Nightbreed: Collector's Edition - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Nightbreed: Collector's Edition



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


AV NIRVANA is member and reader-supported. When you purchase an item using our links, we might earn an affiliate commission.
​

Movie
Clive Barker is a living legend as one of the few great auteurs of the horror world, but also the one who has had some of the biggest studio meddling in his films. We all know that studio interference is a normality in MOST film productions, but few directors ever have made movies that are hugely underwhelming in their theatrical release, only for us to find out later that due to studio interference the movie we saw was nowhere near what the director wanted. And, with some luck, a director’s cut comes out that gives us what he had ORIGINALLY aimed at...or at the very least closer to the mark. Such is the case with Nightbreed, a body horror film with a somber message of monsters and villains that is a near incomprehensible shell of a movie in its theatrical form, and a very good movie in its director’s cut form.

Nightbreed is one of those movies that has been released and re-released on home video a dozen different times. The 1990 monster movie got releases on Blu-ray 9 years ago with a regular edition and limited collector’s edition from Scream Factory, and is now so out of print that new copies of the discs run upwards of $200. So, luckily for us, Scream is re-releasing a ton of their collector’s editions and spiffing them up with new encodes, new packaging, and a 4K edition of the theatrical cut as well.

The film itself is one of the most bizarre and fascinating films of Barker’s career. It follows a man named Aaron Boone (Craig Sheffer) who has horrible nightmares about monsters. They seem so incredibly real to him, yet his psychiatrist Dr. Decker (David Cronenberg….yes THE David Cronenberg) assures him that he’s just imagining things. Aaron’s dreams revolve around said monsters, death, and brutal violence to the point that Decker is medicating him quite heavily. Only thing is, Decker is not whom he seems. Boone soon finds out that the monsters are real and after having brutal murders pinned on him BY Decker (oh course Decker is the murderer, duh) is gunned down by the local cops and ends up being resurrected AS a monster.

Long story short, Boone is a member of the Nightbreed. A group of mutants/monsters/outcasts from society who have been hunted to near extinction. Having been bitten by one before his death, Boone is accepted into the clan and informed that the humans despise the nightbreed, and despite their desired to live outside of the view of humans, Boone is the prophesied one to bring about their destruction. Turn out they’re right, as Boone’s death and fall to become a nightbreed was all at the plan of Dr. Decker, who has killed, murdered and tortured every Nighbreed member he can find for his entire life in an effort to exterminate them as a race. Now with Boone’s unwitting help, he’s found the Nightbreed and will use what he must to finish his job.

Nightbreed is an absolutely gorgeous film to behold. Clive Barker’s use of prosthetic and practical effects makes for one of the most textured and viscerally horrifying films that I’ve ever seen. Monsters that rival Hellraiser, and gore effects that creep even me out to this day. That aside, what makes Nightbreed truly special is just how Barker humanizes the monster, delving into ideas such as ignorance, fear, and playing with the concept of whom is more villainous. The monster, or the one hunting the monsters.

Now, here’s where things get dicey with the release. Nightbreed has three major forms out there. The first is the theatrical cut, which is what the 4K UHD disc is. Said theatrical cut is easily the worst version of the movie out there, as it is a highly meddled with release that is a shell of the original idea from Barker’s book “Cabal”. Sure there’s some hints of a romance with his girlfriend Lori (Anne Bobby), and an introduction to the Nightbreed mutants, but the story doesn’t feels “whole”. It’s truncated and missing huge portions of the book, with the movie itself just touching on major events before using a completely fabricated ending where the Dr. is resurrected by a new acolyte. It’s OK, but I only watch it just to remind myself of how much better the Director’s cut is.

The second cut out there is the Cabal cut, which basically a massive over bloated cut that throws in all the footage ever made for the film into one gigantic extended cut. Supposedly meant to be AS close to Barker’s original vision as humanely possible, it ends up being an novelty effort, dancing the line between over indulgence and TOO much information shown. The end result is a cut that is not even as watchable as the theatrical, while still being infinitely more revealing of the true nature of what Clive Barker wanted.

The 3rd cut is the one that was included on the Blu-ray (and is included on Blu-ray in this release as well) and is the famous director’s cut. The Director’s Cut takes a much more judicious approach than the Cabal cut, taking out 20 minutes of footage from the theatrical cut, and adding in 40 minutes more. Plus recutting and moving scenes around to craft a much different story. Instead of just a shell of movie, the story actually is much more fleshed out and delves into the culture and actual nuances of the monster. The same with Lori and her relationship with Boone (and of course the much better ending where Decker remains dead as well). It’s not a perfect cut, but it is drastically superior to either of the two other cuts.

Now, here’s the thing. This release by Scream Factory is going to be fantastic in some ways, but highly disappointing in others. ALL of the special features from the limited edition (and now WAY out of print) Blu-ray from Scream are replicated here. All of them. And the video encode for both the 4K UHD and the Theatrical cut on Blu-ray are taken from new 4K masters from the Original Camera Negative (OCN), and definitely look better than the previous release. BUT, the director’s cut (the best cut by a large margin) is only included as the 3rd disc in the set on Blu-ray. No remaster for it (which isn’t the end of the world in that aspect. The new remaster on Blu-ray and the old master used in the 2014 set are very similar to each other), and even worse, NOT in 4K. Which means that the only way to view the Director’s Cut is on the included Blu-ray. Being that the Theatrical cut is probably the weakest cut of the film, it is a huge loss not to have it upgraded to 4K, especially considering the DC was struck from the same OCN that the remastered theatrical cut comes from (at least according to all information I’m privy to). So this result is a bit of a mixed bag, even though it gives us access to all of the special features and goodies that the way out of print 2014 collector’s edition had.




