Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy

This is basically the review I did on Amazon in 2010!

I could write a ten page review about how much I loved this, but I'll spare you all! In a nutshell, this is a comprehensive and detailed look at not only what went on behind the scenes while making the Nightmare films, but it's full of great interviews with actors and crew.

We get to learn what everyone involved experienced before, during and after being in their respective films and it is absolutely riveting!

Special mention has to go to Heather Langenkamp for her work and dedication on this project!

It's impossible to be a fan and not love this!

This was an excellent documentary and is probably going to cover any questions you would have about the series. The interviews are great and the cast and crew of every movie seemed to all have a great time with the films so they enjoy talking about the experience. This keeps the film fresh and enjoyable throughout and will keep even the most hardcore fans entertained.

The film goes through the movies one by one, speaking with various cast and crew about production and the film itself. It answers some questions and may even surprise you with some information ( IE NoES 2 having strong homosexual undertones completely surprised me. ) on each of the films. While the doc is 4 hours long, it never seems to drag and each film in the series is covered equally.

It's a wonderful companion to the series and I doubt any doc is going to come this close to being so complete and well done on any other horror series or horror flicks in general. A must own for any Freddy fan.

Just go to watch.In exploring the Elm Street saga, the film presents photographs, storyboards, conceptual art, publicity materials, archival documents, and behind-the-scenes footage that have never been previously shared. Never Sleep Again expands on Wes Craven's motivations in creating the first Elm Street film. It also explores behind-the-scenes of the original film and all of its sequels. Through interviews, the film shares how cast and crew brought their own worst nightmares to life on screen and examines the impact the series and its mythos have had on pop culture and the horror genre in general. The documentary also explores the rise and fall of Robert Shaye's New Line Cinema and its reputation as "The House That Freddy Built".

I had a feeling the "Elm Street" documentary was going to be something special, but I had no idea just HOW special until the pre-ordered disc arrived early. Initially I presumed that the 240 minute running time listed was for all the material on the 2-disc set, but to my great surprise and delight, that's actually the running time for the main feature. A few cast members (Ronee Blakely, Johnny Depp, Patricia Arquette, etc) are noticeably absent, but practically everyone else who worked in front of and behind the camera on an "Elm Street" film is interviewed.

There's something here for even the hardest of hardcore Freddy fans (of which I am one), with lots of interesting stories and previously undisclosed revelations, never-before-seen photos and behind-the-scenes footage, some pretty nifty stop-motion animated recreations of key scenes from the films, laugh-out-loud anecdotes and much more! This puts every bit of bonus material that New Line's ever released to shame (excepting, perhaps, the long out of print Anchor Bay special edition of the first film -- though a few clips from that are included here too).

"His Name Was Jason," the documentary on "Friday the 13th" franchise already proved that the best way to do a documentary on a horror movie is to turn it over to the fans, but "Never Sleep Again" has raised the bar even higher. Kudos and thank you to the production team for putting together this incredible documentary!

If you never sleep again, it will only be because you are too busy sifting through all that "Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy" has to offer. This comprehensive 2-disc DVD set serves as a study on the infamous "A Nightmare on Elm Street series" which not only offers a four hour (!) long documentary, but almost as much in special features and extra footage.

Produced by the same folks who brought us "Halloween: 25 Years of Terror" and "His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th" and hosted by Nancy Thompson herself, Heather Langenkamp, the main feature covers just about everything you would ever want to know about the original eight-film franchise. Beginning with Wes Craven's original film and wrapping up with the 2003 hit mash-up, "Freddy vs. Jason," the documentary brings back most of the main cast and crew from each film (sans major players such as Patricia Arquette, Laurence Fishburne and Johnny Depp) as they wax nostalgic about all of the fun, thrills, melodrama, successes and failures that "Elm Street" brought each and every one of them. Each film is given ample time and is expanded upon wonderfully, and not only is it a blast to see how some of them have aged, but a lot of new information is brought to the forefront that, even if you've followed the series throughout the decades, will come as news to you. This certainly is no fluff-piece, as everyone is open and honest, and in spite of its length, it never drags or feels dull.

Once you've plowed through the main feature, there's still a second disc of special features to swallow, and as before, there is not a moment wasted. The main meat of this disc is a compilation of extended interviews that runs almost as long as the average "Elm Street" flick. If you simply can't get enough after the four hours you've just completed, this piece serves almost as a fitting desert. Other features focus on Freddy phenomena such as the character's transition into comics, the music that was used in the series, locations, props and, of course, the fans. There's also a rather amusing bit with the famed Angry Video Game Nerd where he rips apart the Nintendo game based on the franchise, albeit, in a loving manner. There's so much here that it almost justifies its own release.

While the release glosses over the recent remake (save for a few minutes of cut footage), it doesn't spare anything from the Robert Englund golden-era. Those who remember how great this series was in its time will no doubt eat up each and every savory morsel that "Never Sleep Again" has to offer. You're certainly getting the bang for your buck, and even if the studio itself isn't too keen on producing something this informative, it's good to know that independent film-makers with a love for the material are willing to do all the leg-work themselves. Without this DVD, your "Nightmare on Elm Street" collection simply is not complete.