I just recently saw, what may be considered the best version of it, and think this actual studio 35 mm version will make for a neat event. They hyped it that if it sold out or generated a lot of interest they may put it out in the future. Who knows.

Hey, pretty much anything screened in 35mm is an event these days, sadly.

Anyway, this is all very well, but where's the director's cut of The Exorcist III: Legion? That'd get me much more excited, but it's obviously lost and not happening.

I'm being too critical. I'm sure for fans it's a big deal, but I'm very antagonistic toward any of the Halloween sequels, except III.

The screening has an after party with free drinks! Part if me wonders if I'm going to end up growing spines or something.

It's a trap!

Well, that was certainly interesting. We were told that this was the "kitchen sink" version, which basically incorporated all of the found footage. They said that the Blu-ray release will be more of a "director's cut" which will be whittled down to a more manageable run time (this version was about 2.5 hours). This clearly wasn't a finished product, as the new footage was sourced from a VHS, and even the existing footage had been sourced from a DVD. I got the impression that the Blu-ray release would look better.

As for the movie itself, here are the main differences:

1. Ashberry doesn't resurrect Decker.
2. Lori forces Boone to turn her into Nightbreed by stabbing herself when he tries to part with her.
3. Decker kills Narcisse.

The rest of the changes were extensions, added creatures, more character moments, etc. There's also a lot of stuff in the sheriff's department that they would be wise to cut for the home video release.

Watching it in this version, I'd say that the problems with Nightbreed run deeper than studio interference. While the film is wildly ambitious, the performances from the leads (except Cronenberg, who's fucking awesome) feel stilted, and there are so many characters introduced that sometimes it's hard to keep up with them all. It works best as an allegory for homosexuality (most especially Cronenberg's character), because it feels lacking as a straight ahead story.

Also, despite the immense amount of work that clearly went into making this a cohesive story, there are some pieces missing. Transitions can be awkward, some scenes feature a lush score while others play out with no music whatsoever, and character motivations sometimes feel murky.

That being said, the screening was a blast, and seeing Clive in person was a really special treat. I knew he had some health issues in the past few years, but I didn't realize just how much they had affected him. He said that this Q&A was probably the eighth time he had been out of his house in the past two years. He talked about what happened with Nightbreed, working on the Hellraiser remake (he thinks that it needs to be more intense to catch people's attention, while also staying true to the core elements that made the original work so well), and The Scarlet Gospels (which won't be out until 2016, most likely ). He also said he wants to write at least one sequel to Cabal, and that if he didn't have any new ideas for the rest of his life, he'd still have enough material to write for another 20 years.

I'm definitely going to keep an eye on the reviews for the Blu-ray of Nightbreed when it comes out next year. If the image quality is truly HD, I'll pick it up. If not, then I saw it in the best way I could and I'll just keep the memories.

While I've only seen the theatrical cut, I think I'd have to agree that the movie has problems that a extended/directors cut won't solve.

I watched this on Encore or something recently, for the first time in probably twenty years, and I have to agree. The actors playing Boone and Lori don't have any chemistry, and they couldn't really carry the story. Seemed like they were lost doing this fantasy/horror movie and didn't really 'get' it. Cronenberg was great, though, chewing scenery and having a blast.

It also looks like most of the budget went into make-up and special effects, since the bulk of the film looked like a cheap-o made-for-tv affair like one of the many Stephen King miniseries from the 90s. It made it seem like some actors in decent-to-great monster make-up wandered onto the set of a soap opera. It's almost like two different movies inhabiting the same space.

Yeah, it had a $12 million budget, but somehow feels cheaper than Hellraiser, which had about $2 million. The acting in Hellraiser is much more naturalistic and believable. Also, the scale of Hellraiser works to its advantage. It deals with one family, consisting of four people, and four Cenobites, two of which don't even talk. In Nightbreed, there are so many characters that most become forgettable. If there had been six Nightbreed total, plus Boone and Decker, the movie would have greatly benefited.

Re-watched the original version last night. I have to say, I agree that while a DC might expand a few things, a lot of the problems with this movie stem from bad acting. Cronenberg was brilliant, but everyone else seemed like amateurs, which is sad because Cronenberg isn't really an actor! I am kind of wondering if they used someone else for some of the scenes of Deckard with the mask on and just had Cronenberg dub lines later. It was obvious a LOT of the lines were dubbed, and Cronenberg doesn't seem like he's physically capable of doing some of the fight scenes he had.
However, I would welcome a cleaned up picture version of even the theatrical cut, as the grain on this is distracting.
Out of curiosity, I remember when I was a teen having a large TPB book that was a collection of all the monsters for Midian. It gave the names and backgrounds of just about every creature you see in the movie and their background story. Since I read this before I saw the movie, I was kind of let down when so many characters had no lines and were either standing in the background or never appeared at all. Anyhoo, if anyone knows what I'm talking about and can help me locate this book, it would be appreciated! It seems to have gotten thrown out after my mom did the whole "he's off to college" room cleaning many years ago.