Clive on Nightbreed: Director's Cut

189 - INT. CAB OF EIGERMAN'S TRUCK - DAY
Eigerman cleans his silver-plate Magnum .45, Decker sits beside him holding his briefcase, across from Ashberry, who's frantically paging through an ancient Bible.
EIGERMAN : Ever done an exorcism, Father?
ASHBERRY : No.
EIGERMAN : Ever seen one?
ASHBERRY : No.
EIGERMAN : Well I'd start rehearsin' if I was you. (hands a gun towards Decker) Why don't you hang on to that, Doc?
DECKER : (a little prim) Oh no, I wouldn't know how to use it...
ASHBERRY : (finds something in the book) Listen! "So Moses spoke to the people, saying 'Arm yourselves for war and let them go and take vengeance for the Lord on Midian...' and so they burned with fire all the cities where they dwelt and killed the kings of Midian, both man and beast!"
EIGERMAN : (with a wink) Hey, how 'bout that, Doc? Sounds like we're on a crusade against the Devil himself.
ASHBERRY : (not terribly convincing) I don't believe in the Devil.
DECKER : Oh... you will.
Ashberry looks at Decker; no trace of irony in his expression. Ashberry sorts through the canteens, finds the one that doesn't have a white cross on it, opens it and knocks back two fingers of bourbon.

Second Draft - December 1988

"We tested this movie, we tested it twice with that ending and the audience said, sorry, don't like that ending and Twentieth Century Fox said, OK, get rid of it. That's the way you go... Originally Decker died... and all that material is in the vaults somewhere, so maybe we'll get it in the uncut version one of these days."

Fangoria Weekend Of Horrors

Transcript of a talk by Clive Barker, Weekend of Horrors, Los Angeles. May 1991

"Nightbreed, we have two things working here. The first thing is we're working to do a full new edition on laser... we put Hellraiser on laser, recently... Wilma Vision are interested in reconstructing the missing parts of the movie and putting it together in a director's cut. Which I am very keen to do. Which would add about 25 minutes or there about the same. And, so, it would be nice to put all that stuff back in. But, in the meantime, the movie has, and this is wonderful, you know, a lot of fans. And it's a cult movie and it's a real pleasure to me. Because, in a way, it's closer to my heart than anything else amongst the movies. And I know it's a flawed picture and there's lots of things I would have wanted differently, but it moves people, it gets into people. People have Nightbreed parties. That's great I love that. And, so, at some point I would like to do something... "

Interview

By Amber Black and Tim Trautmann, Review(?), 1996

"I did the picture for Fox about 7 years ago... which was frankly screwed up by the studio who wanted me to take certain sequences out and simplify it in a way that frustrated me. I liked it but I always felt there'd be a better movie in there for a director's cut. I tried to get Fox to give up the material which is in their vaults and it's been tough. Right now we're in a bit of a Mexican standoff. They know I want the material and they're not really that strongly motivated to go and find it for me. I sort of imagine this vast, dusty vault a bit like the last shot of Raiders of the Lost Ark and I fear that's where the missing 20 minutes of Nightbreed are. But, I don't give up easily so I'd like to pursue it until I get this material back into the movie."

Chats From The Past

Transcript of on-line Hollywood Spotlight appearance, 23 June 1998

"The director's cut [of Lord of Illusions] is 12 minutes longer and contains material the MPAA had me remove. And, more significantly, it contains material that UA had me remove. I think they underestimated the horror audience. They lacked faith in them. There are 25 minutes more of "NightBreed" in Fox's vault which I have tried to get my hands on. I fought very hard to reconstruct the film--and I doubt that will happen.
"Everyone I dealt with at Fox is gone, so it's a different company, and there is no financial, contractual or artistic imperative for Fox to instruct someone to go into the vault and find this. That's very irritating."

We Pinned Clive Barker Down and He Made Short Work of Your Questions

By Jim Hosney, transcript of a lecture from E-Online Filmschool, October 1998

"Lord of Illusions you can't show. You can show it on HBO, Showtime. It's been on Showtime lots of times now, they've shown the directors cut. On regular tv there's no way you can go anywhere near that stuff, which is irksome to say the least, because I think of a lot of the power of the kinds of things that I do like Cronenbergs, it really doesn't have a life, I don't think, unless you do with it with real gusto. I think I need to step up to the plate in the cleanest, clearest way I can and without apology, and with as little interference from the MPAA as possible. That's why I've always tried to put out uncensored versions of things. We're still hoping that we eventually get an edition of Nightbreed on DVD and laser which will replace the 25 minutes that are missing. Its irritating as hell to have these pompous sons-of-bitches who think they know what will corrupt America you know (laughs), always the most self righteous 'Oh no-no! you can't possibly do that!'"

