Lost Footage from Clive Barker's 'Nightbreed' ... Found!

Only the old-school horror freaks who lived through the 1980s can tell you about how Clive Barker's Nightbreed was more or less gutted by its studio. Apparently more than 20 minutes of character stuff and splatty bits were excised to make the flick a little shorter, a little tamer, and a little ... confusing. But there's still more than enough in the theatrical cut to turn Nightbreed into a bona-fide cult item among the horror fans.

But get this! According to a Twitter Tweet by the real Clive Barker, that deleted footage has been found! What sort of footage? I refer you to this passage from the IMDb: "Director Clive Barker was reportedly required to cut the film down to 101 minutes from the original 126 minute cut by distributor 20th Century Fox. They felt that this cut was too long and rather too explicit for an R-rated release. Also, Barker shot additional scenes with David Cronenberg's Decker character to flesh out his mentality. The excised footage consisted of some very graphic gore during the climax, disturbing images in the monsters' lair and quite a bit of "unnecessary" character development. There were also some strange sexual themes between the monsters and Boone that wound up on the cutting room floor."

And it sure seems like all of this stuff will be put back in once Nightbreed hits DVD (again)! How very exciting to see an old horror flick "anew." Obviously it's way too soon to know any details, but expect more news as it becomes available.

(Thanks to Pete and John for the tip!)