Arrow Blu-ray Film Review

Nightbreed (1990) • Limited Edition Blu-ray [Arrow Video]

A troubled young man is drawn to a mythical place called Midian where a variety of friendly monsters are hiding from humanity. Meanwhile, a sadistic serial killer is looking for a patsy…

Nightbreed is an unusual mix of horror sub-genres and a notable chapter in the history of ‘cinema fantastique’. It’s a monster movie if ever there was one, but it’s really about ‘the others’ in society, sub-cultures, and tribes. So it’s heartening that, although the heavily cut theatrical release was a disaster, Nightbreed nevertheless found a devout cult following that’s kept it alive. A quarter-century later (after several unofficial fan-edits circulated at conventions) it’s those fans who were instrumental in bringing Clive Barker’s original vision to the screen.

In 2014, after hundreds of reels of discarded scenes and unused footage were tracked down to a vault in Ohio, USA, Scream Factory released a reassembled and digitally restored version that was faithful to Clive Barker’s…