I managed to persuade my friend, Anthony Vawser, to watch the directors cut with me. Ant is a theatre critic for Stage Whispers Magazine who has never seen a Clive Barker film before or read any of CBs literary work and was totally ignorant of the Occupy Midian movement til I told him about it. Hes also generally not excited about either the fantasy or horror genres, so it was very generous of him to agree to offer me an outsiders perspective on Nightbreed. I carry such baggage from being a CB fan for the last ten years, and I had spent so long thinking of the directors cut as an elusive holy grail of cinema that when it actually came into existence I was absolutely stoked... counting the days on my calendar till the DVD release, then impatiently counting the days till it arrived in the mail... and then feeling this huge rush of adrenaline when I finally got to see it and all the scenes Id only imagined from reading Cabal came to life before my eyes, in much better AV quality than I wouldve thought possible, given the age of the film... the directors cut upped my estimation of the films worth from a 4 out of 10 to an 8... the relationship between Lori & Boone is restored to being a stronger focal point of the story and Anne Bobby is just so adorable - her singing of Johnny Get Mad rocks and I love the subtly developed range she is allowed to show in her interactions with the breed (scared at first, then wary, then accepting) which were cut up in the original, as well as her stages of grief when she thinks shes lost Boone... generally I loved the added details of the spirituality and history of the Breed which made their world feel so much more tangibly immersive... and it was great to hear Doug Bradleys voice restored to Lylesburg and the more mystical, ambiguous ending (as opposed to the generic slasher-movie sequel baiting that was the ending to the theatrical cut ) I always did find Sheffers performance oddly wooden at times, and I still do, though I thought he came across somewhat better here. Similarly, I always found Haid and his thuggish deputies came across as overly broad caricatures of rednecks, and I still think they do - but at least they are cheesy in a fun, over the top way. Im still not sure if David Cronenbergs killer shrink is an example of great acting or just the character being precisely in line with the performers natural mannerisms - whatever, the shoe fits and hes creepy as all hell... I found the films most genuinely unsettling moments came from the quieter scenes of Deckers coldly calculated malice, rather than the grandiose mayhem of the finale, which made me think of Indiana Jones for some reason (must be all the rope bridges ;) ). I had a blast, but before sharing my opinion publicly, I wanted to undertake a second viewing with a more neutral observer.... Anthony gave the movie a 6 out of 10... he said in a way, I can accept that NIGHTBREED is an ambitious and intriguing example of its genre. A film that tries to carve out its own world. He went on to say that even in this more completed form he felt that the densely layered mythology CB created seemed to be too much to pack in to one film - that he could imagine Nightbreed working better as the pilot for a cable TV series, rather than a standalone films. He also had much the same issues with the characterisation of the cops that I did and remarked that in the third act, the movie seemed to switch gears from thoughtful gothic fantasy into goofball action movie, and the transition was jarring. He also said the cave full of rope bridges reminded him of The Goonies... he concluded by saying even though Nightbreed was flawed and not the kind of movie hed normally seek out, he was ultimately glad that he went on the journey to Midian and he didnt regret seeing it per se... which is something, I suppose. He had positive takes on the films visual wizardry, and actually liked Sheffer more than I did. One thing we could both agree on is that Nightbreed is a brave film that defies stereotypes and easy categorisation, and that there should be more such bravery in the risk adverse culture of Hollywood.... honestly, coming from a non-horror fan, this is more positive than I had hoped for. I think now, after this second viewing, I feel more confident in recommending Nightbreed: The Directors Cut to adventurous horror and fantasy enthusiasts.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 02:10:56 +0000
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