Halloween movie time! Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy

The final film in my Halloween month movie review thing I’m doing. It is a doozy!

 

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy- Well this documentary clocks in at four hours. Yeah four frakking hours! Yet it never seems to drag. This is a complete look at the Nightmare on Elm Street series and everything surrounding it. Well it doesn’t cover that Michael Bay produced abysmal piece of shit remake. That is never mentioned, and for good reason!

Heather Langenkamp, or Nancy Thompson from Elm Street 1 and 3, narrates us through this four hour journey. It starts with Wes Craven’s original concept, the rise of New Line Cinema, all seven Elm Street films, Freddy vs. Jason, all the Krueger-mania and the eventual fall of New Line Cinema.

All the films are covered in depth they don’t gloss over any of them. That was the first amazing bit of this documentary. Every film was discussed from concept to final product. It was cool to get all the behind the scenes stuff. It was better than any making of on a DVD for sure. A lot of crazy info came out like Brad Pitt being in the running to play Glenn ( Johnny Depp in Elm Street), that Nightmare on Elm Street 2 was really homo erotic ( I missed that the first time I watched it) Watch it now and it sure is, the clash of egos over several films, the actor’s stories from shooting, all the technical issues, the screen play and script issues, the practical effect, and hell even , why Kane Hodder wasn’t Jason in Freddy vs. Jason. There is a ton of information about the making of these films. It is pretty great stuff! The best part is the openness and honesty of everyone interviewed. This is not a fluff piece and if there were problems they are discussed.

The second was the amount of actors that were interviewed for these films. Sure Johnny Depp, Patricia Arquette, and Laurence Fishburne (along with a few others) were absent; but almost everyone who was in front or behind the camera showed up to chat. That was really cool. Plus seeing how these actors have aged and drastically changed over the years was anywhere from interesting to creepy. Even Dokken was interviewed about their song for Elm Street 3, The Dream Warriors. Dokken!

Finally, there is a lot about the mania that surrounded the franchise back in the mid-late 80’s. They covered the television show, Freddy’s Nightmares, the merch, even the Fresh Prince and D.J. Jazzy Jeff song. Anyone else remember “Nightmare on My Street?” Think Will Smith even remembers or acknowledges that?

 

At four hours one would think this would really drag, but it didn’t. Every film is given ample time and is brilliantly expanded upon, a lot of new information is brought to light  that, even if you've followed these films throughout the decades, will come as news. It was also fantastic to bring back most of the main cast to wax nostalgic and see how they changed ( it is downright scary at times). If you love horror then give this a watch. If you are a fan of Freddy Krueger and his shenanigans then this is a must see!