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Highlights
- Clive Barker’s Nightbreed, a cult classic adaptation of his novella Cabal, explores the true horrors of humanity and the prejudice faced by those who look different.
- Barker’s original vision for the movie was hindered by studio interference and a misleading marketing campaign that focused on a small aspect of the film.
- Mike Flanagan, known for his successful adaptations and ability to handle heavy-handed themes, would be an excellent choice to bring Nightbreed to life in a modern retelling.
Clive Barker is mostly known for his classic horror franchise Hellraiser, based on his novella The Hellbound Heart. The famed author directed the first two movies in the franchise, which went on to spawn nearly a dozen more sequels and a reimagining. His sophomore outing as a director, unfortunately, wouldn’t prove as successful. Nightbreed would eventually become a cult classic, especially after Barker managed to develop a more faithful interpretation of the source material.
Barker intended for his original movie to be the first within a series of movies, but after its abysmal showing in the box office, that never came to fruition. Luckily, a studio tapped acclaimed Michael Dougherty, known for Trick ‘r Treat and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, to develop a TV series based on Nightbreed, potentially giving life to Barker’s original intentions. However, as good of a director as Dougherty is, Mike Flanagan might have been a better choice.
What is Nightbreed?
Imagine the X-Men mixed with Lovecraftian horror and that’s Nightbreed. This ’90s cult classic is an adaptation of Clive Barker’s novella from 1988 titled Cabal. It follows the tormented loner Aaron Boone (Craig Schaeffer) as he dreams of a place called Midian where monsters live freely. Boone, as even his girlfriend Lori calls him, has been seeing the therapist Dr. Decker (David Cronenberg) since he was a child and the good doctor informs him that he’s responsible for a series of murders happening around the city.
In due time, the audience learns that Dr. Decker has ulterior motives as he prescribes some pills to Boone that are supposed to help him sleep, but they only induce hallucinations. Events gradually reveal that Decker, dressed in his suit and a peculiar mask with buttons for eyes, has been the one committing the murders and using Boone to find Midian. He, like most humans in this world, wants to exterminate the monsters that live within the network of subterranean tunnels of Midian.
Clive Barker is a master storyteller who prefers to show the true horrors of humanity where the monsters aren’t the hideously disfigured ones with tentacles protruding from their abdomen or the ones who could kill with a single swipe from their talons. It’s the closed-minded humans who inflict pain on one another and ostracize those who look different. Even the Cenobites from Hellraiser aren’t the bad guys audiences initially believe they are. These undertones become even more clear when Decker enlists the help of the local Sheriff’s department to raid Midian. The treatment of the creatures there, despite hurting nobody, is atrocious and typical of high school bullies.
As a gay man who grew up in the ’50s and ’60s, Nightbreed served to show the experiences of those who society “others,” making it an incredibly personal story for the writer. That made it all the more infuriating when the studio pulled rank and made changes.
Why Nightbreed Needs a Remake
Clive Barker’s prominent complaint throughout the making of Nightbreed was the constant studio interference, trying to turn Barker’s story into something that it wasn’t. Barker decided long before going into production with Nightbreed that he wanted to be in full control of his own adaptations. His mindscape is a unique and fascinating place. He has a specific vision in his stories that other filmmakers have difficulty fully grasping. Unfortunately, studios hold a lot of power that inhibit even the most stalworth creators.
Nightbreed is available to stream on Prime Video
The movie portrays Dr. Decker as a serial killer, murdering families when he’s not manipulating Boone into leading him to Midian. The movie’s marketing department focused only on that angle despite it playing a considerably small role in the overall film. Barker’s movies often blend the horror genre with dark fantasy and the marketing department at 20th Century Fox was clueless when it came to appealing Nightbreed to a broad audience. Instead of highlighting the creatures of Midian, Boone’s journey into their ranks, and the undertones of a found family that lives in fear of Man and their prejudices, the marketing reduced the trailer to a standard slasher flick.
Decker being a serial killer at all wasn’t Barker’s idea, either. It wasn’t even a part of the novella Nightbreed stems from. While there’s plenty of complaints about movie trailers giving too much of the plot away, sometimes even spoiling major twists or giving away the ending, Nightbreed’s original trailer barely hinted at the overall story. Barker did earn the opportunity to produce a dircetor’s cut of the film for the movie’s Blu-Ray release, which improves on the studio interference, but it still deserves a modern retelling.
In an interview with Fangoria before the film released, Barker said:
They [20th Century Fox] tested the movie and it tested real well. Then they realised that the campaign was a difficult one because Nightbreed was slightly difficult to classify. It has elements of fantasy, elements of horror fiction, and it was a mixture of both. I saw that as a strength. [Fox Chairman] Joe Roth saw that as a strength. The marketing people saw it as a weakness.
Why Mike Flanagan is a Good Fit
Despite Trick ‘r Treat director Michael Dougherty developing a TV series for Nightbreed, Mike Flanagan would be an amazing fit for the novella’s adaptation. One only has to see Flanagan’s filmography to see the success that follows him around, as if creating smash hits is as easy as breathing. Not to discredit Michael Dougherty either, but Flanagan weaves a story with its themes masterfully without beating the audience over the head. He’s also no stranger to adapting novels, novellas, short stories, or even poems.
The Fall of the House of Usher, Flanagan’s recent successful series, was an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s biggest hits, including The Tell-Tale Heart, The Gold-Bug, and the eponymous short story. Flanagan doesn’t only have a way with gothic imagery, he manages to instill complex emotions into each character, giving actors something to really bite into, which fosters a deeply engaging mystery throughout each project. He’s such a creative individual with a unique vision (similar to Clive Barker) that he even convinced Stephen King to let him adapt Doctor Sleep, a seemingly impossible task beforehand.
Mike Flanagan is a busy filmmaker, coming off of The Fall of the House of Usher, he’s now developing The Life of Chuck, another Stephen King Adaptation. He also intends to adapt King’s monstrous The Dark Tower series. Giving him the reins to Clive Barker’s Nightbreed would have been right up the director’s alley, though, as he works well with heavy-handed themes. Every project Flanagan undertakes presents more than the surface-level story, often requiring multiple viewings to grasp the entirety of the work.