Explorer From The Far Reaches Of Experience

By Kim August, Pharr Out! 1998

"Our hope is that we will now put this all together and put it out on DVD remixed. I hope I will be able to persuade Danny Elfman to come in and give us just a little bit of extra music for it. Danny is an extraordinary talent. The most uncompromised portion of that entire movie is the score. Danny's score is, I think, magnificent. So I'm hoping, in answer to your question, that next year we will see a version of Nightbreed which, if not perfect, certainly will be coming out a half hour longer than the version you can currently get. And damn it, if I can't find it I'm just going to do it with hand puppets!"

LA Times Festival Of Books

Q & A Session With Pete Atkins, 29 April 2000 (Note - full text in Lost Souls Newsletter, July / August 2000)

"That came and went, it hasn't gone away - it's just I haven't been focusing on it. The company approached me, I said, 'Yes, I want to do it,' and I haven't heard exactly when it is going to be done. I know they are releasing a regular edition and then they were hoping to do the re-constructed edition for next year."

Confessions

By Craig Fohr and Kelly Shaw, Lost Souls at www.clivebarker.com, 18 May 2001

"Unless you have an advocate within the particular studio system who can go around and dig around for you, you're really lost. I'm sure I won't be given the keys to Fox's vaults and be told, 'Go look for your missing twenty-five minutes.'
"It's sort of interesting that movies have their moments where suddenly they come back into focus again, and I hope this can happen for Nightbreed at some point - where somebody does say that to you. An advocate does appear. It doesn't have to be the head of a studio, just someone who comes in and takes a position of power at Fox and calls me and says, 'Hey, we'd like to see what we can do about putting this picture back together the way you intended.' That's not beyond the realms of possibility, but it ain't happened yet...
"The last time I spoke to Fox, this is a true conversation, they said, 'Your reel is in the vaults.' And I said, 'Where are your vaults?' And the girl actually said, 'I don't know.' That's worrying! Right there! They don't know where the fucking vaults are. What chance do they have to find the material?"

Clive And Kicking

By Mike Watt, The Dark Side, Issue 101, February/March 2003

"The problem is, over at Fox right now, I genuinely don't think they know where the material is. I think it's probably sitting in a... this depresses the hell out of me to say it, but it's probably true. It's probably sitting in a series of unmarked canisters, a lot of unmarked canisters in a warehouse. I think probably they would help me if they possibly could. I don't think they are being willfully difficult I just don't think anyone knows where the hell this stuff is. I wonder if somebody's gonna come across it by accident, and that may happen or else eventually we figure we'll find someone at Fox who, if we dog them enough, they will give us the key to the warehouse. Maybe that's what it will take, maybe they will say, 'Barker, you've bothered us enough, here's the key. Go find it.' In which case we'll go find it. I wouldn't have the slightest problem with doing that, if that is what it will take. I can't imagine them doing that anytime soon. Maybe they will, and then we'll do it. One of these days we'll do it."

Confessions

By Craig Fohr, Lost Souls, 1 August 2003 (note - full text online at Lost Souls)

"It goes on and on and on, because 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. The answer is, I have two pictures at Fox right now. My hope is, as my relationship warms up with Fox and we start to get closer to making either Dread or The Thief of Always, I'll be able to sidle up to one of the presidents or vice presidents and say, 'You know, I'd really love just to have the keys to your warehouse!' And then I'll go tiptoe in, because 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. What I need to do is to actually actively be making a movie with them, and then I'll be close enough for them to consider my appeal a little more. I would certainly love to get it going again, and I'd love to find those missing minutes."

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

"There will one day be a director's cut of Nightbreed, but I'll probably have to storm the fort of Fox to actually... the best possible chance of it happening is this: (I don't know whether I should be saying this.... Yes, I should!) If and when they make Thief of Always, I'm sure I will build a relationship with somebody there who says, 'Is there anything I can do for you while we're making this big movie?' and I'll say, 'Yes! Take me and help me find this stuff.' I think that's the honest answer."

You Called, He Came...

By Phil and Sarah Stokes, 2 and 3 June 2006 (note: full text here)

[On the video footage we discovered] "That was footage that was found in someone's garage! That's how amazing that is. That wasn't actual film footage just video shot with Craig Spector's video camera around the set. I have asked Fox over and over again for the missing 25 minutes and of those missing minutes there just isn't a sign. And you know, let's be clear, all they care about is money so what is the upside to Fox who have this material somewhere in their system?"

