I took a break from prepping a big share yesterday to go check my snail mail... and wound up distracted for the rest of the day. I'd pre-ordered "
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy," the new documentary on the "
Nightmare on Elm Street" franchise, and it arrived early. With a whopping 8 hours of footage, it was
real easy for me to get lost in the set! Yet another fan-created documentary on a horror franchise (following in the steps of documentaries on "
Friday the 13th" and "
Halloween"), this one has unquestionably raised the bar -- so much so that I felt the need to plug it. Here's a breakdown of what's included....
Disc 1 includes the main feature, which has an astounding running time of 4 hours. Practically everyone with a part in front of and behind the cameras on the first 8 films is interviewed. There are some noteworthy absences (Ronee Blakely, Johnny Depp, Craig Wasson, Patricia Arquette, etc.), but
most everyone is here -- and they even managed to sneak in excerpts of vintage interviews. A great deal of time is spent on each one of the films, with the most time devoted to ANOES 1, which is around 45 mins. Each of the subsequent films is discussed for 20-30-some minutes (I literally laughed out loud several times during the ANOES2 section), with a smaller segment on the anthology series "
Freddy's Nightmares" and a wrap up discussing the rise and fall of New Line Cinema. Apparently the people behind the newly-released remake declined to participate, which is weird... but no big loss.
It goes without saying that there's many stories here that the hardcore fans know well. However, there's a TON of stuff about the films I never knew -- and I consider myself a pretty hardcore fan of the franchise. In addition to the wealth of information about the movies, there are clips from all 8 films, as well as a variety of related movies and TV shows ("Just the 10 of Us,"
whoo-hoo!). It's mind-boggling how they managed to feature so many clips.... but that's not the truly great part...
There's also never-before-seen on-set footage and photos, deleted/alternate scenes, bloopers, and some really cool stop-motion animated segments. Which means more Zsa Zsa and the Freddy penis monster, Glen being spit out of the bed, Dan turning into a motorcycle, and even an amusing outtake from "
New Nightmare!" It's unfortunate that they didn't include this rare footage as a stand-alone feature, but I can't gripe too much about it -- it's still more than New Line's ever bothered to include on any of their releases.
As a post-script to this, I find it strange that they didn't include any additional footage from "
Freddy's Dead" (though they
mention extra scenes) -- the American network TV print features additional scenes that make Maggie's story slightly more coherent, and there's a longer workprint in circulation (anyone wanna share the workprint?).
Disc 2 features another four hours worth of footage. There's two hours of interviews that didn't make it to disc 1, with additional interview clips sprinkled throughout the rest of the special features. The interviews are divided by film; but annoyingly, there's no "play all" option.
Other disc 2 features include:
First Look:
Heather Langenkamp's I Am Nancy - 7 mins.
A sneak peek at Langenkamp's forthcoming documentary. Filmed at horror conventions, I'm not entirely sure what to make of this, though I fully support her endeavor. Heather Langenkamp rocks!
For the Love of the Glove - 18 mins.
Superfan Mike Becker shows off his collection of prop gloves from the films (he's joined by FX man David B. Miller); and several people who create and sell glove replicas are interviewed. Robert Rusler also tells the story of the day one of the gloves went missing from the set of "
Freddy's Revenge" (stay with this one through the end credits!).
Fred Heads: The Ultimate Freddy Fans - 13 mins.
A look at Freddy merchandising, memorabilia and its fans.
Horror's Hallowed Grounds: Return to Elm Street - 23 mins.
A tour of the locations from Elm Street 1, featuring appearances by several cast members from the first two films. Won't spoil it by revealing everyone's identities.
Freddy Vs. the Angry Video Game Nerd - 5 mins.
A pre-existing featurette (that I'd seen before) which is a look at the horrible '90s Nintendo game. And I can
personally say it's horrible cuz I bought it when it was new. But then I'm an angry nerd too...
Expanding the Freddy Universe: Freddy in Comic Books & Novels - 16 mins.
Authors of Elm Street comic/novel spin-offs discuss their works. It's worth noting that there's some truly bizarre things going on with the stereo sound mix in this featurette... I thought I had speakers shorting out at first.
The Music of the Nightmare: Conversations with Composers & Songwriters - 13 mins.
From Charles Bernstein to Dokken, they interview many of music men who worked on the Elm Street series.
Elm Street Poster Boy: The Art of Matthew Joseph Peak - 7 mins.
Peak discusses each of the posters he designed for Elm Streets 1-6. Strange that he doesn't discuss the artwork for
this disc.
A Nightmare on Elm Street in 10 Minutes - 10 mins. (duh!)
A chronological, rapidfire montage of lines from the 8 films, re-spoken by original cast members. For those of us who know the movies intimately, this is pretty fuckin' awesome... and I suspect it'll wind up on You Tube sooner or later.
Teaser Trailer - 1 min.
Do I really need to summarize? Just click the link and watch it yourself!
Hidden Easter Egg - 3 mins.
Charles Fleischer's depraved ramblings. The man ranks right up there with Jonathan Winters for real-life insanity. Click right at the top of the menu to find this hidden footage.
Well, that's about it. If you've ever been a fan of "Elm Street," this one's well worth the money. It's available for order from
the official website and
amazon. Doesn't appear Netflix or Blockbuster are offering it for rental and at the moment the only stores stocking it are selected FYE stores (they're working on getting a wider distribution).
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" includes 9 tracks that were recorded for his debut. When the four tracks were issued in the RHPS boxed set, they slightly remixed them and shaved 10-20 seconds off each track -- this new album includes every song as it was originally intended to be mixed and released. Can't say for certain if this is the full recording session since there's no liner notes of any sort available, but at 36 minutes, it's got an appropriate running time for a vinyl release, and the sound quality is excellent.
