Discuss Nightbreed
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There are 3 versions of Nightbreed. Which have you seen? Which do you prefer?
posted by tmdb15214618STAFFMOD on juni 23, 2020 at 2:32 PM
- The theatrical cut, which Clive Barker was unhappy with.
- The director's cut, which removes 20 minutes from the theatrical cut and adds 40 new minutes of footage.
- The Cabal cut, which is a collection of all of the footage (still in existence) that was shot for the movie; it's 3 hours and 20 minutes long.
I've only seen the director's cut and the Cabal cut, and I prefer the Cabal cut. I feel that the movie conceptually is very meaty and you need a lot of time to dig into everything. The Cabal cut still doesn't fully address my problems with the story, which is that the rules of the world aren't defined and we don't know what the stakes are until very late or why our lead couple should care about them. But it does let everything breathe a lot more, and gives us more insight into the nightbreeds, which is vitally important to convey the movie.
Now I want to track down the theatrical cut to see how Fox butchered this thing ...
Reply by DoubleReel
on juni 24, 2020 at 5:20 AM
The theatrical cut used to be available on VHS home video WAAAAAY back in the day and didn't seem right at the time. It introduced the Clive Barker hidden world of Cabal but barely scratched the surface and then just gave you the plot points with no atmosphere.
I haven't seen Cabal cut although I want to track it down. Director's Cut is a massive improvement on theatrical and gives you a much better view of the hidden world you turned up to see.
On the Cabal cut, what is the quality of the added footage? Is it watchable without being too distracting or is it too unfinished because it was excised before the film was finished?
I had a similar experience where I watched Exorcist 3, and the "restored" version just inserted crappy VHS footage because the original film stock wasn't available, and it just took you out of the film every time it cut from widescreen to old fashioned TV/Video format.
Reply by Philippe LeMarchand
on juni 24, 2020 at 8:08 AM
Saw the movie theatrically on release here in the UK, and I'm pretty sure I have the VHS somewhere. Saw the Cabal cut at this event: https://viedit.com/movies/nightbreed-the-cabal-cut-2012-winchester-screening-highlights
I'd like to see a better-quality version of the latter, but the various releases are a nightmare to decipher what you get. I suspect that anything with the CC is way out of my pocket. Not sure why there's not a wider release.
What happened to the announced TV show?
Reply by tmdb15214618
on juni 24, 2020 at 9:32 AM
Hahah, CW was the one developing it? That's hilarious.
A text crawl at the start of the movie says:
"In order to present the most complete edit, different sound and video sources have been used, and though in high definition for 99% of its 198 minute runtime, approximately 132 seconds of footage is sourced from low quality VHS workprints and dailies - which were not restorable. Also included is an important character building scene for which no sound elements were available. So, in order to include this into the cut, subtitles have been created in the absence of recorded dialogue."
I really liked the way they handled the "subtitles" they mention, which pop up around the character who's speaking.
Reply by JustinJackFlash
on juni 25, 2020 at 5:48 AM
I would think you're right. Along with the fact that Barker probably isn't really in the zeitgeist today. He's not seen as "hip" anymore. A shame because I think Imajica would make an awesome tv show. The studios will adapt about 15 repetitive YA fantasies but as far as they're concerned Barker doesn't even exist.
Reply by DoubleReel
on juni 25, 2020 at 5:58 AM
Didn't Barker write some young adult fiction as well?
Agree though, Imagica as well as Weaveworld and The Great And Secret Show could all make amazing TV shows. If they get them right.
Reply by Philippe LeMarchand
on juni 25, 2020 at 6:27 AM
The Abarat series is younger (though the one I read wasn't teenage or angsty enough for CW). http://www.clivebarker.info/youngabarat.html
The BBC were going to do Weaveworld at one stage. Luckily this never happened, as it was close to publication. I shudder to think of how cheap it would've looked!
Reply by JustinJackFlash
on juni 25, 2020 at 9:51 AM
He did. The Abarat books are probably the only YA books I have ever read. So I don't really have anything to compare them to. But looking at the Twilight and Divergent films as examples of YA, Abarat did seem more grown up, better written and more imaginative. In other words, they have more reason to exist.
They would. Best if a more mature channel like HBO does it. The book I'd most like to see a series is Galilee. My favourite of his books (other than The Books of Blood). Hugely underrated and unfairly ignored.
That would have been horrible. Such a waste. I can actually imagine that as well.