Jericho / Hellraiser: Clive Barker Reveals All!

By Mister Disgusting, Bloody Disgusting.com, 7 November 2007

"I have a friend, Mark Miller, who came to me and said, 'I want to pursue the missing Nightbreed material. I have some time off from my work. I want to do this.' I said, 'Well, there's no money, Mark. There's nothing in it for you except a huge thanks from me and from many, many, many fans if you were to be successful..."

Midnight Writer

By Carnell, Fangoria, Issue 284, June 2009

"I hope that one day I will get the key to the locked room where all of the off-cuts from Nightbreed are kept. I think that Nightbreed is a flawed, fucked-up movie but it still maintains this huge cult following and I think a lot of that is down to the performances, the make-up and Danny Elfman's phenomenal score. I think the other thing that captures people's imagination is the idea of the 'good' monster, the creature, the outsider... it still hasn't been touched on in horror movies since then. Obviously it was a film that was never going to appeal to the masses but I have always thought of myself as an outsider. You know, I'm a gay man born into a lower middle-class family in Liverpool and I had this weird, whacked-out imagination as a kid. The Nightbreed mythology is an outsider's mythology so I would like to see the movie completed and I continue to hope that, one day, the version which I handed in - and which runs twenty-five minutes longer - will be out there."

Still Raising Hell

By Calum Waddell, Judge Dredd Megazine, No 286, 21 July 2009

"Unbelievable news. When Mark Miller... (apologies.I am shaking with excitement) Mark volunteered to try and find my cut of Nightbreed. I thought there was 25 minutes missing. I was wrong. Phil and Sarah Stokes called. They possess a video copy of my Work Print, 44 minutes longer than the theatrical release.
"Now all we need is somebody to fund the reconstruction of what was always intended to be Celebration of the Shamanic Outsider. When Nightbreed was released the only support came from the gay press. But the movie seems to have found a broader audience. Nightbreed's about outsiders. And if the Inside is grey fat hamburgers and eye candy I'll stay outside with the monsters.
"It's wonderful that people find something of value in Nightbreed, though it reveals my failings both as an artist and as a man. The failure as an artist is tied to the inability to function as a normal member of the species; to pack every sliver of time with significance, like capsules of humanity on craft sent to the stars."

Twitter Posts

By Clive Barker, 10 June 2009

"Hello all. Clive here. Just wanted to let you know of the wonderful movement to find a home for the director's cut of my film Nightbreed. It's called Occupy Midian. Clever title courtesy of the lovely Anne Bobby who plays Lori in the movie. You can find it here [on Twitter] and on Facebook.
"Go forth...and 'Breed..."

Twitter Posts

By Clive Barker, 11 April 2012

"My friends, Clive here,writing to share some wonderful news. Following the two Sold Out screenings of Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut on Sunday, Morgan Creek has given us permission to show the cut around the world and to raise money to prepare the cut for a release on Blu Ray. This could not, would not have happened without your voices. We have all been heard. The Morgan Creek team have my thanks and my respect. Very seldom does anyone in the movie business pay attention as they have, understanding perhaps that the message of the movie as I shot it is one that dramatizes a different ending to the age-old story of how a war between Humankind and something Other draws to a close. The real Nightbreed will be available for everyone to see. I hope its message of redemption and forgiveness move you."

Twitter Posts

By Clive Barker, 12 June 2012

"The movie [originally] failed so dismally and the reception was so vicious, I was just dragged down by the waste of it. If I've come across as distancing myself from it, it's because I felt that I had not succeeded. I felt I'd let everybody down, including myself. There were a lot of people who'd really given their love and pushed harder than they needed to on my behalf, and we had nothing to show for it...
"What we're looking at [now] is a monstrous jigsaw, but the fact we've been able to reassemble the pieces in the right order now testifies to the fact that my version was actually shot. After all this time, I'm suddenly very optimistic!"

The Strange Case of Clive Barker's Nightbreed

By Owen Williams, Empire Magazine, No.279, September 2012 (Note - interview took place 12 July 2012)

"I want to officially announce that the Cabal Cut of Nightbreed is going on to DVD.
"I have no details as yet of the timing of this release, or of the status of extras on the DVD. The company that will be releasing Nightbreed is Scream Factory.
"What I can tell you is that we at Seraphim have been invited to work with Scream Factory to make this release the best possible event. It's been a long journey to bring Nightbreed to this moment, and I want to make sure that the release is the best document of the movie and its adventures. I will obviously be updating you through facebook on all the developments as they come through to me from Scream Factory, but as it stands I think the Tribes of the Moon should rejoice. This is a triumph for all of your voices, your support and your love. Clive."

