Anatomy Of Some Scenes That Didn't Make It... Nightbreed Deleted Scenes

Ahh, what might have been... With an original running time of well over two hours cut down to just 102 minutes for the eventually-released theatrical cut, Nightbreed is a compromised movie in many respects. Many of the scenes were cut for pacing reasons, resulting in a rollercoaster ride of a movie at the expense of a good deal of narrative structure, many because certain executives feared audiences would start to root for the "monsters" against the humans (the very point of the movie... it was right there, after all, in the screenplay the studio greenlit...) and many to make way for re-shoots that placed the final movie's focus very firmly on Decker's mass-murderer character. As a labour of love on our part and drawn from a variety of sources - not least the stunning video footage below, courtesy of best-selling author and all around great guy Craig Spector - we have pieced together two sequences that are otherwise "lost" in the Fox vaults. Until a miracle happens and the long-rumoured and long-dreamed-of footage is rediscovered and presented as a director's cut, here is a brief glance at a couple of Nightbreed's "could have beens". "Fox has 25 minutes that were taken out of the movie, and they’re somewhere in some huge warehouse that probably looks like the final shot of Raiders of the Lost Ark. They have promised me over and over again that they will do a special edition and I can put the 25 minutes in and so on, but they’ve never done anything about it... I’d really love to restore that material, and there’s plenty of it. There are a bunch of monsters missing, and there was wonderful work in it. There’s a lot of stuff I would like to put back, so the answer is, it’s never gone from my head as something to do. It hasn’t really worked to simply send letters to Fox, or even have my agents ask questions." Clive Barker’s Dark Plans By Joe Nazzaro, www.fangoria.com, 2 December 2004 "Bits of everything [are in the 25 minutes]. Anne Bobby has a song, there's a performance, a two-minute song. There's violence, ten minutes of violent footage." Darkness And Light By Mark Schaefer, Penny Blood, Issue 2, Spring 2005 "How cool! Good for you for tracking that down! Thank you. I’d completely forgotten that he was there with a camera. I remember a still camera, I don’t remember a video camera." Mister B. By Phil and Sarah Stokes, 18 June 2007 (note - full text here) Scene 1 The Posse Versus The Cycle Slut Sisters... The two sequences both occur during the attack on Midian by the Sons of the Free. The first is part of an extended sequence of violence in the combat between the Posse and the scattering Breed. 219K. EXT. NECROPOLIS NIGHT. The POSSE led by PETTINE invade the entrances to the Necropolis, engaging in hand to hand combat with the BREED. 219L. EXT. NECROPOLIS NIGHT. BOONE races through the Necropolis, finding that other POSSE members are breaking in from other sides. BOONE: They're everywhere! 219M. EXT. NECROPOLIS NIGHT. The NIGHTBREED CHILDREN hear the sound of slaughter approaching. One of the BREED with enormous, dark eyes, speaks. LEOPARDO: We can't stay here. NARCISSE: He told us to. LEOPARDO: He can't help us. He's too late. 219N. EXT. NECROPOLIS NIGHT. We see the POSSE shooting BREED as they move towards the children. Several are entering doorways that lead undergound. 219O. INT. MIDIAN CORE. POSSE enter the Core, firing at anything that moves. Second draft - December 1988, revised 27 February 1989 The fight sequences involved numerous Breed whose stories were cut from the movie - including a notorious trio played by the inimitable combination of authors Peter Atkins, Craig Spector and John Skipp. The latter pair wrote up a production journal for Gorezone (now enhanced below with previously unpublished photos and video footage) that recorded the sequence of events through the day of their "big scene", starting in the make-up chair... John Skipp and Craig Spector: "'I'm not satisfied with this at the moment,' Clive frets... Though Bob Keen suggests a nice grey shawl for Peter, Clive is still not satisfied. 'What we also need is just tons of jewellery on these guys,' Clive decides. 'Every bit of jewellery we can get our hands on. I want them to look like 18th-century whores, only dressed in a sort of Indian tradition. You know, just dripping with the stuff.' "'This level of detail,' Peter inserts, 'it's what make the novels so good, isn't it?' Clive laughs and Bob daubs away." Always A Breedsmaid, Never A 'Breed By John Skipp and Craig Spector, Gorezone No 12, March 1990 Clive in the Nightbreed make-up room, ordering jewellery John Skipp and Craig Spector: "Skipp sashays in, pallid and dainty and, well, just precious, his ratty ivory Victorian gown swishing behind him. His painted face is cast in lines of perpetual puckered surprise, as if a Betty Boop-ish 'Ooooooo!!!' could escape at any moment. Craig appears behind him, mighty-thewed in his shimmering black strapless evening gown and combat boots, and grins from behind his great twirling mustachio. 'Yo, dudes and dudettes,' he chirrups in masculine falsetto. 