Nightbreed (1990)

Knock, knock... Who's dead?

Genre: Fantasy Horror

Starring: Craig Sheffer (Fire In The Sky; "One Tree Hill"), Anne Bobby (Born On The Fourth Of July)

Directed By: Clive Barker (Hellraiser; Lord Of Illusions)

Overview: A man haunted by his dreams follows stories of Midian, a graveyard town in the middle of nowhere, Manitoba where his inherent darkness can be accepted by the denizens living beneath.

Acting: The early 90's eh? The big hair and leather jackets aside, the roles played the lead and his woman are well portrayed. As for Cronenberg and his haunting-voiced doctor, he's awesome. From the comic relief guys to the mutant berzerkers, everyone plays up fear and/or rage pretty damn good.
Rating: 8

Cinematography: The look of the world beneath, very cool. The central intelligence God thing on the other hand, a little bit of cheese. As for Babette's flashback vision, good stuff. The gore effects are alright and the costumes are really original, so overall neat. This is impressive, if you can get beyond the huge bangs and tight pants.
Rating: 8

Script: The prophecy, the history, the backstory, the doctor's lines, the crazy face guy's first scene, even the intro of Peloquin, they're actually very immersive. The screenplay was tremendously well written. They merge Redneck with Psycho pretty damn good, let me tell you... No wonder it's so good, written and directed by the author, duh.
Rating: 8

Plot: The story is better in the book, granted, but there's a nice twist that comes along in the middle of the story and the end actually is more surprising in it's originality as to where the storyline goes. This book should have had a sequel, definitely. I really, really like this story. It's cool, it's simple and it's a nice little battle of self-preservation.
Rating: 8

Mood: The theme is "strange and alien". And you know? It's a good one. Taking trigger happy cops and combining them with mutant freaks fighting for their survival? Nice. You'll find yourself looking at the backgrounds and hungrily gazing at the little subtleties of the mix of creatures underground. And a nice little element of madness and terror too.
Rating: 8

"Between your dreads and my spikes I think we got a few pricks between us..."

Overall Rating: 80% (Creepy Critters Keep Me Coming Back For More)

Aftertaste: It's weird this movie. The first time I saw it, totally creeped me out in that good way. The second time, I thought, "What the hell was I thinking?" The third time (this time) it's like I was revisiting an old friend or something. I very much enjoyed this, and recommend this as a modern horror classic. Also, the book, Clive Barker's Cabal, was tremendously good. Read it, it's neat.