Frankly I haven’t watched the Nightbreed (1990) of Clive Barker but when a movie receives the official Arrow Video blessing, especially with special packaging, commissioned new art, poster, a ton of extras, etc., I’m sold. Because as a film buff and a DVD collector, Arrow Video never deceived me in the past years with its taste in film. Plus, I have a good amount of love and appreciation for Mr. Clive Barker. I’ve read a good amount of his stories, collected Barker-inspired “Infernal Parade” figures from McFarlane Toys (thank you ToddFather) and yes, I always like the gloomy, bloody, grotesque, otherworldly and macabre atmosphere Mr. Barker creates.
An “incredible” fact about Nightbreed: In the cast, a rather familiar name can pop out in the role of Dr. Philip K. Decker (pun to Mr. Philip K. Dick very much intended, I hope): One of the most influential directors, David Cronenberg!
It is no surprise that the film is adapted from Clive Barker’s novel CABAL, published in 1988 in the UK. In the United States, the novel was published as the sixth and final volume of Books of Blood, a collection of Barker’s novels and stories.
The set will be released as Region B Blu-ray this year on October 28th , it’s not even listed on Amazon UK yet, so the “early bird” option from Arrow Video’s site lets you pre-order it in a special price: Instead of 30£, for a limited time it’s only 22£. There’sno reason to wait, IMHO.
Let’s look at the special / limited edition contents together, no need to say that these are directly taken from Arrow Video Website:
- High Definition Blu-ray™ (1080p) presentations of the 120-minute director’s cut, transferred from the original camera negative, and the 102-minute theatrical cut, transferred from the original interpositive
- Lossless 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and uncompressed 2.0 PCM audio on the director’s cut
- Uncompressed 2.0 PCM audio on the theatrical cut
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- New audio commentary on the theatrical cut by critics Adrian J. Smith and David Flint
- Audio commentary on the director’s cut by writer/director Clive Barker and restoration producer Mark Alan Miller
- Introduction to the director’s cut by Clive Barker and Mark Alan Miller
- Walking the Line Between Heaven and Hell, a new video interview with critic Kat Ellinger
- Speaking up for the Monsters, a new video interview with critic Kim Newman
- Tribes of the Moon: Making Nightbreed, an extensive documentary on the making of the film, featuring actors Craig Sheffer, Doug Bradley, Anne Bobby and many more
- Making Monsters, a documentary on the film’s creature designs, featuring special makeup designer Bob Keen
- Fire! Fights! Stunts!, a video interview with second unit director Andy Armstrong
- Deleted and alternate scenes
- Monster Prosthetics Masterclass
- Cutting Compromise, a video interview with editor Mark Goldblatt
- The Painted Landscape, an exploration of the work of concept artist Ralph McQuarrie
- Matte painting tests
- Makeup tests
- Lost stop motion footage
- Extended torture scene
- Rehearsal test
- Theatrical trailer
- Rare TV spots
- Multiple image galleries, including early sketches, set photos, poster and pre-production art, stills from the UK launch party at Tower Records, and more
- Original screenplay (BD-ROM content)
- Reversible sleeve feature original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx
- Double-sided fold-out poster
- Limited edition 40-page booklet, featuring new writing on the film by author and critic Amy Simmons and an in-depth history of the film’s development, release and rehabilitation by Mark Salisbury, co-author of Clive Barker’s Nightbreed: The Making of the Film
Two version option of the film is always great and what I love the most about the extra contents of Arrow Video, is to see the adjective “new” on the descriptions: New interview, new audio commentary, new writing, new video commentary, etc. etc. It means they’ve taken the time and effort to create a “worthy” set for film lovers, and of course, it is very much appreciated. Anyway, the more I write, the more I express my love for Arrow Video, so I’m going to stop before I bore everyone. I wanted to let you know about this new jewel, in short, don’t ever miss it if you’re a horror fan. Cheers.