"Everything is true. God's an Astronaut. Oz is Over the Rainbow, and Midian is where the monsters live."

Have you ever watched a movie where at the end you said, "Well, they killed the monster. What a bunch of assholes"?

It's not uncommon to empathize with the denizens of horror cinema. For a lot of folks, it's easy to feel for Frankenstein's monster -- outcast, unloved, unable to express himself except through fits of violent rage. What about the Wolf Man, cursed with an irrepressible dark side that must be kept secret or destroyed, and hair that's always matted in blood?

If you've ever found yourself rooting for the monster, maybe even wanting to be the monster, I have two suggestions for you.

First, maybe you ought to consider acting work at a haunted house during Halloween. If it pays anything at all, it won't be much, but it's a lot of fun. If it sounds even remotely interesting to you, now is the time to start looking. Those of you who live in the Greater Louisville Metro Area might want to pop over to http://jobfair.louisvillehalloween.com/ and sign up for the all-haunts job fair on Aug. 6. Who knows? You might even end up working for me.

Second, you should watch this movie I'm going to tell you about.

This week's Thursday Thriller is Nightbreed.

 
This 1990 film was written and directed by Clive Barker, who has created such other dark fantasies as Hellraiser and Candyman. Craig Sheffer plays a leather-jacketed, cool guy called Boone, Anne Bobby plays his sweetheart, and David Cronenberg plays his creepily emotionally-blank psychotherapist.

But the real stars of the movie are the monsters, each character a unique, detailed and memorable design. The movie is not as scary as it is a festival of eye candy, especially during the explosive third-act, an all-out war in the graveyard between the monsters and the townies.

While you get your fix of blood and explosions, you may find Nightbreed is as much for the mind as the eyes. While looking for a scare, you're likely to wind up asking, what is scary? Is scary a bunch of gnarly ass-looking monsters who live in a secret city under the cemetery, or is it the psychotherapist who feeds his patient hallucinogens so he can frame him for serial murder? Maybe what's really scary is that so many of you humans are so eager to rain death and hatred on those who are different, and all you need is the words of a passionate madman to motivate you.

Nightbreed streams on Netflix and Shudder.