Nightbreed (Review)

Casting call for Lady GaGa's concert tour.

Casting call for Lady GaGa’s concert tour.

The Nightbreed are a large group of freakish monsters and terrifying creatures, humanoids who strike fear into anyone unfortunate enoughnto lay eyes on them, yet who are ironically all afraid of the sun.

No two Nightbreed look the same, and all of them speak perfect English. The Nightbreed can in fact die, it’s just that they don’t have to, with the aforementioned sun being their primary threat. The Nightbreed all live in one area ‘outside of town’ called Midian, a place where none of the locals ever dare venture…

Boon is one such local. He knows nothing of the Nightbreed, but lately he has been having disturbing dreams where they are the featured artists, with Midian as the backdrop. Furthermore the acts in these dreams are played out in reality on the ensuing days, leaving many dead. This also bothers Boon and his girlfriend, so Boon decides to consult with a local psychiatrist.

Bad idea. The shrink decides that Boon is in fact evil and probably responsible for the spate of deaths. He kills Boon, who promptly reanimates himself and follows his instincts to Midian, where he finds more than enough evidence to prove that both Midian and the Nightbreed really do exist.

Upon arriving at his new possibly permanent undead digs, Boon is met with resentment as a former outsider. It turns out that in this case it is the ghoulish and ghastly Nightbreed who feel they are the picked upon, living in perpetual fear of human interference despite their menacing appearance.

Boon is torn between embracing his new pals in the afterlife or trying to reach out to his former loved ones. Being a typical male he apparently takes too long in making his decision, so his still living girlfriend Lori makes it for him and heads to Midian to bring him back, with the increasingly menacing killer shrink in close pursuit.

Nightbreed is at least an original take on a theme, with the grotesque and abhorrent looking Nightbreed actually being the more sympathetic group and the humans being the threat. The early 90s make up effects look great for the most part, but the film is let down by weak characterisation and a plot so flawed that any semblance of coherence is shelved in favour of getting back to the cool looking creepy guys.

Being a Clive Barker creation, Nightbreed is filled with creatures that would fill year’s worth of nightmares, and it goes places where other films would dare not, especially in terms of effects and gore. But ultimately the film works better as a freakiest than it does as a film.

Final Rating – 6 / 10. A full 20 years since I first saw it, it is the trailer for Nightbreed that seems more ominous and scary than the film itself.

About OGR

While I try to throw a joke or two into proceedings when I can all of the opinions presented in my reviews are genuine. I don't expect that all will agree with my thoughts at all times nor would it be any fun if you did, so don't be shy in telling me where you think I went wrong... and hopefully if you think I got it right for once. Don't be shy, half the fun is in the conversation after the movie.
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