Customer Reviews

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy

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For those who wonder what's on this set...

Disc 1:
Main Feature - 4 hours
Although there's a few notable absences (Ronee Blakely, Johnny Depp, Patricia Arquette, Craig Wasson, etc.), the bulk of the surviving cast/crew members from "A Nightmare on Elm Street" through "Freddy Vs. Jason" are interviewed. They even touch on the TV series "Freddy's Nightmares." Includes clips from the films (and tons of other related films), never before seen photos, on-set footage, deleted scenes and more!

Disc 2:
Extended Interviews - 2 hours
Additional interviews, separated by film, that didn't make the final cut. Annoyingly, there's no "play all" feature, and there's some sound issues (the stereo sound is off-balance during several segments).

First Look: Heather Langenkamp's I Am Nancy - 7 mins.
A sneak peek at Langenkamp's forthcoming documentary.

For the Love of the Glove - 18 mins.
A superfan shows off his collection of prop gloves from the films; and several people who create and sell glove replicas are interviewed. Elm Street 2 star Robert Rusler also discusses the day the glove was stolen from the set.

Fred Heads: The Ultimate Freddy Fans - 13 mins.
A look at Freddy merchandising 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.

Freddy Vs. the Angry Video Game Nerd - 5 mins.
A humorous look at the '90s Nintendo game.

Expanding the Freddy Universe: Freddy in Comic Books & Novels - 16 mins.
Authors of Elm Street comic/novel spin-offs discuss their works. Again, the stereo sound is off balance for a good chunk of this featurette.

The Music of the Nightmare: Conversations with Composers & Songwriters - 13 mins.
Guess what this is...

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.

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.

Teaser Trailer - 1 min.

Hidden Easter Egg - 3 mins.
Charles Fleischer's insane ramblings.

All in all, this is an incredible collection of materials that shames the extras that New Line's released in the past.

Aside from parts 1 and 7, the DVD releases of the other films in the Elm Street series have absolutely no extras at all. Finally, someone has taken the time and effort to give Freddy fans and the other entries much needed and much deserved (and overdue) attention. "Never Sleep Again" is an exhaustive four-hour documentary that leaves no stone unturned. Featuring new interviews with every director involved in the Nightmare films (including Freddy VS Jason) and practically every cast member from each movie, this is the kind of thing fans like me have waited decades for. The production value is top notch, so much that New Line should be embarrassed for not commissioning something like this (instead of the "Nightmare Encyclopedia" disc they included on the boxed set) years ago. Narrated by Heather Langenkamp and featuring super cool stop-motion animated sequences inspired by iconic scenes in the original films, no Elm Street completist should be without this disc.

If you are a Nightmare On Elm Street fan like me and felt sick to your stomach with the new Elm Street movie, as well as a total lack of respect for the fans and franchise by the makers of said catastrophe, don't fret. 2010 is still the year of Freddy for the fans...just not with the new film. Nope. You see, the fans get something better. Something much, much better. 2010 is the year of Freddy because we get what is ultimately the most amazing present/documentary ever. A 4 hour treasure that looks back on our beloved series. If you got the Freddy fever that is sweeping up again, this is your one stop destination for the cure.

From the makers of the Friday The 13th docu, "His Name Was Jason", comes this look back at the 26 year old Nightmare On Elm Street franchise. HNWJ was great. Great fluff. Don't come into this one thinking it is something along the same lines. What we have here is something far reaching and serious. Unlike the quick 90 minutes of past docus, this amazing gem is 4 hours long!. It's Freddy/Elm Street overload that should put every fan in an Elm Street induced coma(with special appearance by Freddy, of course). Every single movie in the franchise(excluding the remake), and even the short lived TV series "Freddy's Nightmares", is given it's due. A ton of people from the franchise, from both in front of and behind the camera, are on tap here to give up the dirt on the series. All of the regulars you would expect to be here like Craven, Englund, Langenkamp, etc. are all on board, but there are literally tons of people I have never seen in any kind of Elm Street docu or featurette ever here as well. It's just a non stop parade of Elm Street veterans, ready and willing to take a trip back down Freddy's favorite street. A lot of goodies await including behind the scenes moments and make-up tests as the interviews go on. Some things here might be familiar with the die hard fans, but some of it come from new people and new perspectives. But don't worry, there is plenty here that keeps things fresh and new for even the biggest Elm Street fan. Another amazing thing here is how, for 4 hours, it really moves along at a nice pace. It never gets old, boring, or repetitive. It's completely fascinating and even the casual fan should be completely enveloped in the brilliance of it all. Some of the best moments are from the section of Part 2, "Freddy's Revenge". I'll leave it at that.

