Superhero Media: Nightbreed

I have a little joke I like to make about Superman films, in that I say any theoretical "Top 10" I'd do would have Ip Man, Captain Marvel and Krrish 3 on there somewhere; the joke being that the themes are somewhat universal and can be transferred to other characters and sometimes even done better that way. So remember when we all admired X-Men 2 as a, for its time, progressive metaphor for queer youth, but it turned out Bryan Singer was as serial sex pest using performative wokeness to entice young victims? Well, all that time, what we probably should have been watching was Nightbreed, from visionary horror author Clive Barker, a literal allegory for his own youthful struggles coming to terms with his sexuality told through blood, gore and body horror. Not as famous as the Hellraiser series, Nightbreed is more obviously allegorical for the queer journey, and a little more slapstick in places, but may well be one of the best X-Men films ever made. 

Aaron Boone is having bad dreams of a hellish place called Midian, which his psychiatrist tries to convince him is a coping strategy for all of the horrible murders he's committed in a fugue state. Fleeing from police and medical custody, Boone finds his way to Midian, where the monsters live, only to retreat from the horror and be killed by his own shrink, Dr Decker. Returning to life, Boone discovers that he is one of the monsters, the Nightbreed, and he must leave his own life behind for something more enticing and fantastic, but far more dangerous and deadly. Anyone who hasn't spotted that Barker himself came of age in a time where his sexuality was heavily persecuted and lived through the AIDS crisis (which was still happening when Nightbreed came out), is probably not going to want to expect good marks on the exam. While the allegory of Queer persons as "beautiful monsters" may not be to everyone's tastes, it endures and suits the aesthetics of many in the community. 

Of course, the peaceful idyll of Midian cannot endure, and the powers of the establishment, police, church and state violence, are brought against the Nightbreed, who are forced to fight back when they'd much rather be left alone. The fight is as brutal and gory as one would expect from Barker's work, but twinged with a tragedy as the beautiful monsters have to fight and die because the world fears them and their "dark desires". Seriously, it's not all that subtle, but if the bar is "Have you tried... not being a mutant?", then Nightbreed is practically masterful. Seriously, check this film out if you can find it, it was on Netflix for a while, but DVD copies aren't all that common, sadly. The book and graphic novel are pretty easy to get your hands on and, to my understanding at least, follow the same broad strokes of the core narrative and hit the same thematic notes. There is also a television series in development, that I hope gets up, as Nightbreed is probably the only "dark and gritty" franchise I'd be excited to see more of.