Facebook Posts

By Clive Barker, 19 July 2013

"Last night, seeing the response to the Cabal cut of NIGHTBREED, and having a chance to talk with the six hundred people, many in amazing costumes, who came to the screening, I felt relieved of a great weight of anxiety. It's been a long time since I've made a public appearance that was as important to me as last night. Though I'm not yet wholly well, the fact that I could sit in front of an audience and chat as was my style back in the day, gave me a welcome boost of confidence. I came away from last night's event profoundly grateful to all those fans of the original NIGHTBREED who had the vision to see the healthy movie that lay in the wreckage of the wounded version, and who had the faith to believe that somehow it might be possible to re-ignite the creative fire that had motivated so many artists to attempt to make my dream of a monster epic a reality in the first place. We've still got a lot of work to do in order to polish the once-lost pieces of the film so that the whole experience flows together. But we'll do it. Next time I watch NIGHTBREED on a big screen it will be at a screening of the movie I once made, only to see it torn into many pieces and left to perish. But some stories, it seems, refuse to surrender to decay and neglect. They bide their time, waiting for the dawning of a different day.
"To everybody who made last night such a happy reunion (and to the many who were there with us in spirit), proud monsters all, I send my love and thanks. No creator was more blessed .Thank you."

Facebook Posts

By Clive Barker, 27 October 2013

"This is film history and beyond my wildest dreams of realization. When Scream Factory told me that they found the NIGHTBREED film footage I was gob-smacked! This is the ultimate validation of choices made by myself and Mark Miller all the way back in 2008. As we embarked down the road of attempting to track down the lost footage, we looked at each other and said, 'Maybe one day they'll find it.' It's my pleasure to announce that the day has come. Speaking personally, I didn't allow myself to believe that it would. Even if we did find some footage (which we did in 2009 in the form of heavily degraded VHS tapes) and even if we did find a company willing to release the film (which we did in 2013 with Scream Factory, God bless them) the prospect of finding the actual lost film materials was remoter than I'd wanted to admit out loud. If the footage could not be found by those who had worked closest on it the same year it had been released, then what were the odds we'd be able to find anything 20 years on? But Scream Factory, in their commendable determination, kept up the search and thanks to them total reconstruction has been made a possibility. There's never been a reconstruction that's had as little chance of succeeding and yet has succeeded on as many fronts as this film has. It's unprecedented. To now have a movie that we can put together in the way that I fully intended it to be seen when I first set out to make this film in 1989 is extraordinary. The project has moved inexorably to this conclusion. Fate and the hard work of individuals such as Mark Miller, Russell Cherrington, Phil and Sarah Stokes, Occupy Midian, Morgan Creek, and ultimately, Scream Factory have made this a possibility and I could not be happier.' "

Scream Factory Press Release

1 July 2014

"You've seen Hellboy 2. There's a sequence in the middle where for 15 minutes they go into this lusciously rich world of very strange creatures and it is entering Midian. It's the same beat as appears in Nightbreed. Neither of us are stealing; we are just both monster-lovers. I was looking at Fellini's Satyricon - there are a lot of things in it which obviously I was influenced by, and there are scenes which have the same sense of fantastical reality. What I'm saying is, we all as imaginative filmmakers are each influenced by the generation which comes before us and hopefully then influence the generation which comes after."

Clive Barker is Back From the Dead

By Clark Collis, Entertainment Weekly, October 2014 (note - full text online at ew.com)

...other comments

133 - OUTSIDE BAPHOMET'S CHAMBER
Ohnaka and Lori reach the next to last chamber; a roaring from below, down a slope in front of them, walls vibrating with the din from Baphomet's chamber. Ohnaka withdraws. Blindingly bright light, out of which Lori spots a figure climbing towards them.
LORI : Boone? Boone!
She moves down to Boone, scrambling up the slope towards her, drenched in sweat, half-mad with terror.
BOONE : Don't... don't look...
He reaches for her, then collapses. She starts down the slope towards him. Dust falls from the roof, the din makes her reel. But she reaches him, starts to haul him to his feet. Then, she looks up and we get a glimpse of...

134 - INT. BAPHOMET'S CHAMBER
Out of the blinding light, and seemingly the source of it, a huge black figure turns towards her, twelve feet high, severed limbs connected by sinews of hot, white energy and extruded spines, the face terrible, wise and beautiful.
Lori's stunned, she averts her eyes. Boone collects himself enough to pull her away and they help each other frantically scrabble up the slope, out of the chamber.

