I haven’t seen Nightbreed in at least a decade, but I saw it a lot and I remember that sometimes I liked it, sometimes I didn’t. If there’s anything my multiple viewings had in common, it was this: the movie is confusing. Said one of my friends, “I love that movie, but it really doesn’t make any sense!”
There’s a reason the theatrical cut doesn’t make a lick of sense: the studio panicked when the film performed poorly for test audiences. The execs ordered several weeks of re-shoots and attempted to turn a monster movie into a slasher film (slashers were more commercial at the time) and predictably failed. Instead of releasing the film around Halloween of ’89, the studio moved it to February of the next year because nothing says “Valentine’s Day” like monster/slasher mayhem. Needless to say, the movie bombed.
I remember hearing rumors about missing footage some time ago. I didn’t think much of it—these things usually just get your hopes up. According to an excellent article in the latest issue of Rue Morgue, however, the footage hasn’t just been found, there’s a new cut of the film. That’s the good news… the bad news is this long lost footage was found on VHS dubs of the master. The current state of The Cabal Cut (Cabal being the name of Barker’s original novella) is a patchwork of VHS scenes and DVD footage. Despite the alternating quality, the screenings of the project are reportedly doing well.
Apparently the studio is taking notice. These kind of movies typically perform much better years after they find their cult following. According to Clive Barker and the other guys involved with The Cabal Cut, Morgan Creek Productions gave them permission to screen the film as a way to gauge interest. So one day there could very well be an official version of The Cabal Cut, but I won’t hold my breath.
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