Category: 31 Days of Horror

Each October, I watch and review 31 horror movies during 31 Days of Horror Cinema at the expense of my mental well being.

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31 Days of Horror Cinema

Nightbreed: 31 Days of Horror

#7. Nightbreed (1990)

nightbreed spanish posterNature of Shame:
I paid a gazillion dollars (okay, maybe $40) for that Limited Edition 3-disc set and I still hadn’t watched the damn thing.

Hooptober Challenge Checklist:
Decade: 1990’s
Auteur: Romero, Cronenberg, Clive Barker, Terence Fisher, Sergio Martino, Bill Lustig

People love this movie. Nah, man — I don’t think you understand — they straight worship Nightbreed. Yet, at the same time, there’s a lot of meh going around about this very same movie. I wanted to find out, once and for all, what all the fuss (or lack thereof) was about. I unwrapped my Limited Edition and cringed considering all the dollars this viewing would cost me on the secondary market if I wound up not exactly loving this movie.

Breathe. You’re not a flipper. You’re a watcher. You can do this. 

nightbreed

 

Nightbreed Elevator Pitch

A psychotherapist, Dr. Decker, convinces a “troubled” teen named Boone that he’s a serial killer. After an unfortunate turn of events, the teen winds up in Midian, a halfway house for undead beasties called the Nightbreed and yada yada yada Dr. Decker turns out to be the serial killer and Boone turns out to be some sort of Neo/Anakin Skywalker figure that will bring balance to the force and replace Midian with some sort of new sanctuary / pave paradise and put up a parking lot, but only if the Nightbreeders can hold off a gang of rednecks, police and Dr. Decker.

[Meanwhile all of the would-be Nightbreed producers have now left the elevator and I’m pitching my movie to a mustachioed pear of a man who claims to be Joe Eszterhas’ AD. He says he just went to get him a cup of coffee so he could put a polish on that Basic Instinct 3 script. I apologize to him for the terrible elevator pitch. He shrugs and says “Mr. Eszterhas is just going to throw this cup of coffee on me when I get back to the office anyway so all this was a pleasant distraction from the horrors of my daily life.” I apologize again. I note that he’d pushed 22. So I hit 20 and get off at the next stop, thankfully free from the claustrophobia two extra floors on that elevator.]

Nightbreeders, Mount Up

On the off chance that you’re unaware of the classic Warren G / Nate Dogg track “Regulate,” I felt obliged to insert it here for reference.

“It was a clear black night, a clear white moon
Warren G. is on the streets, trying to consume
Some skirts for the eve, so I can get some funk
Just rollin’ in my ride, chillin all alone”

I’m off the rails. This movie put me off the rails. Writing about this movie put me off the rails all over again, and I can’t get “Regulate” out of my head so I’m trying to recreate for you, precisely, my state of mind while typing this assemblage of thoughts.

Clive Barker’s imagination knows no bounds. His novels bear the trademark of a man with more ideas than he can conveniently wrangle into a single body of work. Nightbreed, likewise, is the product of wild invention without a sense of grounding. Unbridled ambition without a voice of reason. A movie adaptation of a novel that refused to kill any darlings.

nightbreed 1990

The Midian concept — a gathering of unique and eccentric “monsters” in hiding from the world — could have filled dozens of movies or comics or years of a television serial. Based on Barker’s novel Cabal, Nightbreed feels like the origin story for an entire comic book universe. (Epic Comics released 25 issues to expand upon the film’s mythology and Boom! Studios picked up the baton with 12 issues starting in 2014. ) Broad and unfocused, but with hundreds of idiosyncratic moments of genius scattered about to tease the many ways in which the Nightbreed universe could spiral outward.

The most confounding part of Nightbreed is that our main character (Aaron Boone) is the dullest of the dull, the drabbest of the drab. Craig Sheffer, the milquetoast Brando through which we are supposed to view the mystical realm of Midian, is the everyman with which we can’t possibly relate because holy hell if that lifeless and expressionless lug represents my point of view I’d rather just become an Insurance Adjuster. What else could I possibly do?

Shefferland = Slumberland

Everything outside Craig Shefferland, however, sparkles with Barker’s creative vision. Rachel and Babette. Shuna Sassi. Paloquin. Kinski. The monster with the external stomach. Barker alludes to rich and meaningful backstories to all of these characters, and I desperately want to know more about all of them. Instead we’re stuck with Craig Sheffer, the guy that once stole a Snickers from a Seven Eleven and calls himself a rebel even though, in reality, the owner gave him the candy bar because it was Halloween. UGH. It’s not that I think Sheffer’s a terrible actor — he was just terribly miscast.

nightbreed

The casting so flummoxed me that I took to Twitter in the middle of the movie to vent. Happily, I found that I wasn’t alone in my judgment of Sheffer as a charisma vacuum.