Rating:

Rated R by the MPAA (Unrated for the Director's Cut)




4K Video: Video:

The 2014 release from Scream was lauded as having an excellent encode, and judging by the Director’s Cut Blu-ray included (which is supposedly just a port) I can see why. It looks very nice, even with some weirdness with some of the spliced scenes. However, the 4K UHD and the Blu-ray that houses the theatrical cuts are advertised as coming from a brand new scan of the OCN and look very nice as well (the Blu-ray doesn’t look much different than the older master used for the 2014 release though for those wondering). While the Blu-ray looks nice, the 4K UHD is light years better, ESPECIALLY with the HDR application. Fine details are good, though I noticed a bit of print debris on the image. Blacks are deep and inky and the underground grotto of Midean really stands out with a lot more shadow detail.

I did notice some strange coarse grain going here, which leads me to believe there was some compression issues with the release. Not horribly so, but enough to where I noticed it. But the biggest and best portion of the entire release is the HDR application. The bright flames and mystical effects underground are just so much better than the Blu-ray. The flames show depth, rich colors and a sense of clarity that the Blu-ray only could hope to achieve. The same goes for the brightness levels. The nits are pushed REALLY high in outdoor shots, yet still seems more tamed down and less bright than the Blu-ray does. Overall, this is a good looking release that does what it can with a rough early 90s film print. Bravo.








Audio:

Scream Factory has provided 2 different audio mixes like usual. The upmixed 5.1 DTS-HD MA track which was created around the DVD era (the film was originally 2.0), and a 2.0 track that I originally thought was the theatrical mix, but now am suspicious that it is a downmix of the 5.1 (I’ll elaborate on that a bit later). The 5.1 Mix is a clone of the 2014 disc, and sounds quite nice. Dialog is generally clean and clear, and the track has some great ambiance in the surrounds thanks to the Elfman created score and claustrophobic world of Midean. On the flip side, I noticed that sometimes dialog got lost in the effects, and that it sounded a bit “thin” to me at first. Upon investigating it looks like the track was recorded roughly 8 DB’s lower than normal and once boosted on my receiver sounds really good. Bass is powerful and punchy during the assault on Midean, and the whole thing just sparks to life.

As I mentioned before, I have some questions on whether the 2.0 track on the disc is actually the original theatrical mix from the previous 2014 release (I don’t have it hand to compare). The theatrical cut never had a 5.1 mix on the disc, only a 2.0 track and I remember that sounding really good. However, I immediately noticed some flanging and reverb on the 2.0 track on this disc, which makes me REALLY suspicious that the 2.0 track found on the disc is just the 5.1 track downmixed. Which leads me to wonder why the 2.0 DTS-HD MA track from the 2014 wasn’t just copied on over. Again, I can’t compare the two tracks and maybe I’m wrong, but to me it sounds like a 5.1 downmix and not the original theatrical audio.







Extras:

Disc Two - Blu-ray Theatrical Cut
• Theatrical Trailer

Disc Three - Blu-ray Director's Cut
• Audio Commentary With Writer/Director Clive Barker And Restoration Producer Mark Alan Miller
• "Tribes Of The Moon: The Making Of Nightbreed" – 72-Minute Documentary On The Production
• "Making Monsters" – A Look At The Special Makeup Effects
• "Fire! Fights! Stunts!" – A Look At The Second Unit Shoot

Disc 4: Blu-ray Special Features
• Deleted Scenes
• "Monster Prosthetics Masterclass"
• "Cutting Compromise"
• "The Painted Landscape"
• Matte Painting Tests
• Makeup Tests
• Stop Motion Lost Footage
• Rehearsal Test
• Still Galleries – Sketches, Deleted Scene Photos, Posters And Pre-Production Stills, On-The-Set Photos and More

Final Score: ​

So this release is interesting. I love Scream/Shout Factory, and they have done some really good things with this release, but also some head scratching ones. The new 4K UHD transfer is light years better than the Blu-ray (even the newly remastered Blu-ray), but the lack of inclusion of the Director’s Cut in 4K, as well as what appears to be a downmix in the 2.0 track leaves me really scratching my head. If you don’t own the old Blu-ray than this is a no brainer. All of the limited edition special features, the director’s and theatrical on Blu-ray AND the Theatrical on 4K UHD as well. But I can understand why someone might hesitate a bit if they already own the limited edition due to the lack of Director’s Cut 4K. My recommendation is much like the relationship status of some people on Facebook. “It’s complicated”


Technical Specifications:

Starring: David Cronenberg, Craig Sheffer, Charles Haid, Hugh Quarshie, Anne Bobby
Directed by: Clive Barker
Written by: Clive Barker
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, English
Studio: Scream Factory
Rated:
Runtime: 102 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 1st, 2023

Recommendation: It's Complicated