Nightbreed

Nightbreed
Theatrical release poster
Directed byClive Barker
Written byClive Barker
Based onCabal
by Clive Barker
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRobin Vidgeon
Edited by
Music byDanny Elfman
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • February 16, 1990 (1990-02-16)
Running time
102 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$11 million
Box office$16 million[2]

Nightbreed is a 1990 American dark fantasy horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, based on his 1988 novella Cabal. It stars Craig Sheffer, Anne Bobby, David Cronenberg, Charles Haid, Hugh Quarshie, and Doug Bradley. The film follows an unstable mental patient named Aaron Boone 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" who hide from humanity.

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,[3] and that the powers-that-be had no real working knowledge of Nightbreed's story.[4] Since its initial theatrical release, Nightbreed has become a cult film.[5][6]

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, original film elements for the cut material were re-obtained and were edited into a director's cut, released through Scream Factory.[7]

  1. ^ "Nightbreed (18)". British Board of Film Classification. May 21, 1990. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  2. ^ "Morgan Creek Prods. Box Office". Variety. February 15, 1993. p. 46.
  3. ^ Timpone, Anthony (1990). "Barker Bites Back". Fangoria Horror Spectacular (1). Retrieved March 22, 2012.
  4. ^ Salisbury, Mark (October 1990). "Flesh And Fury". Fear (22).
  5. ^ Black, Amber; Trautmann, Tim (1996). "Interview". The Official Clive Barker Resource: Revelations. Retrieved March 22, 2012. The movie has, and this is wonderful, you know, a lot of fans. And it's a cult movie and it's a real pleasure to me.
  6. ^ Halley, Stefan. "10 Films that have gone from Crap to Cult". Eat Sleep Live Film. Archived from the original on November 23, 2012. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
  7. ^ "Films Still To Come...?". The Official Clive Barker Resource: Revelations. Archived from the original on May 12, 2005. Retrieved March 22, 2012.