Second Draft - December 1988

Doug Bradley: "[Nightbreed] remains like no other movie I've ever seen. It is extraordinary, and I get asked all the time at conventions, 'Is there a director's cut of Nightbreed?' All I can say is I don't know, but I hope there is because I would like to see it. I saw it recently on television in the USA and it does still stand up, but only because the visuals are so extraordinary and the subject matter is so extraordinary, Unfortunately, no sooner has it stood up than it collapses."

Pin - Points

By Nick Vince, Hellbreed No.3, July 1995

Mark Miller: "One fan set out in search of the truth, armed only with a few phone numbers and the power of a name...
"On one call I was transferred to a production executive. You already know what I told him, so let me tell you what he told me: He Can Access The Lost Nightbreed Footage At Any Time.
"My jaw dropped. Struggling to remember my already limited vocabulary, I asked what had to happen in order for the footage to see the light of day. He explained to me that someone, namely one of the higher ups, had to have a good reason to pull it out of storage. I, having that good reason, nodded and thanked him. He couldn't have been a nicer guy.
"Excited, I pictured myself walking through large dusty warehouses filled from floor to ceiling with ancient reels of arcane footage. I'm sorry to report, that's not what happened.
"Shortly after, one of said higher ups was gracious enough to give me a moment of his time. I was shocked when he told me there wasn't a big enough audience for the film and that the answer to my request must be no.
'Not even worth the cost to upgrade to Blu-ray,' he said.
"Ouch."
"So endeth my search, thus far. But this doesn't mean that all hope is lost. What's important is that we've all learned two very essential pieces of information:
1. The footage is not lost; it's in waiting.
2. The only thing standing between us and the director's cut of Nightbreed is - good news - its already loyal audience...
"It ain't cheap to restore and release a movie. Let's show the powers-that-be that it's worth their while, shall we?"

Nightbreed

Correspondence from Mark Miller to Phil and Sarah Stokes at Revelations, 26 May 2009

Morgan Creek: "So I have a bit of sad news to relay. After MUCH digging, hunting and trying our best to unearth where (if at all) the missing Nightbreed footage might be, we've come up empty handed. Therefore, that VHS that was screened at the convention is the ONLY footage that exists of a director's cut."

Nightbreed: Not The News Anyone Was Looking For...

Correspondence from Morgan Creek to Phil and Sarah Stokes at Revelations, 2 July 2010

Mark Miller: "First, I should set the record straight. There was a three hour version but that was what we got when we put the two rough cuts together. And during the editing process we realized that what we were seeing were some of the reshoots. For example, in one of the first versions of the composite, Captain Eigerman died twice. We watched it all the way through and realized that probably shouldn't happen, so we went back and fixed that. Eventually we ended up with the version we have now, which is two hours 35 minutes long. Still a considerably longer film, but it doesn't feel that way at all. Without giving anything away, I can tell you that you can expect to see a lot more of everything - more monsters, more action, more story. And believe it or not, there's even a musical number."

Sinister Seven: Seraphim's Mark Miller on Nightbreed: The Director's Cut

By Ron McKenzie, Rue Morgue.com, 21 March 2012 (note - full text at: http://www.rue-morgue.com/ )

Russell Cherrington : "For the last few years, Mark Miller has been working at getting Morgan Creek interested in a re-release of Nightbreed. He wanted them to allow a director's cut to be put together from the original footage. Nothing happened, and Morgan Creek told Mark that they could not locate any materials. Phil and Sarah from www.clivebarker.info then got involved with Mark, and between them, an original workprint was found on VHS. This was transferred to DVD and shown in 2010 at a HorrorHound event.
"I asked to see the workprint in June 2011, and decided at that point to work with the original script to create a composite cut of Nightbreed. It became clear to me that what I was working on was The Cabal Cut of the film. In late 2011, another workprint was found, again on VHS. I got a DVD copy of this from Mark, and with Seraphim Films' blessing, I worked the material from all three sources into the Cabal Cut.
"Once that was assembled, I asked Doug Bradley to redub his voice into the new version so that Lylesberg would no longer be German. Here's a youtube clip of Doug in the studio..."

Sign The Nightbreed Director's Cut Petition!

By John Nicol, Fangoria at www.fangoria.com, 13 April 2012

Mark Miller : "We're trying to get some fests this year. We're probably going to see some theatrical stuff and it looks like we're going to get a DVD release, if not the end of this year then early next year."

