Hello, Niles North, and welcome to Reed’s Recs! I am Reed Larson-Erf, here to talk to you about everything you never knew you had to see. This week, I’d like to talk to you about 1990’s Nightbreed, a unique horror film starring Craig Sheffer as artist Aaron Boone. Boone is suffering from disturbing nightmares where he commits violent acts, and sees a lost subterranean city called Midian. This leads him to see psychiatrist Dr. Decker (David Cronenberg). Unfortunately for Boone, Decker happens to secretly be a serial killer, and he frames Boone for his crimes, leading his patient to go on the run.
Boone manages to discover Midian, the city from his dreams–a place inhabited by inhuman outcasts known as the Nightbreed. After the police follow Boone and shoot him dead, he is resurrected as a Nightbreed himself. Now, Boone must fight back as Decker leads a sadistic sheriff and his officers to destroy Midian.
Watching Nightbreed, I was particularly fascinated by how ahead of their time the Nightbreed are as an analogue for minority groups. They have their own insular community, separate from those of conventional humans, and are wary of intruders who could disrupt their fragile existence. Individual members of the Nightbreed vary drastically in appearance–looking demonic or insectoid, closer or farther from an average human. Though particular Nightbreed beings can be mischievous or lecherous on their own, the group overall clearly just wants to look out for themselves and be left in peace. They are not unilaterally morally pure, subject to the wrath of human beings who misunderstand them. The Nightbreed are ordinary people, with their own, human-like nuances and flaws, attacked by a wider world that does not want to understand them, or to allow them to exist.
As Boone discovers Midian, viewers get a chance to witness director Clive Barker’s creatively devilish imagination. Midian is only accessible from the surface world via a hidden entrance in a cemetery. Once Boone enters, we get a glimpse of the fantastic world of the Nightbreed. The city is lit by torchlights, and the rock making up the buildings is a dim, infernal red. Most impressively, Midian is covered in crevasses, spanned by rope bridges. An aura of danger hangs over the city as a whole, drawing viewers in.
Best of all, Nightbreed has no dull moments. There is always terror, intrigue, or action to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. All the while, Boone’s fiancée searches for him, and Decker manipulates the police without them ever suspecting his true nature. The plot leads steadily to the final battle, as the Nightbreed hold their own against the sheriff’s men and Decker and Boone face off once and for all; no one knows the final outcome.
Those who are interested in Nightbreed’s captivating, ethereal, yet all too real world, can find it on Prime Video, Peacock, Tubi, and other streaming services. Thank you for listening, and tune in next time for everything you never knew you had to see!