'I feel pretty, oh so pretty...' "In that moment, the Cycle Slut Sisters are born." Always A Breedsmaid, Never A 'Breed By John Skipp and Craig Spector, Gorezone No 12, March 1990 Pete Atkins, Craig Spector and John Skipp, together The Cycle Slut Sisters, in a corridor at Pinewood, singing 'I feel pretty, oh so pretty...' John Skipp and Craig Spector: "The sudden presence of the Sisters in the Nightbreed production offices temporarily derails business-as-usual, caused a jaw-dropping slippage in producer Chris Figg's normally unflappable British reserve, and prompts supervising producer Gabriella Martinelli to utter an uncharacteristically splendid expletive. And our pitstop by the Cantina caused the grips from the cheesy sci-fi flick next door to wrestle with one of life's big decisions: whether to laugh, buy us a pint or kick the living shit out of us. "We decide that this power must be used only for good, and a simple walk-on will never do. So, with the help of stunt coordinator Andy Armstrong, we vamp out a scene. "Perry the stuntman hustles off to wardrobe, destined to join us in Sisterhood. Skipp is wired with squibs across his back and torso, and Spector is given a foam prop sledgehammer. One of us will kill, one will be killed. Ah, symmetry!" Always A Breedsmaid, Never A 'Breed By John Skipp and Craig Spector, Gorezone No 12, March 1990 Pete Atkins relaxing on set. John Skipp and Craig Spector: "Unit Two sets up to capture the moment. We're supposed to flee the murderous redneck lynch mob who have descended to blow Midian's collective brains out. We rehearse a few times, practicing sledgehammer trajectory and optimum squib/smear impact, not to mention running down stairs in dresses. Then a hush falls over Midian. The cameras roll. Clive gives the word - "And suddenly we're running, scuttling down a very narrow staircase while a very loud gun fires behind us. Skipp hits the wall as three great seeping holes blow glutinous red out the back of his formal promwear. He slides down and out of frame as Peter and Craig scurry through an open doorway, leaving Perry the hapless stuntsister to get blasted off the cliff, blood spurting through the air behind him. "Andy empties the clip into the doorway, an explosion of flame and flying brass, then smugly turns to reload just as Peter and Craig come hauling ass back through the door, bloodthirsty 'Breed in demon drag. Peter spins Andy around as Craig deals out a load of sledgehammer vengeance, the force of the blow dragging Craig to the brink as Andy goes hurtling over--- "Then Craig, too, plummets headfirst into the foam-bagged bowels of Midian below! "Actually, Craig wasn't supposed to go over the cliff. He just got carried away. But that's the way it is on a Clive Barker set. Enthusiasm is the name of the game." Always A Breedsmaid, Never A 'Breed By John Skipp and Craig Spector, Gorezone No 12, March 1990 Click here for rehearsal and filming of the Sisters fighting the Posse...! Note: File size = 3.5 MB Scene 2 Diadaria and the Mezzick-Muul... 230. INT. MIDIAN CORE. BOONE and ASHBERRY are on one of the walkways, which are swinging violently. BOONE hears the Berserkers' roar, and heads towards the door that leads into their corridor, leaving Ashberry on the bridge, tears pouring down his face. Then he follows BOONE. As he reaches the ledge he looks back to see a fabulous beast, the MEZZICK-MUUL, and its beautiful rider, DIADARIA, appear. He watches, awestruck. Second draft - December 1988, revised 27 February 1989 The sequence of a beautiful leopard lady astride a mighty beast has been the stuff of internet message board rumour for years, so here's what we know about it, kicking off with the never-previously-published original storyboards and some video footage taken when the scene was very much planned for inclusion - your host in this clip, Pete Atkins, footage courtesy of Craig Spector... (turn up your volume, the clip's a little quiet) Click here for footage of Pete Atkins at Pinewood explaining the sequence... Note: File size = 2.1 MB Stop motion animation under the supervision of Rory Fellowes was planned, using the models of Diadaria and the Mezzick-Muul (originally called Nesta) created by Image Animation. The photos below run from initial sculpts through to an on set photo of the scene being shot and, finally, a formal photo that looks a little to us like it might have been planned for the Nightbreed Chronicles photo book. An up-close shot of Diadaria in the Image Animation workshop An early sculpt of the Mezzick-Muul Diadaria and the Mezzick-Muul Rory Fellowes on-set, animating Diadaria and the Mezzick-Muul Diadaria and the Mezzick-Muul In Conclusion... Having researched and presented the screenplay extract, the photos and the footage on this page, it's only served to heighten our appetite for someone to actively rediscover and assemble the footage in Fox's vaults... We still dream of a full, unexpurgated version of Nightbreed and our own search for material will continue... Huge thanks in particular to Craig Spector (visit his site here) for his kind help and generosity in allowing us to present his unique behind the scenes footage - let's just hope that one day his fabulous performance as a cycle slut sister will finally make it to a director's cut edition..! Click here for Anatomy of Nightbreed's opening scene Click here for Anatomy of Nightbreed's closing scenes - including deleted scenes Click here for The Films Index, including Barker on Nightbreed Barker on Nightbreed | Films Index | Home page This page has been created for information and entertainment purposes only. All quotes remain the copyright of the original owners.