Jimmy Star Show

By Jimmy Star, Ron Russell, Jimmy Star Show, 22 May 2013

Mark Miller : "It's been a process, well, the film came out in '89 so over twenty-five years in the making and, you know, it was five years ago that I sent Clive a text message that said, 'Hey, I heard there might be some missing footage' and we found it, we put it together, it's been touring the world, it's been incredible. And the deal just closed moments ago, literally. These guys are going to be giving it the restoration treatment, it's going to be unbelievable."

Scream Factory Panel

By Sean Clark (moderating), Comic-Con International, San Diego, 19 July 2013

Cliff MacMillan (Aquisitions / DVD producer, Scream Factory) : "This is a sort of Holy Grail, at least it is for me and I think for Mark as well. We are going to release Clive Barker's Nightbreed the Cabal Cut...
"It'll probably take a while to put out because we do need to restore all the footage that was, that really only exists in one format at the moment. So we're going to have to completely restore it, try to get it to look as close as it can to... We're going to do it."

Scream Factory Panel

By Sean Clark (moderating), Comic-Con International, San Diego, 19 July 2013

Jeff Nelson (Marketing director, Scream Factory) : "We're over the moon, I mean, to get a title like this, again, a Holy Grail title like this, it just kinda blows our mind."

Scream Factory Panel

By Sean Clark (moderating), Comic-Con International, San Diego, 19 July 2013

Michael Plumides : "When I heard [Eben McGarr and Joe Moe] needed help getting permission from Morgan Creek to screen Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut at Mad Monster Party but to little avail, I stepped in and contacted now President, David Robinson and told him, 'We need to support this. I think it's got some legs.'
"It took me one phone call to do what they were trying to get done for months.
"I asked if [Drafthouse Films] might be interested in distribution for the Cabal Cut... Although they were fans, to do what we needed to do wasn't really their wheelhouse. So, on the eve we were supposed to close, they suggested we go to Shout!Factory, introducing me to Cliff MacMillan, who I in turn introduced to Morgan Creek - we got the deal done minutes before the announcement."

Exclusive: Michael Plumides Talks Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut Heading to Home Video

By Scott Hallam, Dread Central.com, 22 July 2013

Russell Cherrington : "All I want to say to everyone is thank you for everybody's support. We could not have done this without the thousands of fans of Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut that got behind the film. It is people like you that made this happen and the reason Morgan Creek has given Nightbreed a second life via Scream Factory."

Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut coming to Blu-ray

By April Snellings, Ron McKenzie, Rue Morgue.com, 22 July 2013

Mark Miller : "Let me say, this is an incredible time for Seraphim Films. We have worked closely with Morgan Creek on bringing the Cabal Cut to the world, and upon hearing the news that a deal had been struck with Shout Factory, we were overjoyed. The fruits of our labors have finally paid off. We eagerly await the next chapter in this saga. Our sincerest thanks to everyone who helped make this a reality."

Exclusive Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut Interview

By Jonathan James, Daily Dead.com, 22 July 2013

Mark Miller : "It is with great pleasure that I can say we've come to the end of unpaved road that was the director's cut of Nightbreed. On Friday, July 19th, I received an email from Morgan Creek informing me that they had struck a deal with Shout Factory and that the Cabal Cut was, at long last, to receive an official dvd release. Thanks to everyone who helped make this a reality. Phil and Sarah Stokes. Morgan Creek. Russell Cherrington. Occupy Midian. Rue Morgue. There were so many people that were instrumental in this undertaking that it's impossible to list them all. But you know who you are. You signed petitions. You stood in lines at screenings. You made your voices known. Our journey is nowhere near a close; we're only just getting started. Keep watching."

Reaction from Mark Miller

By Mark Miller, email to Revelations, 23 July 2013

Cliff MacMillan (Scream Factory) : "It's going to take us some time to do some restoration work and really do a lot of extra features on it but it's going to be our big title for next year, I think."

Interview - San Diego Comic Con 2013

By Rob Galluzzo, FEARnet.com, 26 August 2013

Cliff MacMillan (Aquisitions / DVD producer, Scream Factory) : "We haven't even started yet. I mean, we are going to do a new hi-def transfer of the original film and we'll do what can be done with the rough footage to try and make it less jarring but there's no film, the film has gone. I mean, that's the thing the fans don't understand most of the time, is that studios never kept the daily footage, the raw footage; they just threw it away... We felt the Cabal Cut was such a fan-favourite that it was worth going and acquiring it and we're going to do everything that we can to make it look and sound fantastic.
"I don't think we're going to be able to [include the regular cut], unfortunately... Yeah, it is [a rights issue]."

Scream Factory - The Sequel!

