All you cult followers of A Nightmare on Elm Street beware! Now on Blu-ray is the 4 hour documentary called Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy and its chuck full of interviews by actors and filmmakers for all 8 of the horror flicks. It’s everything you want to know about the series including plot points, casting of the actors, little known facts, trivia, sets, locations, incidents on the set, problems with production, and much more. Whether you are a Nightmare geek or someone who has their sights set on being a filmmaker some day, this is probably the most comprehensive, interesting and affordable “CliffsNotes” for the business.
The documentary opens with producers introducing the advent of New Line Cinema studios with the start of A Nightmare on Elm Street series. Heather Langenkamp, who plays Nancy in several of the films, then takes over introducing the documentary with Wes Craven getting into the meat of the subject matter. You will see never before shown photos and scenes, clips from the films and interviews with over 100 key cast and crew.
In the first chapter called “Don’t Fall Asleep” we find out how the first Nightmare (1984) was made, how Craven got the script, obtained each of the main characters including Johnny Depp, how they fashioned Freddy Kruger’s weapon, and all the other elements of a regular ‘Making Of’. Comments from cast, including Langenkamp, John Saxon, Jsu Garcia, Robert Englund and Amanda Wyss, relate their roles and how they were able to work on the frightening sets.
Seven chapters are included in the documentary and all have the main casts talking about each of the films in which they appeared. Chapter two called “Kill For Me” introduces the first sequel A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985), “We’re the Dream Warriors” takes viewers into A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), “How Sweet Fresh Meat” goes into depth on A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), and “It’s a Boy” shows a lot of the craft of the artists who created the make-up and puppets in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989).
Breaking away for just a short period producers and Robert Englund talk about the television series called Freddy’s Nightmares which ran 44 episodes from 1988-1990. Getting back to the sequels “Every Town has an Elm Street” features the cast and their comments Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991). In “Meet Your Maker”, although New Line planned to end the series in 1991, Wes Craven urged New Line Cinema to make New Nightmare (1994) that kick started the franchise all over again.
“Place your Bet” features interviews with the cast and producers about getting the rights to use the Jason mask in Freddy vs. Jason (2003) and shows some great memorable moments in making the film. The final thoughts are summed up in “The House That Freddy Built” from Craven, Englund and mostly Shaye who was the builder of the studio that went on to make Lord of the Rings. Although New Line, now under the umbrella of Warner Brothers Pictures, went on to the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street in 2010, Shaye had already left the company even though he received an executive producer credit for of the film.
There are a load of special features that are included on a separate disc. Filled with a lot of good material the following should not be missed.
- “Extended Interviews with Cast and Crew”
- “First Look: Heather Langenkamp’s ‘I Am Nancy’”
- “For the Love of the Glove”
- “Fred Heads: The Ultimate Freddy Fans”
- “Horror’s Hallowed Ground: Return to Elm Street”
- “Expanding the Elm Street Universe: Freddy in Comic Books & Novels”
- “The Music of the Nightmare”
- “Elm Street Posterboy: Art of Matthew Joseph Peak”
- “A Nightmare on Elm Street in 10 Minutes”
- And more
The documentary has not been rated by the MPAA, but does contain language, brief nudity and Freddy violence from scenes shown during the presentation.
Specifications and additional film information:
Cast: Heather Langenkamp, Wes Craven, Robert Englund, Robert Shaye
Director: Daniel Farrands, Andrew Kasch
MPAA Rating: Unrated, Language, Brief Nudity
Genre: Documentary
Running Time: 4 hrs
Video Release Date: January 21, 2014
Original Film Release Date: May 4, 2010
Language: English
Format: Blu-ray
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Video: 1080p Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Number of Discs: 2 Discs
Distributed by: RLJ Entertainment
