Post by tav7623 on Oct 5, 2010 21:07:56 GMT -5
Hello everyone tav here with part 1 of a 5 part series of reviews on documentaries about horror movies, this part will be a review of the recently released documentary about the Nightmare on Elm Street series called Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy. Now before I get on with my review I would like to explain my reasoning for choosing to write a series of reviews on horror movie documentaries as well as bring your attention to two threads that I recently made which got buried under a recent flood of new message board threads. The reasons why I chose to write reviews on documentaries about horror movies is because quite frankly I enjoy watching documentaries about the making of movies because you get to hear behind the scenes stories about making the movie as well as usually unseen behind the scenes clips, and because it seems to me that these particular type of documentaries haven’t really been discussed despite a growing number of them being made and released on DVD or as a bonus feature DVD with the movie they are about in recent years ( there have been at least a dozen or so documentaries on horror movies ranging from the Friday the 13th series, Halloween series, Jaws series (not yet released), Psycho series ( due out this month), and An American Werewolf in London). As for the two threads they are called 13 Days of Halloween and VOTE: 13 Days of Halloween, these threads are about an event I am currently holding on the message boards where I will write 13 movie reviews in 13 days. Of those 13 movies I am holding a vote to choose 7 of the movies, the vote is open to all the message board members including the message board administrators. The vote will last until Oct 13th with the top seven voted for horror movies getting reviewed, if you are interested to find out more you can find the threads in the general discussion board section.
Now on to the review.........
Pros: there is a lot of participation from the people involved with the series except for two noticeable people actor Johnny Depp (Part 1) and actress Patricia Arquette (Part 3), it incorporates a lot of behind the scenes footage and deleted scenes, discusses every movie in the series including Freddy Vs. Jason and the short running TV series Freddy's Nightmare as well as the controversy's that popped up around the each movie such as the gay undertones of part 2, the absence of Patricia Arquette in Part 4 and the debacles surrounding the making of Parts 4.5, and 6, The 2nd disc has a lot of additional bonus features including Extended Interviews, a sneek peak at Heather Langenkamp's documentary I Am Nancy, a look a Freddy Fans, a Horror's Hallowed Grounds: Nightmare on Elm Street video edition, Freddy Vs. The Angry Video Game Nerd a look back at the AVGN Freddy episode, a look into Nightmare on Elm Street books and comics, the music of Nightmare on Elm Street, the making of the different Freddy gloves, and a featurette on the making of the series movie posters.
Cons: too damn long in that it is over 4 hours long not to mention all the hours of bonus features on the second disc, is a bit repetitive when it comes to the first film in the series because they rehash a lot of the stuff found on the 2004 Nightmare on Elm Street DVD release
Overall I give Never Sleep Again a 8 out of 10 for being an engrossing but extremely long documentary about the making of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies and the impact they had on pop culture and the people who made them. I would definitely recommend this direct to DVD documentary to anyone who is a big fan of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies or to those who enjoy watching behind the scene esque making of type documentaries. This documentary is well made because it was co produced by the guy who produced/directed the decent His Name was Jason documentary and the somewhat funny 3 part Jason mockumentary found on the Friday the 13th part 4,5,6 2008/09 DVD re releases and made by some of the guys over at Dread Central who dabble in film making. Also again be warned that this documentary is Lord of the Rings Extended Editions obscenely long and that you will more than likely have to watch it in parts unless you have 4 hours to kill.
I hope you enjoyed the review I will be back in a few days with part 2 which will be a review of Halloween: 25 Years of Terror and I hope that you will participate in my 13 Days of Halloween voting.
UPDATE: Companion book- Hollywood Monster by Robert Englund (PS if you order from Englund's website you can get the book autographed)
Now on to the review.........
Pros: there is a lot of participation from the people involved with the series except for two noticeable people actor Johnny Depp (Part 1) and actress Patricia Arquette (Part 3), it incorporates a lot of behind the scenes footage and deleted scenes, discusses every movie in the series including Freddy Vs. Jason and the short running TV series Freddy's Nightmare as well as the controversy's that popped up around the each movie such as the gay undertones of part 2, the absence of Patricia Arquette in Part 4 and the debacles surrounding the making of Parts 4.5, and 6, The 2nd disc has a lot of additional bonus features including Extended Interviews, a sneek peak at Heather Langenkamp's documentary I Am Nancy, a look a Freddy Fans, a Horror's Hallowed Grounds: Nightmare on Elm Street video edition, Freddy Vs. The Angry Video Game Nerd a look back at the AVGN Freddy episode, a look into Nightmare on Elm Street books and comics, the music of Nightmare on Elm Street, the making of the different Freddy gloves, and a featurette on the making of the series movie posters.
Cons: too damn long in that it is over 4 hours long not to mention all the hours of bonus features on the second disc, is a bit repetitive when it comes to the first film in the series because they rehash a lot of the stuff found on the 2004 Nightmare on Elm Street DVD release
Overall I give Never Sleep Again a 8 out of 10 for being an engrossing but extremely long documentary about the making of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies and the impact they had on pop culture and the people who made them. I would definitely recommend this direct to DVD documentary to anyone who is a big fan of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies or to those who enjoy watching behind the scene esque making of type documentaries. This documentary is well made because it was co produced by the guy who produced/directed the decent His Name was Jason documentary and the somewhat funny 3 part Jason mockumentary found on the Friday the 13th part 4,5,6 2008/09 DVD re releases and made by some of the guys over at Dread Central who dabble in film making. Also again be warned that this documentary is Lord of the Rings Extended Editions obscenely long and that you will more than likely have to watch it in parts unless you have 4 hours to kill.
I hope you enjoyed the review I will be back in a few days with part 2 which will be a review of Halloween: 25 Years of Terror and I hope that you will participate in my 13 Days of Halloween voting.
UPDATE: Companion book- Hollywood Monster by Robert Englund (PS if you order from Englund's website you can get the book autographed)