While Buffy the Vampire Slayer accomplished a lot in its seven-season run -- showing the first ongoing, loving lesbian relationship on-screen, having a woman character continually save the world -- it failed its monsters. Except for the comic-relief loose-skinned demon Clement, the only monsters that fans really got to know were the ones Buffy dated -- namely, Spike and Angel. Otherwise, monsters were vanquished. Clive Barker's Nightbreed, on the other hand, decides to put the focus on the monsters, diving deep into the things that go bump in the night that might also have their own families, religion and codes to live by.

Hardcore horror fans probably think that idea sounds familiar because it's similar to the plot of 1954's novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. But what makes 1990's Nightbreed is how richly it delves into showing viewers the underground world of Midian and showcases "good" humans as meddlesome, destructive and lacking nuance.

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Poster for Clive Barker's Nightbreed

Similar to Buffy, Aaron Boone -- the hero of Nightbreed -- is a human who has disturbing dreams of monsters and an underground world. Initially, he doesn't understand what's happening and takes medication to dull his senses. However, through a chain of happenstance events, he becomes reborn as a Nightbreed. Later, it becomes clear that this change was destined to happen. The Nightbreed foretold his coming as it would mark when Midian -- their secret home built deep underneath an abandoned graveyard -- would be shattered and he'd rebuild it, saving them from humanity's violence. In their eyes, he is a hero. Eventually, humanity does discover them and its locals and police officers come running to set their home ablaze. Barker doesn't shy away from showing the sheer joy that humans have in throwing grenades, crushing skulls and stabbing these otherworldly breeds.

One of the most painful scenes to watch in the movie is when a gentle, Boston-terrier owning monster named Ohnaka is caught in the sun. He pleads to be brought back inside, but instead of helping him, the nearby police call him a freak, beat him up and watch him burst into dust.

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Buffy takes a different approach as fans know the titular character is "The Slayer," destined to save the world from vamps. Whedon makes it clear that vampires are soulless -- most of the time -- and therefore act without conscience. With this logic, it makes it easy to root for Buffy when she slays them in their nests. Viewers don't really even see an alternative kind of demon -- one that has a conscience, brainpower not controlled by urges to drink blood and desires -- until they meet Anya.

Through Anya, Buffy learns a lot about vengeance demons' preferences and patterns, but frankly, she is seen as a resource manual to Buffy. Characters continually disregard Anya's frustrations with adapting to human life on Earth and pigeon-hole her as a pest. It's only in the show's most gut-wrenching episode,  "The Body," that Anya is finally heard when she explains she doesn't understand grief as she never had this pain as an immortal.

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buffy angel

Anya choosing to be a demon is seen as an error of judgment because her way of life caused death among mortals. The show itself never gives room to see what other facets of demon-life she might miss. The closest the show gets to this is her wedding, which beyond a quick pan of the camera to interesting wardrobe choices and prosthetics hinting at varying species and races, ends quickly and tragically for her, with the show refocusing on Buffy's next Big Bad hunt.

In Nightbreed, the director, makeup artists and designers show varying kinds of Nightbreeds. Some have families, while others just enjoy reading tarot cards. Regardless of their interests, though, all of them vow to keep their world secret from humans to prevent the war that happened in the Middle Ages that almost destroyed their kind. Switching the focus onto the monsters in this way lets the vision of the film speak for any number of excluded cultures and identities who don't feel like they "fit" in and are subject to violence due to their physical differences and/or cultural practices that seem strange to others.

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However, with all of this rich material to pull from, it feels as if Whedon took all the worst qualities of Boone and the monsters portrayed in Nightbreed to create Buffy's Angel. The resemblance between Angel's style and Boone's is uncanny. Both wear a leather jacket, white shirt, gelled '90s hair and mostly broodily grunt instead of speak full sentences. Boone -- even before turning into a Nightbreed -- is strong and obtuse and seems to be drifting in life. After becoming the chosen one, however, he becomes lively and driven and determined to save his kind. He does meet his girlfriend after being turned but tells her that his people need him and he and values his community over their relationship.

Angel, on the other hand, only becomes motivated for Buffy. He joins her missions to protect her, not humans. Whereas Boone felt no qualm about leaving his romantic life behind if it meant he'd save his people and his culture, fans only ever see Angelus -- Angel's demon side -- as a one-dimensional villain that'd rather send the world to Hell than regain his soul. He never shows the audience what he's fighting for, just what he fears.

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Angel And Spike And Buffy

Fans only care about Buffy and her Scooby Gang because they spent time with their heartaches and triumphs. Buffy's cast is mostly white, upper-middle-class -- with the exception of Xander -- able-bodied and primarily straight. Monsters really are the only thing to fight in their world. Otherwise, the gang doesn't openly fight exclusion in Sunnydale. The teens can barely reference Tara and Willow's sex life without giggling.

After watching Nightbreed, it's easy to look at Buffy as a show that lacked nuance. It's hard not to think about the possibility that the group was wrong for not digging deeper into the creatures they were fighting. They had been wrong before, and maybe there's more to the Hellmouth than fans were ever allowed to see.

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