix for "giant killer zombie easter bunnies" didn't bring up any matches. Sadly.
I saw Nightbreed (1990) years ago. Essentially, it's the story of a young man with mental issues who believes he's been going around slaughtering whole families. The man has a girlfriend, who doesn't believe he could possibly be a killer, though his psychiatrist is convinced of it. However, the man himself has little proof of this. He can't remember having killed anyone, despite his psychiatrist telling him that he has. All this young man, named Aaron Boone, can remember is his dreams. They're strange dreams, dreams of an old cemetery called Midian, a place forgotten by men... the place where the monsters live.
Netflix has the director's cut version of this movie, which, according to all the sources I can find, is closer to Clive Barker's vision, and the source material. Clive barker, of course, is the one who wrote the source material, the book upon which the movie is based. So, here's the thing. I don't like the director's cut version, as much as I liked the theatrical release.
Without comparing the two versions yet, let me give you a brief rundown of what I liked about Nightbreed. Firstly, there's a lot of monsters in it. Like one of them tells Boone, "God is an astronaut, oz is over the rainbow, and Midian is where the monsters dwell." There's a shit-ton of monsters in Midian, so many they defy description, history, and classification. As a former biologist and anthropologist, I'd wander Midian just trying to classify which 'Tribes of the Moon' each monster belonged to, their history, and how they ended up there. Of course, half of them would probably eat me, but that's not the point. I love fictional monsters, and trying to figure out their taxonomy and ecological niche is half the fun of seeing them. Secondly, there's midian itself. An old graveyard, full of crypts, mausoleums and graves, all fancifully decorated with carved statuary, and not a town anywhere nearby. That interests the Archaeologist in me (and yes, I have some training in archaeology, as well). So much history in one place! Exciting stuff, if you're me, or a professor of archaeology, or a biologist, or just the generally curious sort.
The acting talent is pretty decent. You've got Craig Sheffer playing Boone, who is essentially the main character. The last time I saw Craig was in Dracula 2, where he played a wheelchair-bound man in search of a vampiric cure for his affliction. David Cronenberg, who is more famous for his directing talents, seems suitably chilling in his role as Dr. Decker, Boone's psychiatrist. Hugh Quarshie plays an FBI agent, and Doug Bradley, of Hellraiser fame, plays Lylseburg, the leader of the monsters of Midian. I'd have to say the acting in this movie was pretty effective. The relationship between Boone and his psychiatrist changes as the movie goes along, and Decker's chilling transformation (I'm being purposely vague here) is pivotal to the whole movie. I know nobody's ever going to win an oscar for this movie, but maybe they should have.
The story flows along pretty well. You've got a brief background on Boone, a short interlude while he figures out where midian is, and then the chase begins. Boone tries to find midian, and decker follows Boone, and the authorities are close behind. There's a fair amount of blood and monsters from the beginning right up til the end, with the end being so monster heavy that if it was a woman with breast enhancements, she'd have toppled over. The special effects are good. There's none of that CGI crap here, this is all old-school monster making, with make-up and prosthetics and body paint on some of the more humanoid monsters. Sure, a little body paint isn't exactly scary, but it's the background that matters. Most of the monsters are there for background, not necessarily a main part of the story. But there is even a bit of nudity, which always makes a monster movie better, in my opinion.
Now let's get down to the nuts and bolts of it. Despite the added scenes, the extra footage, and the more accurate retelling of Clive Barker's artistic vision, the two movies are not overtly different from each other except at the end. And frankly, I like the ending of the theatrical release better. I'm not sure where you might catch the original theatrical release, since Netflix only has the director's cut, but honestly, the way the director's cut went was just... bleh. The theatrical release has more pop, if you know what I mean, and I like the opening for a sequel much better than the director's cut version.
So, to sum up, I don't recommend the director's cut version of Nightbreed, but the original one instead. If you really MUST see Clive Barker's vision rendered in extra footage, with a different ending, then watch it. If not, skip it and find the original 1990 release. Watch that instead.
In other news, I'm 45 years old! Yea, ancient, innit? Maybe a hundred years from now, some cyber-archaeologist will be digging through the remains of the internet, come across my blog, and write a paper about what a rambling nutcase I was! Wouldn't that be something? :-D
I hope everyone enjoyed Zombie Jesus' birthday. That's all for this week! Hope to find something much more enjoyable for next weekend.
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