‘Nightbreed’ – Clive Barker Shocker To Become ‘Mind Blowing’ Series

Nightbreed, Clive Barker’s film about an outcast who goes into hiding with a tribe of monsters, is shaping up to become a television series.

Almost a quarter of a century ago, legendary wunderkind and uber prolific horror author Clive Barker penned the script and directed Nightbreed, based on his novella, Cabal. When he turned the film in to Morgan Creek Productions, the executives tore out twenty minutes of Nightbreed, stating that Barker’s version of Nightbreed made the monsters look too heroic.

“That’s that point,” was Barker’s response.

The result was a crippled version of Nightbreed, yawned at by critics and spurning disgust in Barker’s fans — not to mention Barker himself, who disowned the film. It also spawned a group called Occupy Midian — a group dedicated to forcing a release of Barker’s original cut of Nightbreed.

Now, things seem to be doing an about-face for Nightbreed. After decades of pushing by Barker and his legions of fans, it looks as if a Cabal-cut of Nightbreed — something close to Barker’s original cut — will be released on Blu-ray later this year according to Empire magazine. In addition to that, it also looks as if the Nightbreed story will be coming to television.

Barker first spoke on the televised version of Nightbreed in 2012:

“I don’t wish to be immodest, but our culture has sort of caught up with ‘Nightbreed’ and we’re actively in conversation about doing it for television. The general sense is that the movie failed because people didn’t want to associate with the monster. I think our culture is now more ready to embrace that ambiguity.”

Morgan Creek’s Michael Plumides now states that he has written four episodes of the Nightbreed series himself. He will executive produce Nightbreed while being closely watched by Barker and Mark Miller, Barker’s Seraphim Films executive.

“We’re staying true to the source material but also modernizing the concepts to appeal to this millenium’s viewer.”

As Plumides went on, it seems that he’s making sure to keep Barker’s — and Nightbreed’s — fans first and foremost in his mind. There is a definite sense that Plumides is making every possible effort to avoid the debacle that surrounded the original release of Nightbreed.

“In writing the scripts I made every possible effort to stay true to Barker’s vision for the purists without deviating wholly from the source material — even consulting not just Clive and Mark but Barker experts and aficionados; people that live and breathe Barker’s work.”

Given that Morgan Creek was the company that fouled up Nightbreed in the first place, more than a little suspicion has been aroused in Nightbreed’s fans.

On October 28th, just in time for Halloween, the Blu-ray, Nightbreed: Director’s Cut, will be released.

As for the series, Plumides says it’s too early to talk about a pilot or intended network, but he claims that there is significant interest in the Nightbreed series.