Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy

When I first heard that a documentary was being done on the entire Elm Street series, I figured it would be a fun one-hour film that brought back a few key stars to discuss a few behind the scene stories and celebrate the pop-culture that is Freddy and the Nightmare Films.

Boy, was I wrong! Instead, the Makers of Never Sleep Again gave us the most definitive fan-based documentary that has no equal. It is a four hour wet dream with interviews from the biggest stars like Robert Englund to nameless extras like the people who burst out of Freddy's chest in Dream Master. Every film is probed in detail on story-lines, subtexts, and behind the scenes incidents. They even go into Freddy's Nightmares, the short-lived syndicated television show.

The four hour long documentary itself is worthy of the eternal praise of this film and would be more than enough to satisfy the biggest Fred Head's appetite, but Never Sleep Again give us more. It give us another four hours of extras that equal the entertainment value of the documentary.

Even with all of that, there is more. If you order from the Never Sleep Again website by June 1st, you get a signed poster from none other than the legendary Scream Queen herself -- Heather Langenkamp!!! If you did see the Remake and feel let down and ripped off...Never Sleep Again will most certainly make you feel better.

This was simply put, the best, the most comprehensive, the most audacious, the most auspicious and loving fan letter to any lover of this series of films that anyone could expect. Kudos and a clink of the champagne glass to all involved, a labour of love that delivered.

From it's humble beginnings to it's controversial subtexts, revealing interviews piece together the history of the elm street series and paint a portrait of the horror community that made me stand up and applaud "Yes I am a horror fanatic and yes I am proud" Much we have seen before on the pretty comprehensive 8 disc set of Nightmares that New Line put out a decade or so ago, but so much new material and history has happened since then.

The lowlight for me was seeing former studio head Bob Shaye, a man broken after losing control of his studio due to politics. And when he broke down on camera, so did I, who would have thought, in tears in a documentary about the "ELm Street" series. SHeesh I must be getting sentimental in my old age. Every character actor from every movie is interviewed in depth and a running time of four hours - it still felt short! By the end the film had me standing and clapping at the screen like so many teen girls on their first Twilight viewing. Awesome Awesome Awesome. A Perfect 10.

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.

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.