The 4 hour documentary is about as awesome and wonderful as it gets, but there is more. Oh so much more. Once you rest and regroup, you will be on to disc 2. The second disc comes with 4 more hours of Elm Street goodies. We really are spoiled. Disc 2 features 2 hours of extended interviews that were cut from the finished documentary. Then there is a brief preview of the upcoming documentary "I Am Nancy", brought to you by Nancy herself, Heather Langenkamp. It's great that one of the greatest horror heroines gets her due. "For The Love Of The Glove" is pretty self explanatory. A look at Freddy's infamous weapon of choice and some people who own one. Part 2's Robert Russler("Grady") also appears in this featurette. "Fred Heads: The Ultimate Freddy Fans" also says it all. A look at those Freddy fans and the merchandise they have. Fun stuff. My favorite feature here is "Horror's Hallowed Grounds: Return To Elm Street". Sean Clark takes you on a journey of the filming locations for the movies. I won't spoil the surprise of who, but some Elm Street alumni pop up here as well. "Freddy Vs. The Angry Video Game Nerd" is a quick feature on the Freddy game. "Expanding The Elm Street Universe: Freddy In Comics And Novels" shows that Freddy's power and popularity is not just relegated to the silver screen. "The Music Of The Nightmare" is a bit with the Nightmare series' composers. "Elm Street Poster Boy: Matthew Joseph Peak" is a brief chat with the man responsible for all those awesome Freddy movie posters in the 80s, as well as this very documentary!. "A Nightmare On Elm Street In 10 Minutes" is what you think it is.

In the end, this is just a gigantic valentine to the fans, the franchise, and the character of Freddy Krueger. A strong mix of deep biography and wonderful nostalgia. This film was expertly put together. It should make sense that the most well regarded of the horror/slasher franchises gets a tribute fitting of the franchise's colorful history and brilliant creativity. This is what every Freddy fan has been hoping and dreaming about. But dream no more. It's a reality and it's here. No nightmares here. It's a perfect dream come true.

This would've been a perfect companion for the box set of the Elm Street movies but I'll take it whenever I can get it. This is an AWESOME documentary that brings back almost all of the cast members of every Nightmare movie. (Paging Patricia Arquette!) It's great to see the behind the scenes stuff, hear the stories of on set jokes, disasters and issues and of course see how everyone looks now. Loved the stuff with the Freddy's Revenge cast and it was comical from beginning to end. This DVD is loaded with over 8 hours of Elm Street extras and is a must own for any fan of the franchise.

Started watching this documentary yesterday, figured I'd get through an hour or so at a time, you know, break it up , so i wouldn't be bored, but i watched almost the whole thing all the way through! From the way they use stop motion sets to introduce the next scenes, to all the stars and all the awesome, actually informative, information, i was blown away!Almost everyone that had anything to do with the film, i.e. actors, lighting, set directors, etc etc, all had segments to talk about their contributions to the movies!This film went way beyond my expectations and I haven't even watched the extras on disc 2 yet! This has to be one of the best dvd purchases i have ever made, in fact this is done so well that I'm guessing even a casual Nightmare fan would enjoy it , it's THAT awesome!:)

I finally received my copy of Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy in the mail yesterday, and despite having finals I have managed to consume all the material and let it digest. I've been a big fan of these retrospectives that have been coming out the past few years, first with Halloween: 25 Years of Terror and His Name Was Jason so I was eagerly anticipating Never Sleep Again. So how does it stack up? Let's take a gander:

These horror retrospectives keep improving every time in regards to style and content. I remember purchasing Halloween: 25 Years of Terror and it absolutely blew my mind. It wasn't perfect but as a huge fan of the series I was instantly enamored of the set and all the amazing features it contained. It was a loving tribute to the Halloween Series and all the creators and fans therein.

Imagine my wonder when I picked up His Name Was Jason when it was released a couple years later and discovered that it was Even Better. Like a lot better. This doc got pretty much everyone involved with the series for an interview and provided a fabulous and highly entertaining feature on the series.

Now, just in time for the Nightmare on Elm Street remake, comes Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy. And, wow. Just wow. This 2-disc DVD set is EVEN BETTER. It is truly sprawling, informative and wildly entertaining. There's so much stuff here I'm actually at a loss as how to review it, but damn it, I have to try! So here are some of my somewhat unorganized thoughts on the DVDs:

The documentary itself, which is the main feature, clocks in at a whopping 4 hours (!) long and covers pretty much everything and I do mean everything. Just about everyone you could think of that has been involved with the Nightmare on Elm Street series are on hand to give their thoughts on the series and share some memories of what it was like to create a genuine horror icon. All the obvious faces are present: Wes Craven, Robert Shaye, Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, Sarah Risher, Rachel Talalay, John Saxon, Jack Sholder, Rennie Harlin, and Stephen Hopkins. All these people have been featured on previous Nightmare docs but it's good to have them back and some of them have some new stories to tell. Other than them, pretty much all of the main cast and crew of the various Nightmare films are also present and accounted for. Obviously the "big" stars like Johnny Depp, Laurence Fishburne, Patricia Arquette, and... Breckin Meyer are absent, but just about everyone else is there. As a side note, given what he's said in the past I can't help but think that Johnny Depp would have done it if he'd been asked and his schedule could permit it. I don't know if they had the balls to ask him or not. I guess we'll never know.