By Rob Galluzzo, Elric Kane and Rebekah McKendry, Killer POV, Episode 32, [4] October 2013 (note - full audio at www.geeknation.com)

Mark Miller : "We're going to call it the Director's Cut because, while the fans have been incredibly supportive and are one hundred percent the reason we got so much attention and a distributor, there are still murmurs that [the Cabal Cut] is overly long, there's some repetitive footage, it still needs a proper sound mix, there are a lot of flaws with it, you know, I mean it's essentially a fan-made workprint. We did it in-house and it's by no means a professional thing. And so when Shout Factory start the restoration and give it a proper mix and digitize it and restore it and Clive goes in and watches it and gives his notes, you know, and suggests the trims and puts everything in order and we have the ultimate thing, that's going to be the Director's Cut because Clive's had his hands in it, you know, it's an official, professional release and we want people to know that it is something different and it is something that's just going to be Clive's ultimate vision... We haven't given up the search [for more footage] - we're still looking! So stay tuned... anything is possible!"

Mark Miller

By Brad, Picking Brains Podcast, Episode 70, 6 March 2014 (note - full audio at picking-brains.com/)

Scream Factory "We have big (and extensive) news to report today regarding a film that we announced almost over a year ago in July. In collaboration with Morgan Creek Productions and Clive Barker's Seraphim, Inc., the long-awaited NIGHTBREED: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT is scheduled for a release of October 28th and will be available in two retail versions: A 5,000 Unit Limited-Edition 3-Disc Blu-ray set and a Special Edition DVD & Blu-ray Combo.
"In 1990, the film was released theatrically nationwide. However, the movie studio edited the film extensively and several scenes were excised or rearranged - much to Director Clive Barker's disappointment. Since then, a fan-driven movement was created (www.OccupyMidian.com) to see the full version of the film restored and re-released. Now, after 25 years, fans and horror enthusiasts can finally experience NIGHTBREED like never before! Scream Factory, in conjunction with Warner Bros., was able to find the long-thought-missing original film elements and combed through over 600 boxes to locate not only the lost scenes but a treasure trove of never-before-seen footage as well. With nearly an hour of lost footage meticulously restored, the result is not only a more faithful adaptation of Clive Barker's book Cabal, but also what he originally intended NIGHTBREED to be.

Scream Factory Press Release

1 July 2014

Cliff MacMillan (Scream Factory) : "We did a brand-new transfer [of the theatrical cut], about a month ago, from the inter-positive that Warner Bros. had, because the only other HD transfer that Warner had was an interlaced transfer and there was no way we were going to use that for this release, so yeah we did a brand-new transfer so the theatrical cut is from the new transfer and then the Director's Cut will be using that new HD transfer and then, when we transferred the missing footage we transferred it from the original camera negative so actually that footage may look a bit better than the actual movie does, because, you know, an inter-positive is a generation down from the negative...
"When we originally contacted Warner Bros. they gave us a list of what they had and it was all the materials that they had here in Burbank and I just kinda pleaded with them - I said, 'Can you please look in deep storage?' and so they said, 'OK, we'll get back to you,' and they came back to me in a few weeks with this massive list of film elements... So I went through the list and found and checked off those boxes that were listed as 'trims' from the film, so we had absolutely no idea what that could be; it could be, you know, scenes that are in the theatrical version that got trimmed at some point or other, so we didn't know. So they shipped the stuff from the Mid-West all the way out here and, yeah, I mean it was over 600 boxes and each box had just a little film reel so we had to string all of those together so that we could run them through the equipment and... the first day we were sitting there and we ran the first reel and here's the stop-motion footage of this creature, this woman - she looks like a panther - riding this creature and it was like, 'Oh my God, we found it.' This was just the beginning - and the more and more we started looking at the reels we started finding - I mean, we found footage that isn't in either version of the film - we found more footage that's been shot... There's a bedroom scene between Peloquin and, Shuna? There's like, yeah, it's amazing... We found that footage, we found just tons of footage. And some of it won't have audio, but we're doing the best we can to find audio, and I think in places where we don't have audio we may use the original script to bring up subtitles so at least you know what the people are saying."

