baumgart@esquire.dpw.com (The Phantom) (02/22/90)
Clive Barker's NIGHTBREED
A review in the public domain
by The Phantom
(baumgart@esquire.dpw.com)
(The Phantom is going to back into this review of NIGHTBREED by first covering
a little of Clive Barker's cinematic history. Those phans who have no patience
for the Phantom's history lesson can fast-forward to the good parts a few
paragraphs down. But note well that the Phantom will be very, very
disappointed in you if you do. And you don't want that, now do you?)
The Phantom believes he can best discuss NIGHTBREED in the context of
Barker's other work, including his two previous cinematic efforts, HELLRAISER
and its sequel HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II. Although NIGHTBREED stands as a
horror film in its own right, any true fan of Barker's work must, of necessity,
compare it to what else he has brought us over the past three years, and see
how it is both better and worse than its worthy predecessors. That said, a bit
of history:
Ever since HELLRAISER's 1987 debut, the Phantom has heard rumors that the
reason it was so good, so stylish, and so scary had little to do with Clive
Barker's skill as a director. Rather, though the story and characters sprang
from Barker's fertile imagination, the film itself was taken out of Barker's
hands once he demonstrated a distinct lack of skill in bringing HELLRAISER in
on time and on budget.
So the person who finished the film and made it one of the classic films
of the genre was not Barker at all, but instead was Tony Randel, none other
than the director of HELLRAISER's sequel, HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II. Throughout
both films one can see Barker's characters, hear his dialogue, and relish his
inventive story lines. But it is Randel who is responsible for the look, the
pacing, the editing, and the camera work of the films in the HELLRAISER series;
it is he, not Barker, who is responsible for making those films what they are.
Now, the Phantom must caution that this is only rumor; he has never had it
either confirmed or denied (though he *has* heard if from more then one
source). And though it is circumstantial evidence at best, he would direct
doubting phans to notice the look of both films: for films made by different
directors, they look startlingly alike. The Phantom can't think of another
pair of films, directed by different people, that so closely resemble each
other -- though he can, of course, think of many pairs that look entirely
different: the two BEVERLY HILLS COP films, for example.
That said, we arrive at NIGHTBREED, Barker's latest film, and one which he
both directed and adapted from his recent novel, CABAL. And in keeping with
the Phantom's theories about the creative force behind Barker's two previous
films, NIGHTBREED looks and feels nothing like them. That is a shame, since
the Phantom thinks that whatever their pluses and minuses, both of the films in
the HELLRAISER series are stylish and visually compelling, well edited and
directed, and very, very effective. He would also like to say the same of
NIGHTBREED, but alas, he cannot.
NIGHTBREED feels choppy and poorly constructed -- almost as if much more
than its running time of about 100 minutes was filmed but then ultimately left
on the cutting room floor. It suffers to a great degree from "DUNE-itis", an
illness that affects nearly all films based on novels. This means that
NIGHTBREED will present problems for two kinds of moviegoers: those who have
read CABAL, and those who haven't. While the former will be disappointed in
the way large sections of the story have been eliminated from or glossed over
in the film, at least they won't be as confused as the latter. The Phantom
suspects that Caryn James of the New York Times is a member of the latter
group, since in her review of NIGHTBREED she called the film "a huge yawn of a
movie." To the Phantom, this demonstrates that Ms. James might perhaps be
more comfortable reviewing films in other genres, or other media altogether,
since although NIGHTBREED has more than a few weaknesses, "a huge yawn of a
movie" it most certainly is not.
Yet the Phantom can understand what Ms. James's problem might have been:
without having read CABAL, much of NIGHTBREED really doesn't make much sense.
People do and say things for no reason or for reasons that are never explained;
the psychiatrist Decker slips in and out of his Mask at random or convenient
times and kills for reasons Barker keeps to himself; and Midian itself comes
across as little more than an underground Sheraton convention center for the
dead, even though in CABAL Barker presented it as the strange and frightening
home of the last of the shapeshifters -- a species neither living nor dead, but
certainly more than just a bunch of monsters sitting around talking.
But those who have read CABAL may not enjoy NIGHTBREED much more than
Ms. James, if only because knowing what to expect so diminishes the film's few
surprises. And without the wonderful interior monologues of characters like
The Mask, NIGHTBREED is reduced to relating, in a perfectly straightforward and
sequential manner, CABAL's basic plot -- one that even the most ardent of
Barker's fans would have to agree is pretty thin.
To his credit, Barker admirably does refrain from "embellishing"
NIGHTBREED with a constant stream of voice-overs in an attempt to explain
what's going on; in this way, at least, NIGHTBREED escapes from the full
effects of DUNE-itis.
And just for the sake of completeness, the Phantom will add that
NIGHTBREED contains some truly awful dialogue. But unfortunately that should
not come as much of a surprise to any fan of the genre.
"So the Phantom didn't like this one?" you ask. Not so fast; remember,
just because he has taken pains to explain a film's bad points doesn't mean
that the Phantom didn't have a great time while he was watching it. And truth
be known, once the Phantom realized that NIGHTBREED really wasn't in the same
class as the films in the HELLRAISER series, he enjoyed himself immensely. As
a horror film wholly apart from Barker's previous efforts, NIGHTBREED is, on
the whole, a resounding success and a heck of a lot of fun. (Please excuse the
MPAA-unrated cuss word in the last sentence.)
Let's hit the film's high points: First, there's David Cronenberg's (yes,
*that* David Cronenberg) characterization of the psychiatrist Decker, and his
alter ego, The Mask. Cronenberg turns in a truly chilling performance, one
nearly good enough for a starring role in DEAD RINGERS II. In fact,
Cronenberg's was one of the film's two good performances (the other was that of
the ex-Hill Street Blues actor Charles Haid -- Renko -- who played sheriff
Eigerman), and he's in enough of the scenes to allow one to overlook the film's
other, less than award-winning, performances.
The special effects -- especially the creature effects -- are outstanding,
and there's also enough gore to satisfy all but the most hard-core of Barker's
fans. Slash-and-trash fans should be just as happy as the rubber mask set,
since there are equal amounts of each. In fact, throughout NIGHTBREED there's
almost always something to keep one amused and interested in the proceedings,
and it's only rarely that one becomes aware of the inherent silliness of the
plot and some of the dialogue.
The film's sound effects and music are fairly good, although the Phantom
doesn't think that the score ranks up there with Danny Elfman's best work; he
seems to have done better by BATMAN and THE SIMPSONS than by Barker.
NIGHTBREED also seems to have been filmed in Dolby Surround, a nice surprise
(or perhaps the standard Dolby stereo work was just above average; it's
sometimes difficult to tell in the sleazepit theaters the Phantom frequents).
As the Phantom has pointed out, the editing and direction leave something
to be desired, and one must certainly overlook the plot holes if one is going
to enjoy oneself. But that's a given with almost any film in the genre, and to
his credit Barker has made sure that however silly things get, NIGHTBREED
remains internally consistent, and that although logic may occasionally be
challenged, it is never overtly defied. Assuming that an underground community
of shapeshifting cannibals doesn't defy logic -- and for the life of him, the
Phantom cannot imagine why it should.
So all in all, NIGHTBREED is a success, and well worth seeing before it
takes its leave of the silver screen and arrives on video in a few months.
Although not in the same league as Barker's HELLRAISER series, NIGHTBREED is a
quality horror film that never fails to entertain -- even when it does
occasionally fail to make a whole lot of sense.
: The Phantom
: baumgart@esquire.dpw.com
: {cmcl2,uunet}!esquire!baumgart