Anyway the people that are there give some fantastic insight into the making of Nightmare on Elm Street and all its sequels. Each individual film gets plenty of time for a thorough examination with each clocking in at about a half hour (the first one gets about 45 minutes). If you watch the doc and feel like something was missed, never fear, for the bonus features include extended interviews which include many juicy details and other tidbits that didn't fit in to the main feature.

Lisa Wilcox has aged like a fine wine. So has Kim Myers... and Amanda Wyss... and Erika Anderson. Some of the others weren't so lucky. Ok, now with that pointless superficiality out of the way...

Wes usually pops up for each of the sequels to give his (usually) negative thoughts on them. He usually has a good point.

Some of the interviewees are a little dry (and Jack Sholder comes across as a major prick. So does Chuck Russell) but most of the others are rather jovial and seem genuinely excited to be talking about the impact of the films on their lives.

Robert Englund comes across as one of the kindest men you could ever meet, and I don't think he says anything negative about anyone in all 8 hours worth of DVD.

Ronny Yu is here to give his thoughts on Freddy vs. Jason even though he wasn't there for His Name Was Jason. Curious.

Pretty much everyone involved insists that Freddy's Dead was a good movie and they were right to make it like they did. Wrong. This is odd to me because usually the cast and crew are quick to point out things that don't work in other installments.

I got a huge kick out of the Robot Chicken-style opening credits and bumpers between each segment. They were really clever and amusing.

Anyway there are over a dozen (I guess, I didn't count) extra features on the second disc so there is plenty to amuse yourself with. I'm not going to describe all of them because I don't want to be here all night and no one will read it anyway.

So, in a nano-nutshell, if you're a huge fan of the Nightmare series, you should definitely pick this up. Casual fans may not need this much information, but for Fred-heads everywhere, this set really hits the spot.

Sweet Dreams.

Never Sleep Again is a excellent biography over the Nightmare on Elm Street series. Unlike Halloween or Friday the 13th biographies, this one doesnt leave anything out and it's a staggering four hours long. I noticed the first thirty minutes (give or take) have lighting problems as the picture goes from light to dark during interviews but it stops. A must own for fans of the film or horror movies in general, this one doesnt leave alot out.

What seperates Never Sleep Again from His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th is that it's far more in-depth, and every movie gets its good share of screen time from the main people involved; there are few surprise faces here and the tone is far less jokey (but there are a few laughs as well). A four hour main feature supplemented by about four more hours of special features proves that there's a lot to be discussed, reminisced about and covered here. As has been pointed out, you won't see Johnny Depp (except for a brief clip from Inside the Actors Studio: Johnny Depp) or Patricia Arquette in here, but they're fondly remembered as well (Laurence Fishburne is never mentioned though). The actors present themselves by reading their character's own introduction from the script, which is a very nice touch. If you're a fan and have been keeping up with special editions, there will be some of the same ground covered, but there's a lot of new stuff here, including death scenes we've never known about (at least I hadn't, but I can only speak for myself). It should be pointed out that it's all about the main series though, the only mention of this year's remake is covered briefly in the extra interviews, since it's clearly (and understandably) a taboo subject with the makers of the original classic. Don't expect any interviews with Rooney Mara, Jackie Earle Haley or Katie Cassidy in this one.

The special features are plentiful and satisfying, and there's a lot more humor to be had here (the Horror's Hallowed Grounds episode with Amanda and Heather is great, and the sneak peek of her own I Am Nancy-documentary is hilarious and light-hearted). There are also two featurettes on the dedicated fans; one introducing the many craftsmakers (and websites) providing replica Freddy gloves (about a dozen or so, wow), and one on the dedication of the true hardcore fans, sharing some of their fanart and memorabilia. The authors and artists behind Nightmare-books and comics share their ideas and thoughts on expanding the universe, and there's also a "Nightmare on Elm Street in 10 minutes"-featurette where almost everyone that was interviewed provide their most famous lines in chronological order.

Overall it's a great and very satisfying documentary, there's hardly any need for an "Elm Street Memories"-book now. A word of warning though, make sure to boil some coffee or get some energy drink if you're planning to watch it all in one sitting, or you might nod off and he'll come for you..

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.

This documentary is FANTASTIC. For the record, however: NEVER SLEEP AGAIN is the special that the BIO channel airs around Halloween (under the name, "Inside Story: Nightmare on Elm Street"). I've seen the special on BIO and was hoping this might be something different, but it's the same (although, it's longer, as certain things were cut from the BIO presentation to air on TV).

Regarding the quality of this documentary itself, it is absolutely wonderful. Almost everybody comes together to talk about their experiences making the movies, and you get to see a lot of behind-the-scenes pictures and a couple videos, as well as the creation of Freddy Krueger from Wes Craven himself. If you love any of the Nightmare movies, you'll love this documentary.

There's a really happy, positive, fun feeling about this documentary. It made me want to watch all of the films again. I highly recommend it.