Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy

Let's say, like me, you fancy yourself a horror-film afficionado. You live to scour the latest version of whatever slasher-film sequel they happen to throw out as a super mega edition with 26 hours of extras.

Now let's say you're a "Nightmare on Elm Street" fan and live, die and dream by the wave of Freddy's razor-tipped hand. You've watched all the DVDs and extras and think you know it all, right?

Well, probably not, unless you've seen "Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy," which I daresay is the most comprehensive look at the Freddy Franchise (or any franchise for that matter) you'll ever see.

"Sleep" is a 4-hour marathon of a doc that includes in-depth interviews by virtually every actor, director, stagehand and key grip that ever worked on an "Elm Street" film. The only holdout seems to be Johnny Depp, who I understand was too busy on the high seas of the Carribbean to appear, and Patricia Arquette, who is doing who-knows-what at the moment. Even rock star Alice Cooper, who cameoed as Freddy's "Dad" in "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare" makes an appearance.

But we get most of the rest, from Wes Craven to Robert Englund (newsflash: that's the guy who played Freddy) to Heather Langenkamp (Nancy in the original and Part 3), New Line Cinemas studio head Robert Shaye and a whole host of others.

The doc is sectioned off into bits from each film, giving viewers the option of picking and choosing which films they want to look at, and though it's 240 minutes in length, it never really feels boring. It just takes a really long time to get through the whole thing (this is the kind of disc you might watch once all the way through, then skip through to your favorite films to rewatch or show friends later on).

The most refreshing and interesting thing about this isn't the trivia (though there is some juicy morsels in there), but its the unfettered honesty. The filmmakers behind the documentary aren't selling "Nightmare" films, so we get opinions without studio filters, which means we get Englund griping about the bad direction they took Freddy's character in certain films, Shaye admitting Part 2 was a letdown (and there's a great discussion of the latent homosexuality of the film , and even breaking down missteps within films that are otherwise considered stronger efforts.

I mentioned those other morsels, including stories about how Depp's famous into-the-bed death scene succeeded by a mistake on the set (in a rotating room), and others, including a deleted scene where Depp emerged from the bed before dying, and tremendous behind-the-scenes stuff from the bathtub scene (where special effects designer Jim Doyle talks about spending a day in a bathtub with Langenkamp), we get to see an angry stunt double for Englund cuss out the crew during a difficult scene, and a variety of other priceless bits.

In addition to the 4 hours covering the first 8 films from "Nightmare" to "Freddy Vs. Jason" (and including the short-lived TV series "Freddy's Nightmares"), the film's extras disc is a treasure trove that includes a 10-minute reenactment of the films, extended interviews from the film, an interview with the artist who created the "Elm Street" movie posters, and a series of other featurettes that give a rich, complete look at the series, sans of course the putrid Jackie Earl Haley reboot from earlier this year.

No self-respecting "Elm Street" junkie should be without this DVD, and movie buffs in general should find plenty worth watching, even if they want to skip through some of the retrospectives on the lesser sequels, though I'd encourage them not to given the frank discussion about the films.

Film: 4 Yaps Extras: 5 Yaps