Sunday, April 10, 2011

Movie Review: Never Sleep Again - the Elm Street Legacy

One of my favourite parts of my latest (and last) undergraduate University course is the subject matter. It's called Communications Studies 425: Film & Genre, and genre movies are exactly the focus. They have units devoted to Horror, Science Fiction, Comedy, and Suspense and I'm having a blast taking the course. My homework this weekend? In preparation for a paper I'm writing next week on the evolution of Horror in film is a documentary called Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy.

If I had to describe the film in one word it would be this: Comprehensive. Having 20 to 50 minute segments on every film in the series, the short-lived television series and the cultural influence overall, this movie goes behind the scenes on every film, talking to producers, writers, effects guys, actors, and anyone else involved in the series to give you a picture of how this franchise originated and grew.

Honestly, I was kind of expecting an hour or so of people being self-congratulatory, and in the end I got a four hour look at exactly how these movies came to be, the ideas behind the films and a look back at some of the scariest films of my childhood.

If you can find this movie - give it a look, seriously I can't think of a better examination of a film franchise than this one.

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