Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy

Murderer. Dream demon. The bastard son of a hundred maniacs. Any way you slice it, there can only be one man–one monster–who epitomizes those words: Freddy Krueger.

For decades, he has slashed his way through the dreams of countless youngsters and shows no signs of ever resting in peace. A Nightmare on Elm Street star Heather Langenkamp is your dream guide in this thrilling “shockumentary” that takes you deeper into Freddy Krueger’s realm than ever before, featuring never-before-seen photos, behind-the-scenes footage, conceptual art, publicity materials and exclusive new interviews with over 100 key cast and crew from every Nightmare: Wes Craven, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Jack Sholder, Mark Patton, Kim Myers, Chuck Russell, Jennifer Rubin, Renny Harlin, Lisa Wilcox, Tuesday Knight, Stephen Hopkins, Kelly Jo Minter, Rachel Talalay, Lisa Zane, Alice Cooper, Patrick Lussier, Miko Hughes, Monica Keena, Brendan Fletcher, Ronny Yu and many more.

So get ready for Freddy in the definitive account of modern cinema’s eternal bogeyman and what has been called the most frightening and imaginative horror franchise in motion picture history!

— DVD Sleeve Summary

Release Date: May 4, 2010 (DVD)
Release Date: October 5, 2010 (Collector’s Edition)
Release Date: January 21, 2014 (Blu-ray)
Run Time: 240 minutes
Format: DVD | Blu-ray

Produced by 1428 Films and Panic Productions
Distributed by 1428 Films, CAV Distributing, DarKnight Pictures, and Los Banditos Films
Gallery: Cover Art | Cover Art (Collector’s Edition) | Cover Art (Blu-ray) | Cover Art (Preliminary)
Official Facebook Profile | Forum
Order

Features

Disc 1:

• Feature Presentation

Disc 2:

• Slashed Scenes: Extended Interviews with Cast and Crew
• First Look: Heather Langenkamp’s “I Am Nancy”
• For the Love of the Glove
• Fred Heads: The Ultimate Freddy Fans
• Horror’s Hallowed Grounds: Return to Elm Street
• Freddy vs. The Angry Video Game Nerd
• Expanding the Elm Street Universe: Freddy in Comics and Novels
• The Music of the Nightmare: Conversations with Composers and Songwriters
• Elm Street’s Poster Boy: The Art of Matthew Joseph Peak
• A Nightmare on Elm Street in 10 Minutes

Collector’s Edition includes enhanced extended interviews; 4-hour filmmaker commentary with Daniel Farrands (co-director/producer), Andrew Kasch (co-director/editor), Thommy Hutson (writer/producer) and Buz-Danger-Wallick (cinematographer); new stereo 2.0 mix; metallic slipsleeve cover; and limited commemorative poster (12×18) by Matthew Joseph Peak.

Press Release

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy officially began lensing on August 22, 2009, in and around Los Angeles. Starring and narrated by Heather Langenkamp, star of the seminal 1984 horror classic A Nightmare on Elm Street and two of its sequels (1986’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and 1994’s Wes Craven’s New Nightmare), this thrilling retrospective promises to be the definitive look at the making of the iconic horror series and the enduring legacy of its wise-cracking, razor-gloved villain: the indefatigable “bastard son of a hundred maniacs” known as Freddy Krueger.

For a quarter century, Freddy has slashed his way through the nightmares of two generations of movie-goers in one of the most artful, spectacular and terrifying film franchises in motion picture history. To characterize the Nightmare on Elm Street series as a modern cultural phenomenon would be a gross understatement. To date, the eight (soon to be nine) Elm Street films have scared up well over half a billion dollars in box office receipts in the U.S. alone, launching the careers of such Hollywood luminaries as Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption), Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2), Patricia Arquette (Medium), Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential) and even Johnny Depp. Little did Freddy’s “father,” veteran writer/director Wes Craven, know that his terrifying, childkilling creation would go on to become a cult hero and spawn his very own cottage industry.

Today, Freddy is practically a household name, with his burned visage, trademark fedora and red and green sweater appearing on everything from T-shirts to video games to action figures to comic books (Freddy was even the star of his own weekly television series!). It’s safe to say that Freddy Krueger may never rest in peace—nor should he, since his fans keep clamoring for more. Even Newsweek called him, “The most popular cinematic maniac since Darth Vader.”

“Freddy is like the ‘unholy spirit’ in the trinity of modern monsters alongside Jason from Friday the 13th and Michael Myers from Halloween,” says co-director and producer Daniel Farrands, who previously helmed the hit documentary His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th and produced the 2009 Deluxe Editions of the Friday the 13th films for Paramount Home Entertainment. A veteran of the horror genre, Farrands most recently served as a producer of the hit supernatural thriller The Haunting in Connecticut, which has grossed nearly $80 million worldwide.

“Freddy and the Nightmare films are icons of our generation, and our documentary will revisit the franchise in an exciting new way that will be respectful to the fans and to the films themselves,” assures Farrands. Co-director and editor Andrew Kasch (Thirsty) concurs: “The Nightmare series has long been regarded as the most high-brow and creative of the mega horror franchises, so our goal is to make a film that reflects those qualities. While His Name Was Jason was campy and off-the-wall, this documentary will offer a serious chronological account of the creative process—the hardships and triumphs behind one of Hollywood’s most iconic characters. Above all else, this is not a fluff or promotional piece for the upcoming remake but rather will focus on the original series of films that began with Wes Craven’s 1984 classic.”

“The Nightmare franchise has had such a huge impact on the genre and its fans, and is truly an important piece of horror history,” adds producer/co-writer Thommy Hutson (His Name Was Jason, Prank). “These films proved that horror could be both terrifying and dramatic, thrilling and groundbreaking. And that’s why we’re so thrilled to bring fans an extensive behind-the-scenes look into Freddy Krueger’s hallucinogenic world like never before. It’s a way of paying tribute to Wes Craven’s original vision which has inspired so many of us… and given us a few really good nightmares, too.”

In addition to the sweeping feature-length documentary, the two-disc DVD release of Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy will feature over four hours of nightmare-inducing extras, including extended interviews and an all-new episode of Sean Clark’s Horror’s Hallowed Grounds, which will give fans an exclusive tour of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street film locations.

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy will be released May 4, 2010.

Candid Photos

Andrew Kasch, Never Sleep Again co-director/editor, tweeted candid photos from the numerous interview sessions conducted with cast, crew, and other contributors. Below is an archive of the tweeted candid shots posted for fans. See Never Sleep Again’s Twitter handle for more!