SILVER TONGUED SILVER SCREEN: NEVER SLEEP AGAIN

Every Friday night (if possible) is something I like to refer to as FEAR FRIDAY. I subject my significant other to something gruesome and horrific on TV. She at least tolerates it by staying in the room with me, not always watching, in fact looking away at gory moments. Sometimes she's even left the room when the movie was REALLY scary. This has become a weekly event running the gamut from silent horror films of the 1920's, atomic monster movies of the 1950's, to brand new horror movies fresh from the theaters.

Last night we watched a documentary, NEVER SLEEP AGAIN, an in-depth look at the entire A Nightmare on Elm Street series sans remake. Like any good retrospective they got just about all the actors and directors back for interviews with the exception of Johnny Depp and Breckin Meyer (I guess they're too full of themselves to acknowledge the films that GAVE them careers. Oh well). Wes Craven, Robert Englund, and even Alice Cooper give extensive anecdotes, all very interesting, all good. They even had an interview with an actress whose only role in the film was to take her clothes off! Another reason why I like horror movies :)

Now, I own all the Nightmare films and have watched them numerous times. I have watched the featurettes and special features on the dvds. I'd like to think I know quite a bit about the series. This documentary contained information I had no idea about, like the fact that Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson) wrote the original script for Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. If you recall, the Nightmare films were owned by New Line Cinema. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is owned by New Line Cinema. If Peter Jackson hadn't of been hired to write a script for Freddy Krueger we might never have received the Lord of the Rings! I also had no idea that Brad Pitt originally auditioned for the part of Jesse in Nightmare 2 and ended up in an episode of Freddy's Nightmares (hell yes, the documentary even has a portion dedicated to the short lived tv show Freddy's Nightmares).

Each film in the series receives a lengthy portion of time dedicated specifically to that one film. It averages out to about a half hour for each film. If you're keeping track and know your Nightmare chronology that would make the documentary 4 hours long... IT IS 4 HOURS LONG! How awesome is that?! It covers every film from the first film in 1984 to 2003's FREDDY VS JASON. The greatest thing about this documentary is that when you're watching it, it does such a good job of capturing the films that by the end you'll want to watch one or more of the movies yourself. That's high praise. By the way, the documentary is directed by Daniel Farrands, the original script writer for Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (my personal favorite sequel in the Halloween franchise.) The coolest nugget of info it provides is the original ending for Freddy Vs Jason... you'll have to see it to believe it. Check out the image below for a taste...

As far as documentaries go, it's not for everybody. It appeals to a specific audience, the horror film aficionado. In that, it is brilliant. I loved it and I thought it did a thorough job. Worth the investment. It is available to buy on dvd and blu ray and also streamable on netflix. This is an essential documentary for any fan of the series. Check it out!

Overall ranking: 7 out of 10.