Nightbreed’s Horror-Filled Fantasy

Less a horror film than a nightmarish fantasy film, Nightbreed taps into so many interesting ideas I can see why it’s beloved. I just can’t share their enthusiasm — though I would like to dig more deeply into Barker’s inspiration.

The religious connotations of “Midian” would keep me busy for at least a week. Despite my limited frame of reference, biblically speaking, I was aware of Midian as the land in which Moses self-exiled. After a smattering of research I’ve uncovered more reference and iconography that went right over my head. This extra stuff interests me more than anything actually contained in the film.

nightbreed 1990

The exception being David Cronenberg’s villainous Dr. Decker — a villain worthy of a far greater narrative than Nightbreed. Brooding, crazy-eyed Cronenberg took me totally by surprise. I saw his name in the credits and assumed “bit role” or “stunt casting,” but this Cronenberg fellow passed up a career as any number of truly unsettling cinematic sociopaths.

Final Nightbreed Thoughts

I’m mercifully ending this bl-g post now. Nightbreed is perhaps the most ambitious comic book origin story about the most boring superhero in the entire universe. If Shefferman had more ambition or seemed more plausible as the Jesus-like savior of a beleaguered, mistreated population of undead personages I’d have had warmer feelings toward Clive Barker’s creation. I didn’t dislike Nightbreed; I just didn’t think the narrative lived up to the limitless potential. High concept, medium execution, bargain-bin leading man. Bonus points for extreme difficulty.

It should be noted that I watched the Theatrical Cut and sampled particular, notable segments of the Cabal Cut.

Nightbreed Rating:

Availability:

nightbreed blu-rayShout Factory released a single-disc Director’s Cut Blu-ray as well as the three-disc Limited Edition featuring the Director’s (Cabal) Cut and the Theatrical. I sampled a few of the bonus features. Die-hard fans of the film would no doubt enjoy the bevy of bonus features on the 3-disc if they can get their hands on a copy.

 

2018 @CinemaShame / Hooptober Progress

#1. Deep Rising (1998)
#2. The Mist (2007)
#3. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
#4. Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)
#5. Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)
#6. Maniac Cop (1988)
#7. Nightbreed (1990)

James David Patrick is a writer. He’s written just about everything at some point or another. Add this nonsense to the list. Follow his blog at www.thirtyhertzrumble.com and find him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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31 Days of Horror Cinema

Maniac Cop: 31 Day of Horror

maniac cop

#6. Maniac Cop (1988)

maniac copNature of Shame:
Unseen 80’s starring Bruce Campbell.

Hooptober Challenge Checklist:
Decade: 1980’s
Auteur: Romero, Cronenberg, Clive Barker, Terence Fisher, Sergio Martino, Bill Lustig
Anniversary Film (’88)

I’ve never actually seen a Bill Lustig film. What? Yes. It’s all true. I’ve intended to watch Maniac Cop and Maniac in the same way that I tell the dentist, “Yeah, I’ll definitely floss every day.” Which is to say, good intentions and empty promises because distractions like watching Army of Darkness for the 37th time.

I had this one prepped in my Netflix DVD Queue as soon as I read The Cinemonster’s Hooptober 5 requirements. I would finally end my Lustig ignorance.

maniac cop

Maniac Cop Elevator Pitch

A massive fellow in a police officer’s uniform is crushing throats in New York City — this leads the jumpy public to start shooting the boys in blue at first sight. When Officer Bruce Campbell’s wife turns up dead, he’s suspect numero uno and must solve the case to save himself.

maniac cop

Maniac Cop on the Basketball Court, Crushing Throats Without Report

In a parallel universe I could have been a poet or an unlikely rapper. It’s also the most interesting thing I’ll have to say about Maniac Cop. This is good for 31 Days of Horror writing progress, but bad for readership. (I am many days behind schedule and the notion of churning out more than one of these per day makes me wonder where I’m going to find the minutes.) It’s not that I don’t have positive things to say, just that I’m not all that enthusiastic or emotional about any particular observation.

