I have seen the Workprint/Rough cut of Nightbreed

To anyone interested, I had the opportunity of seeing the rough cut/work print at the Horrorhound convention in Indianapolis.
First off, it was a VERY rough cut. I went into it knowing this, but apparently many people there did not, as there seemed to be a walkout every 30 seconds or so.
This was pretty annoying since every time the door was opened the small projection screen was washed out by the light coming into the room. Plus, they were moving equipment out of the room for a concert later that night WHILE THE MOVIE WAS RUNNING and one guy actually managed to trip over the video cable on the stage and shut the projector off in addition to one of the audio cables so we were only getting one channel of sound for about 20 minutes...
That said, it was pretty amazing from an avid Nightbreed fan's point of view, yet somewhat disappointing since there were still many scenes missing that I know were shot, for example Lori's performance of "Johnny Get Angry", the sex scene between Peloquin and Shuna Sassi, as well as many others which are shown in the book on the making of the film.
What was even more surprising was how many of the key scenes in the theatrical version were missing like Decker murdering the family at the beginning, Boone's initiation, Peloquin showing Lori the mural and Narcisse's little dalliance with the corpse, in addition to the scenes which were added later in production, such as Decker's interrogation of John Agar, the murders of the Sweetgrass Inn employees and Decker's resurrection at the end.
Another interesting omission were featured players like Shuna Sassi, Leroy Gomm (snake eyes) and Devil Lude.
As I mentioned, the state of the rough cut was extremely raw with there being no musical soundtrack (save for the occasional temp music that would be playing in the background)no sound effects, which means we got to hear the gentlemanly British voice of Oliver Parker as Peloquin without the deep voice enhancement, no visual effects such as the glowing light from Baphomet during His monologue at the end of the film and no title sequences at all. At best, there was a constant time code on the bottom of the frame and the moniker "Nightbreed '89" at the top of the screen, plus the occasional "Scene Missing" card popping up.
A major difference I also noticed from the rough sound was how much better some of the performances of the actors were.
I have always felt that Craig Sheffer's performance was one of the weaker elements of the movie, but was surprised how much better he came across without a lot of the post-production dubbing which seemed to make his character wooden and less convincing.
Also, Boone is portrayed as much more vulnerable throughout the duration of the film, as well as Decker showing a much more twisted and sadistic nature than was previously seen.
Here are some of the major differences I saw...

- Much more character development between Lori and Boone
- Lori showing up dressed in a flashy white outfit complete with stilettos at Boone's job in a garage to confirm their date later that evening.
- An alternate take of the opening scene between the two of them in bed having a conversation about getting away
- we see Decker actually calling Boone and asking him to come to his office
- the camera swooping up to Decker sitting at his desk while opening his briefcase and looking at...something
- a longer conversation between Boone and Decker in the office, at one point actually showing Boone crying in the arms of Decker after being told of what "he had done"
- Boone going home and burning all of his personal possesions, cowering in front of the fire while imagining himself crawling on his hands and knees into Lori's embrace.
- Craig Sheffer shows a lot more skin, having a few "beefcake" shots of him in his tighty-whities and glistening torso.
- a longer conversation between the ER doctor and the bitchy nurse, where we see her take Boone to a bed to rest.
- a longer history of Boone's mental illness from Decker to the police before Narcisse's "unmasking"
- more dialogue between Lori and Decker during her interrogation, including an emotional outburst from her
- After the surgical instruments hit the floor after Boone's resurrection, the coroners run back into the room and say "Somebody stole the body!"
- Kinski initially pops out suddenly while swinging his blade at Boone before disappearing and reappearing behind him (which makes Boone's frightened look on his face actually make more sense)
- Lori asking the bartender where a bathroom is after he calls Boone a "baby slasher"
- The drinking scene between Lori and Sheryl Anne
- Cheryl Anne receiving a drink from the "sophisticated gentleman" at the end of the bar while we only see a hand holding a glass
- a quick shot of Lori lying in bed in her hotel room, which to the average viewer doesn't seem like much, but to anyone who has read the book knows that this was the part where Lori has a feverish masturbation session while remembering her dead lover
- The real voice of Rachael, which was much more girlish as opposed to the deep gypsy intonation later dubbed in by another actress
- Doug Bradley's real voice playing Lylesburg, as his voice was later dubbed in by "a very nice German actor" as Clive Baker said during the Q&A
- An engraving stating "what is below remains below" over the entrance to the stairwell into Midian, as Lylesburg recites it.
- The temp music while Lori looks for Sheryl Anne was actually "Tequila" which got a few chuckles from the audience. The music stops at one point causing Lori to turn around and look. Naturally, when she turns back, there's Decker with his blade at her stomach.
- A longer conversation during Decker's confession to Lori, at one point saying, "I'm a lunatic Lori, and you can reason with lunatics!"
- Boone grabs Decker and roughs him up a bit before getting stabbed... "Blades are no better than bullets"
- Decker pleads with Boone crying, "I can't help it! The mask makes me do it!"
- Narcisse introduces himself by saying his name while confronting Decker
- Boone grabs a hold of Decker after the first time he gets away, but lets him loose after hearing Lori scream.
- A few new shots of the Nightbreed in Midian including Mexico, the multi-limbed muppety-looking creature seen in the Nightbreed Chronicles and a purplish crusty-faced mutant
- We see the press conference that Eigerman talks about, in which he is informed by a reporter that the "cannibal" in his cell is the same man who was shot dead in Midian a few days ago. He leaves abruptly which leads into the "walkin' around in my *beep* cell dead" scene.
- A little more petulant dialogue between the police officers during their initial search of Midian, which leads to the death of Ohnaka.
- Eigerman gives Decker a rundown of what the Sons of the Free are and what they intend to do while giving him a tour of their arsenal.
- One of Eigerman's officers shows Decker the wide assortment of weapons that they have, from heavy artillery to a simple but effective razor wire, accidentally cutting his own mouth with it during a demonstration.
- There is a lot more of the Sons of the Free preparing Midian's destruction such as laying down explosives, loading weapons, and general humor aimed at the low-intelligence level of these people.
- Lori has a longer conversation with Boone in the cell, trying to psyche him up about how he is destined to save Midian.
- There is a longer make-out scene between them, but alas, no sex scene as in the novella.

