If he started spewing one-liners like Freddy Kruger or acted like an unstoppable machine like Jason, then I would have problems. He’s a psychiatrist so I expected him to act this way. That monotone voice and quiet personality I feel adds a lot to the character. Many viewers feel that Cronenberg’s acting is not the best but I tend to disagree. Its bizarre to see the director of Videodrome and The Fly remake act in a movie.

This character’s psyche or that he’s played by the director of Videodromeĭavid Cronenberg is also a delight to watch as the villain. It just so happens that Midian is next on his list. As it turns out, Decker is going around killing people with a button-eyed sack mask with plans to extinguish “breeders” and all sorts of filth. After bitten, he becomes one of the Nightbreed and learns that he might be the beast’s only last hope. Boone ends up there after being framed for crimes he didn’t commit but one of the monsters tries to use him as a midnight snack. They are the only remaining kind and wish to be left alone knowing what humanity thinks of them.

Decker (played surprisingly by famed body horror director David Cronenberg) who listens in to Boone’s talks of a world with monsters.Īs it turns out, Midian is really a cemetary but underneath is a world full of beasts and creatures that have been fighting for survival for thousands of years. The only person who is invested in this is his psychiatrist Philip K. Craig Sheffer plays Aaron Boone, an everyman that has strange dreams of monsters and talks of a place called Midian. No sooner I would watch that I had no idea what I would be in for. Curious at the title and mystified by the tone of the music, I looked online and my curiosity grew further when I began to learn of its production history and of the film itself. I was looking at a compilation of Danny Elfman scores and one of them had tracks from the movie. The way I discovered this movie is interesting.

But thanks to tons of studio interference and a terrible post-production that left what could of have been the “Star Wars” of horror fantasy became a truncated mess. Clive’s second film was meant to be his break-through feature. It was his first directing debut and none the less, it was a success when you consider its $14 million gross on a $1 million budget.

Hellraiser could be argued as a Pandora’s Box story but with demons involved. Going back to Clive Barker, he was an interesting man that always too a different approach to horror but in a more fantasy way. Time to cap off the Halloween season with a movie I think really needs to be given a second chance. From box office flop to cult classic, Nightbreed has risen to a new status horror history!

Hellraiser chronicles