* Jaw-dropping news this afternoon on the horror front, especially for Clive Barker fans like me: The lost Nightbreed footage has been found! Barker’s film Nightbreed, his studio-made follow-up to Hellraiser, has long been known as an emblematic case of “what might have been” horror filmmaking thwarted by studio interference and ignorance. In a nutshell, the suits didn’t realize the monsters were the good guys in the movie until it was already in the process of being made–at which point they freaked. The end result was a compromised effort, one beloved by many for its bestiary, its visuals, its allegorical content (Barker once told me that the monster city of Midian is basically Boystown), and a chilling performance from David Cronenberg, but not what Barker had intended to end up on screen. Barker has long spoken of extra footage lost in Universal’s byzantine archives, and potentially consumed by a fire. Now, however, a friend of Barker’s named Mike Miller apparently made it his personal quest to unearth the footage–and he succeeded! He was told by someone at the studio that it’s there waiting to be used provided they get the green light from the higher-ups–but said higher-ups believe there’s no market for a Nightbreed Director’s Cut, or even a simple upgrade to Blu-Ray.
I love Nightbreed to pieces as-is–it was my first “real” horror-movie, back in my junior year of high school (I was a late bloomer!)–and there are people I’d murder to see a Director’s cut. If you feel like I do about it, click here to find out what you can do to help. (Via Dread Central.)
* As expected, it turns out the Alien “remake” is actually a prequel, to be produced by Los Bros Scott (Ridley and Tony) and directed by in-house helmer Carl Rinsch. (Via Arrow in the Head.)
* Torture Links of the Day: Major General Antonio Taguba denies earlier reports that he said the Obama-suppressed prisoner-abuse photos contain images of rape. Meanwhile, Senators Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman have introduced The Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act of 2009 for the express purpose of preventing the disclosure of any more detainee photos of any kind, apparently with express White House support. No word on who’s being protected by this Protection Act.
Oh boy! That Nightbreed news is the best thing I’ve heard all week. Even if the studio is just going to sit on it, at least it exists, so it’s bound to get out there, sooner or later.
I also saw it as a horribly impressionable teenager and love it to pieces. The more fucked-up monsters with more humanity than their persecutors, the better.