Cliff MacMillan of Scream Factory

By Ryan Danhauser and José Leitão, Clive Barker Podcast, 3 July 2014 (note - full audio at clivebarkercast.com/)

Daniel Noah (SpectreFest) "I had a really great meeting with Mark Miller who works for Clive, both dealing with the development of his literary properties and his films, and as we were talking he mentioned that the director's cut of Nightbreed was coming and I asked if it had a premiere, and that led to the incredible news that Clive would be coming out, because he doesn't do many appearances. Because it's such a special event for Clive, and Nightbreed has been such a passion project and getting it right has been an obsession for him - this is a big event in his life and we wanted the event to feel special and have a grandiosity about it, and it came out that Clive has these notebooks that he keeps by his bed, and throughout his entire life, he uses them as dream journals; he wakes up in the middle of the night and makes a record of his dreams in pictures, not words, so he has notebook upon notebook of images that com right out of his unconscious. Some of them have been the seedlings for some of his most iconic works. We're working with Clive to put together an exhibition of pages from his notebooks that will be on display. It's a very intimate process, it's an incredible privilege and we're extremely honored."

Interview: Daniel Noah on SpectreFest and Clive Barker

By The Horror Honeys, Moviepilot, 4 September 2014 (note: full text online at http://moviepilot.com)

Mark Miller : "Aside from the fact that we're using original film footage instead of VHS footage, the most notable change is the running time. The Cabal Cut was nearly 160 minutes long. The Director's Cut is a tight 120. And, interesting fact, we actually cut out about 20 minutes of footage from the original theatrical version. So the new cut has about 40 minutes of new footage, but it's only 20 minutes longer. We have our musical number in there, a brand new sound mix that the theatrical version never even received, and the film has undergone a scene by scene color correction. It's a thing of beauty. Oh, and of course, lots more monsters!"

Sinister Seven: Mark Miller

By Ron McKenzie, Rue Morgue, 10 October 2014 (note: full text online at ruemorgue.com)

Andrew Furtado (Editor) : "I was watching [the Cabal Cut] going, 'God, this is so slow!' and even then I was like, 'Dude, I would just cut this out...' and then about a week or two after that, Clive released the fact that they're making the director's cut and... they'd found the original 35 negative and I texted Mark, I said, 'Who's doing this?' and he goes, 'I don't know, some Shout Factory person, some asshole named Andrew Furtado, if he wants the job?'... I'm like, are you kidding me? I get to work for someone who scared the shit out of me as a kid, and then the whole time I'm just sitting there, going 'Oh my God, like, this is surreal.'
"I got terabytes and terabytes of footage and [Mark] comes the first day with three hard drives - this is before we start - he's like, 'Here's three hard drives - don't touch it until we start because I want you to watch some of it with me.' I'm like, 'OK, cool.' I, of course, I don't wait for him and I plugged it in and there's maybe sixteen hours on the first few drives? And it's all MOS which means there's no sound on any of it and there's no real order to all the footage that they gave me.
"I had a copy of the Cabal Cut, that I had now watched three times - anything that I saw that matched the footage from the Cabal Cut I put in because I only had audio tracks that were from VHS rips, because that's all the sound that they could find. So I spent three days synching up as much footage as I could and I was still missing a bunch, I was really nervous and then they brought over more hard drives and it had almost all the footage and there's little things missing here and there but with the editing, you know, I wasn't too worried because I was constantly telling myself, I'm like, 'It might not make it in anyways,' and I was very fortunate that most of it didn't - we did a couple like clever editing tricks to cover up the stuff that we needed."

Andrew Furtado

By José Leitão, Clive Barker Podcast, 14 October 2014 (note - full audio at clivebarkercast.com/)

Mark Miller : "The plan was originally to release the film with the much degraded footage attached to it. But then, after striking a deal, footage was found in some 500 boxes of trims in a storage facility in the Midwest.
"Clive and I, along with Andrew Furtado, our editor, oversaw the entire re-cutting of the film from editing to color correction. Clive... was merciless and we ended up cutting 20 minutes of footage from the original theatrical version and adding over 40 minutes of the footage we found."

How Nightbreed: The Director's Cut Rose From the Grave

By Rob Hunter, Filmschool Rejects, 31 October 2014 (note: full text online at filmschoolrejects.com)

James G. Robinson (Morgan Creek) : "Well, you know, it's not [Clive's] film - it's our film. We all collaborated to make it. But I think he did a good job. And whatever changes that we made - additions, deletions - I don't think there was anything radically done to his film. That's all part of the process."

Clive Barker is Back From the Dead

By Clark Collis, Entertainment Weekly, October 2014 (note - full text online at ew.com)

Mark Miller : "I saw Nightbreed when I was around 13 years old. Rented it from my local video store. I hated it... I had no idea it was heavily edited by the studio. It wasn't until much later, when Clive and I became friends, that I discovered there was alternate footage floating out there somewhere."

Mark Miller: Nightbreed The Director's Cut

By Greg Foster, Fear On Film, 26 November 2014 (note: full text online at fearonfilm.com)

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