Two disks, eight hours, what more could a Freddy fan want?
FILM- Never Sleep Again is broken into individual segments for each film in the series (as well as the Freddy's Nightmares T.V. show), with those involved recounting memories, retrospectives, fun facts, and general impressions on the series. The film its self clocks in at four hours (the bonus features take up the other half of the total time), so little to no detail is skimped per film. The transition from one movie to the next is animated by a stop motion Freddy carving the chapter title out on a surface of his choosing.
The first segment on the original Nightmare film takes up quite a bit of time. It goes from Craven's conception of Krueger to his pitch to New Line's Bob Shaye. From there, the cast and crew talk about the effects, the filming, and the after effects the film had on their lives. One thing that really impressed me with this segment was the inclusion of the extra footage from Tina's death. It's literally a half second shot of her hitting the bed, then blood explodes everywhere. No theatrical or home release of the film has that scene added in, so finally seeing that infamous half second really made me feel surprisingly giddy.
Segment two covers the feud between Shaye and Craven over a sequel, the interviews, and an extended talk about the gay subtext of Freddy's Revenge. It's highly entertaining and funny as hell to hear the cast talk about the homosexual themes of the film (and poke fun at Bob Shaye's cameo as a leather clad S&M bartender), because some of the crew were totally oblivious. Fun fact: director Jack Sholder now teaches film 30 minutes from where I live at WCU. Looks like it's road trip/ fan boy stalker time for me.
The Dream Warriors section dives into Wes's attempt at penning the third film (his result would have made Nightmare 3 a shockingly vulgar, almost cruel film), which ultimately lost the favor of New Line to Frank Darabont and Chuck Russell's script. The result was a wise cracking, joking Freddy that displeased Craven immensely. Also touched on is the teen suicide topic, teen unrest, teen rebellion, teen neglect, teen (insert whatever the hell you want), and Jesus. Dream Warriors did support a pretty obvious Christian message, just throwing that out there.
Part four dives into the unrest of the "Original Elm Street Kids" over being killed within the first few minutes of the film, as well as the task of casting new actors. Director Renny Harlin talks about New Line's original hesitation in hiring him, but soon retracted their doubt when Nightmare 4 became the highest grossing film in the series. One of the highlights of this segment is the crew totally insulting the infamously bad "invisible Kung Fu Freddy" death scene.
Next is "Welcome to Prime Time", where the writers and directors of the T.V. series Freddy's Nightmares talk about pretty much being able to make whatever the hell they felt like. Awesome interviews from episode directors like William Malone and and Mick Garris, as well as Englund and Shaye's discussions on the late time slot, resulting in some very taboo episodes.
Back on the film series, the sixth segment tells about the return of the Dream Master cast (something that not many Nightmare movies have), the director's attempt to make Dream Child as bloodless as possible (which in retrospect, it is virtually red free), and despite all efforts still suffering the MPAA's ruthless cuts.
The Freddy's Dead segment begins with the (obviously false) agreement to finally kill the world's beloved child molester. Something I was enlightened to was that Peter Jackson penned the first draft for Nightmare 6 (which would have been a damn good movie!), but ultimately lost out to the "Freddy's Dead" script. New Line executive turned director Rachel Talalay talks about the silliness of the film, the 3D gimmick, and the nonstop barrage of cameos. Also, to coincide with this film's release, there was a mock funeral for Freddy.
Bob Shaye called Craven, obviously not pleased with the series at this point in time, and offered Wes his own chance to put an end to Freddy. Craven jumped on the idea, and decided to pull Freddy from the movies into real life. Interesting things mentioned are Wes's original ideas to make the film much more sinister (like the Wes Craven character in the film removing his eye lids to stay awake), have Robert Englund's character "disappear", and the problems with diving into the personal lives of the actors (since they were technically playing "themselves").
Now time for the horror icon death match Freddy Vs. Jason. Discussed are the countless scripts (over 15 different ideas, including young Freddy being the councilor who molested and killed Jason), the Asian action influence of director Ronny Yu, and the "totally not Jason Mewes" character, and the crew's personal decision on the victor.
The final segment deals with New Line's unexpected success due to the Nightmare series, the company's consolidation into Time Warner, Bob Shay's ousting from the company, and a general reflection on the series/ company.
All I can say is wow! Fucking WOW! This has to be one of the only horror documentary that leaves the viewer satisfied. It nearly doubles the length of the Halloween and Friday documentaries, and, unlike them, leaves no stone unturned. It's not a series overview like you could find on Wikipedia, but a genuine in depth retrospective on the entire series. It's fun, addicting, and absolutely perfect in nearly every way. One thing I found genius was how the movie is broke into segments, so you can watch one or two and then pause it and come back later. It's not all over the place, and is the most focused genre doc I have ever seen (which when talking about eight films and a T.V. show, consistency is no easy task). The stop motion animation is really the icing on the cake, because not even the transitions are boring. This is the film Nightmare fans deserve, and "Fred Heads", horror fans, and even documentary lovers will flip shit when they see this incredible look back on the legendary series. 10/10.
PICTURE/ AUDIO- Nine tenths of the film consists of sit down interview footage, so it's kinda hard to botch that picture wise. The camera is stationary, so there's no disorienting movement or anything stupid to distract from the info being told. The quality is crystal clear, and when outside footage is shown (behind the scenes, deleted clips, ect) it does show its age. However, seeing as how most of that footage probably came from a crew member's private collection (undoubtedly a VHS source), nit picking it to death is useless. Plus, this is one of, if not the only way to see this extra footage. 10/10.
The audio is perfect. Since these are interviews, audio fading out then blasting your ears would just be a frustrating hassle. Perfect balance, perfect volume. If you miss anything that's spoken, it's your own damn fault. 10/10.
EXTRAS- My fingers are bleeding already from typing the first two sections, so here's a screencap of the extras. And yes, I really am that lazy.
Clocking in at four hours, the bonuses on the second disk are unreal. Everything that is left out of the film is included here. The glove featurette is really damn cool, and the extended interviews are essential. One funny thing is there's a short segment of the original stars just trashing the remake. The only extra not included on the second disk is a commentary, and it's one of the audio options on the film disk. Plus, if you order from the official website you also get a poster of the DVD artwork. In case you can't already guess, 10/10.
Order from the official site here!
Order from the official site here!
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