Maniac Cop is not a straightforward A-B-C slasher-type film. It reveals its killer without showing his face. I’m not suggesting that’s a negative — in fact — knowing (but without really knowing) the identity of the killer makes the film more interesting than had Lustig tried to hide his identity. Plus, more Robert Z’Dar is usually a good thing for your movie. Z’Dar, as a real life Golem, always adds a unique, monstrous element that can’t be duplicated with makeup or prosthetics. He’s a frightening mountain of a human. When you show the shadow of your human mountain — even if you don’t show his face — it can only be Robert Z’Dar.

maniac cop

In this slightly unorthodox narrative, Lustig shows himself to be in control of the narrative and unusual pacing of Larry Cohen’s unwieldy script. He sets up his low-budget horror movie with a series of rapid-fire kills to establish menace and then dials it back as he develops some protagonists in Tom Atkins’ detective and Bruce Campbell’s chin. It’s mostly effective, if not frightening or titillating or basically sensical. What he does well is suggest some effective social commentary not often found in your average cheapy horror outing.

Low Budget, with a side of Aspirations

As a result I appreciated Maniac Cop more than I loved it. I found some toss-away stuff to enjoy, if little to love. It’s half slasher, half police procedural and quarter melodrama. (You do the math.) A lack of tonal consistency doesn’t have to be a negative, but in a film as succinct as Maniac Cop the runtime deficiency necessitates greater focus. A sub-90 minute slasher / police procedural / social satire / comedy sounds like a kitchen-sink first draft rather than a feature film. Rather than an ebb and flow of genre convention, Lustig offers heart-attack EKG.

Maniac Cop was just missing a little extras sauce to make these disparate elements come together. And maybe therein lies the pitfall of knowing a film without actually knowing it. I expected more gore and more exploitation elements due to Lustig’s reputation but also because of word of mouth. I’m actually a little surprised it’s received this much attention as a cult film.

The gritty New York City streets and real life struggle of a population seemingly at the mercy their police force. The cloaked visage of Frankenstein (yes, the monster not the Dr. — you try making that possessive flow in the context of your paragraph). The killer with a logical motivation and grueling backstory. The final Hal Needham-esque stunt. All of these elements provide memorable moments and images, but Maniac Cop amounts to a lark, a slice of 1980’s horror that mostly entertains and then disappears into the shadows of the more frightening, gory, and riotous films of the era.

Final Maniac Cop Thoughts

Worth a watch, but reserve some of your expectations. I’m also told that the sequel will deliver more of what I expected out of Maniac Cop. This promise gives me hope. I’m always in the mood for the opportunity to champion a sequel over an original because I grow oh so tired of the “Godfather II is the only sequel to surpass the original” argument. Not only because I disagree, goddammit, but because the horror genre is rife with examples of exemplary sequels that a certain segment of misguided movie fans write off as irrelevant schlock.

It might be easy to make and sell a cheapy horror movie to horror fans (because they will literally pay to see garbage, no offense, everybody) — but that doesn’t make it any easier to make a competent, entertaining fright film. In the end, all these great ideas still have to come together.

Maniac Cop Rating:

Availability:

maniac copSynapse Films has had the decency to release Maniac Cop and Maniac Cop 2 on Blu-ray. It’s actually quite remarkable how good this movie looks considering the budget and era in which it was filmed. Credit goes to cinematographers James Lemmo and Vincent J. Rabbe. Considering I didn’t give them any love in the above blurb, we’ll toss them a mention here in hopes that people are still reading. Good on ya, James and Vincent. It might be too dark overall, but too-dark cinematography hides many ills.

2018 @CinemaShame / Hooptober Progress

#1. Deep Rising (1998)
#2. The Mist (2007)
#3. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
#4. Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)
#5. Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)
#6. Maniac Cop (1988)

James David Patrick is a writer. He’s written just about everything at some point or another. Add this nonsense to the list. Follow his blog at www.thirtyhertzrumble.com and find him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Disclaimer: I earn rewards from DVD.Netflix.com, which has thousands of movies to choose from, many that you won’t find on streaming services. I do this because the availability of physical media is important. The popular streaming notion of “everything available all the time” is a myth. We are always our own best curators. #PhysicalMedia #DVDNation #ad

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31 Days of Horror Cinema

Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy: 31 Days of Horror

#5. Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy (1955)

abbott and costello meet the mummyNature of Shame:
It’s been a loooooong time since I last revisited the Abbott and Costello Meet… movies. I’ll try to remove my nostalgia goggles.

Hooptober Challenge Checklist:
Decade: 1950’s

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein proved to be a hit with my daughters so we carried on. Abbott and Costello Meet The Invisible Man became an even bigger hit. (They *loved* the disappearing effects.) Because Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde isn’t on Blu-ray and I didn’t feel like fishing for the DVD in the Complete Abbott and Costello steamer trunk, we next hit up Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, available on The Mummy Complete Legacy Blu-ray from Universal.

Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy Elevator Pitch

A famous archaeologist is murdered. Abbott and Costello become the custodians of a valuable medallion. When the try to sell the thing for some quick cash, everybody in Egypt, plus the Mummy starts coming for them. Maybe. It’s hard to tell if its a Mummy because he’s in a jumper that only looks like bandages and doesn’t show up for a long, long time.

abbott and costello meet the mummy

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, Maybe

Out of all the Universal monsters, I consider the Mummy the most consistently entertaining. The series quickly devolves after the brilliant first entry — Karl Freund’s The Mummy (1932), but even the worst of the sequels (I’m looking at you The Mummy’s Tomb from 1942) maintain a reasonable sense of the original’s mystical paranoia and creeping dread. There’s comfort in predictability.

The catch here is that the mummy has to actually appear in your movie and, you know, occasionally attack people. In Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, you see some Fez hats, Casablanca-looking bars, bazaars, snake charming, and grandfathers of the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. None of which really do any attacking. What you rarely see are mummies. At least not until the last fifteen minutes when you get three of them, including Bud Abbott dressed up as one of two bumbling decoy mummies.

In both Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and Meet the Invisible Man, the films maintained the basic tenants of their respective horror cycles. Meet the Mummy meanwhile feels like a standard mistaken identity caper. It could have been called Abbott and Costello in North Africa with a Chance of Mummy.

abbott and costello meet the mummy

Are You My Mummy?

The lack of an effective horror backdrop for Abbott and Costello means that they’re comedy has to be the centerpiece, but they’re just not given scenarios that seem to benefit the characters. Or their established personalities (except rigid Abbott as a mummy). Or whomever they’re actually playing. In this entry, they play Pete Patterson and Freddie Franklin, but intermittently refer to each other as Bud and Lou and Abbott and Costello.

abbott and costello meet the mummy

The strongest example of this failure takes place during the madcap finale — which becomes so complicated and labyrinthine that it lost me. That’s right. The narrative machinations of an Abbott and Costello movie left be confounded. The last time I would have watched this film I’d have let it wash over me because Abbott and Costello. On this occasion, I became preoccupied with my inability to follow how or why this person was going after this person and why the mummy cared and holy hell that’s exhausting because why did I really care in the first place?

I don’t know. THIRD BASE.

The routine drags on and on as the movie introduces two dummy mummies to create a kind of Jack Benny in a pyramid scheme. (Pyramid scheme! I crack myself the &%#$ up.) So of course, Lou’s going to commandeer the real mummy that he thinks is Bud. That’s all I need out of this gag. Alas, we get that and a shroud of diminishing returns.

Final Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy Thoughts

I recommend Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy not because it’s essential comedy horror but because it’s a career touchstone for the duo Abbott and Costello. It’s the last of their horror comedies, their last film with Universal (the compilation film The World of Abbott and Costello, excepted) and their second to last film overall. They made one final movie, Dance With Me, Henry, for United Artists in 1956.

Abbott and Costello Meets the Mummy also represents the final stop for the Universal Mummy monster until Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy (1999). The undead Egyptian has always been relegated to the second tier of Universal monsters. Some of that has to do with the limited scope of the mythology. Most every Mummy movie derives from the narrative created for The Mummy in 1932. Hammer Films expanded the monster slightly with their series of films between 1959 and 1971 based on the 1930’s-era Universals.

Despite the limitations, movies featuring the monster prove to be effective chillers, relying heavily upon mood and atmosphere rather than narrative. Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy offers neither in equal measure — but it does offer Bud Abbott and Lou Costello and a bittersweet send off to their series of horror comedies.

abbott and costello meet the mummy

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy Rating:

Availability:

abbott and costello meet the mummyUniversal has given you plenty of Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man options. There’s the standalone release. It’s also included on The Mummy Complete Legacy Collection. 

If you’d like a complete collection of the Abbott and Costello Meet… movies, that’s more difficult. There’s the brilliant (but OOP) 28-film Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection steamer trunk. The Meet the Monsters DVD set contains Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde (which is currently not available on Blu-ray), but is missing Abbott & Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff because… I have no idea. In order to get that one, you’d need to purchase The Best of Abbott & Costello, Vol. 3 DVD. Got that? 

2018 @CinemaShame / Hooptober Progress

#1. Deep Rising (1998)
#2. The Mist (2007)
#3. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
#4. Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)
#5. Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)

James David Patrick is a writer. He’s written just about everything at some point or another. Add this nonsense to the list. Follow his blog at www.thirtyhertzrumble.com and find him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.