Here is where there was a lot of scenes inter-cut with no sound or dialogue, and were sometimes very dark so it was sometimes hard to tell what was going on, but I'll list the highlights.

- Much more footage of Nightbreed underground fleeing for their lives, sometimes above-ground congregating in groups.
- Ashberry actually pleads more with Eigerman to leave the Nightbreed alone, before threatening him with a gun.
- After being told "we don't like priests here" Ashberry tells Boone that he needs to see their God and follows him down to the tabernacle.
- The fabled stop-motion leopard woman riding a large dinosaur creature was glanced a few times by Ashberry as he made his descent into Midian. note: these were obviously test animations that never got to a finished version.
- We get to hear the voice of Decker's mask taunting him "Let me out, Phillip...You know you want to have fun."
- Decker doesn't actually kill Joyce, but merely wounds him since he eventually finds Babette abandoned and helps her to safety.
- Decker winds up decapitating Narcisse and sticks the head on the end of his knife like a kabob while threatening Lori
- Babette actually has a few more lines of dialogue, mostly crying for her mother.
- During Baphomet's speech, Boone actually tries reasoning with Him, as opposed to standing there dumbfounded. He says things like, "I didn't mean to do this" and Baphomet responds, "You must rebuild what you've destroyed." Boone asks, "How do I do that?" The response is, "You must find me, heal me, save me from my enemies." and so on...
- Ashberry finds Eigerman among the devastation above ground. Eigerman is spouting gibberish and is then grabbed by the throat and choked to death, spewing blood from his mouth as Ashberry states, "I saw their God! He burned me, I'm going to burn him back." note: the last scene in the theatrical cut where this dialogue is later said wasn't present, as it was added later during enhancement shooting.
- As Boone and Lori make their way above ground, they see one of Decker's knives stuck in a wall. Lori pulls it out and takes it as a weapon.
- When they later get above ground, Boone tells Lori he has to go away. Lori can't come with him and should just forget about him. She responds, "I went through hell to get you back and you just want me to walk away?"
- Boone tells her that he'll come back for her and walks away. Lori calls to Boone, he turns and she stabs herself in the stomach with Decker's knife, falling to the ground. Boone goes to catch her and she says "bite me, make me one of you" Boone relents and she begins to die whispering, "Hurry up..."
- He bites her, but nothing happens as she lies there in his arms. He cries for her death, but soon enough she awakens and they are reunited. note: this scene actually happened in the novella "Cabal"

This is what I've managed to remember from a couple of weeks back, but you can be sure that there was even more "new" stuff that I can't recall. Keep in mind, there was a lot of slow-moving parts in some of the scenes, such as the Sons of the Free and loads of little scenes during the final battle that would most likely be part of the deleted scenes rather than incorporated into the narrative should there ever be a restoration. From what I can tell, if everything would be included in one version, it would probably run for almost 4 hours!

I managed to meet Clive Barker, Doug Bradley and Simon Bamford(Ohnaka), who were all extremely cordial and a pleasure to talk with. Clive had just endured throat surgery, so he wasn't able to speak very clearly but assured us all that he wasn't in any pain, but had only temporarily lost his voice.
During the Q&A he gave a very impassioned speech about the state of the publishing world and its tendency to only sell mediocrity (giving a funny jab at Twilight) and tried summing up his feelings about what his experience in the industry had taught him. Admittedly, I couldn't understand some of what he said, seeing how he could only manage to sneak out a soft whisper, but he came across as very jovial and extremely happy with the response he had gotten from his fans.
The most poignant thing he said to aspiring writers was to essentially, "Write what you want to read"
On a sad note, he told us that Oliver Parker(Peloquin)had a death in his family; therefore, he wasn't able to attend the screening, as was previously announced.
While chatting with Simon Bamford (who with his blond-highlighted hair, still looked nearly as young as he did in the film) mentioned that if the Nightbreed sequel had ever gotten off the ground, Clive was going to bring him back as Ohnaka's twin sister. The perk, he said giddily, was that he was going to be given huge prosthetic breasts!
Overall, it was an incredible weekend, with the screening being the major highlight for me. Truthfully, it was the main reason I had decided to go (it being my first horror convention) but once I found out Clive, Doug and Simon were going to be present it only made the experience that much greater!
I can only hope that one day James Robinson of Morgan Creek will realize that there are many people who are willing to pay for a blu-ray of the hoped-for restoration.
You can sign the online petition to get it released on Clive's website at http://www.clivebarker.info/morenightbreed.html
If you signed it already, then sign it again!
The suits only seem to notice the promise of the almighty dollar and if the fans are able to pull it off for the Richard Donner cut of Superman II and Blade Runner, I'm sure the same could be done with Nightbreed.