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Never Sleep Again - The Elm Street Legacy CAV Distributing Corporation - 2010 | |
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Disc One There are behind the scenes photos and footage that will excite even the diehard fans. But the real draw is the amazing amount of background information given to each production. It's almost mind boggling to think of what went into gathering, organizing and putting together this project. A labor of love would be accurate. For me the biggest highlight is the reflection on Wes Craven's ground breaking original masterpiece. It's awesome hearing Craven go back to his origins for making the film and the things that inspired him. The newspaper article of the person who died in their sleep. The man he saw staring up at him wearing a fedora hat under the street light outside his house when he was a boy. The reason he choose the Freddy's sweater to be green and red. Plus the cast and drew tell great stories of what they did while making the classic. The only noticeably missing person is actor Johnny Depp. The thing most discussed about Part Two is that it's known as the most gay film in Hollywood history. The reasons for the distinction and there are many, is brought up by cast & crew. Wes Craven speaks about how he wanted to really open up things in the third ELM STREET film DREAM WARRIORS, but he couldn't focus on it because he was finishing his film DEADLY FRIEND. So New Line Cinema brought in the team of Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont to improve the script and they lightened things up from what Craven and his co-writer Bruce Wagner were doing. Renny Harlin was struggling big time and took it upon himself to go back multiple times to New Line to get the gig for directing NIGHTMARE 4. Bob Shaye says they finally gave in and agreed to give Harlin he job because he was so big physically, it looked like he could handle the heavy work load. New Line Executive Mike De Luca was a fan of the late 80s/early 90s "Splatter Punk" writing and approached John Skipp & Craig Spector to write a script for the fifth ELM STREET. Unfortunately New Line hated it, so they went to David J. Schow and he gave it a shot. His script was turned down also, so Leslie Bohem ended up doing the script that was used. New Line was also impressed with Director Stephen Hopkins so they recruited him to bring his incredible visual style on board for THE DREAM CHILD. New Line gave long time employee Rachel Talalay the director reins for the sixth entry, FREDDY'S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHTMARE. This may have been a good company move but the results were honestly the weakest film in the entire series. After the failure of lackluster part six, New Line wisely went back to the creator Wes Craven, who masterfully created A NEW NIGHTMARE. .Craven talks about meshing the reality of how the first film affected the main cast & crew's lives. He even asked each person if they would be okay if he integrated things that had happened and were happening in their individual lives. It seems like everyone felt confident he would do them right and he didn't disappoint. The results were in a very strong film, which was ahead of it's time and brought scares back to the series. We get to hear the long and winding history of FREDDY VS. JASON. I definitely enjoyed the way the film turned out by I will always be curious to know what it might have been like if legendary Special Make-Up Effects artist Rob Bottin would have got the chance to make the film. Thinking of his amazing work as an artist, I can only imagine how brilliant Bottin might have made it. Disc Two Slashed Scenes Extended Interviews
with Cast and Crew This 2-DVD set had me watching for what seems like months on end. I enjoyed the entire package. First rate, well researched and presented in ways any DVD enthusiast would appreciate, this has got to be something you get. If there is only one DVD you buy this year, it should be NEVER SLEEP AGAIN.
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