Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy
DVD cover
Directed by	Daniel Farrands Andrew Kasch
Produced by	Daniel Farrands Thommy Hutson
Written by	Thommy Hutson
Narrated by	Heather Langenkamp
Music by	Sean Schafer Hennessy
Cinematography	Buz Wallick
Edited by	Andrew Kasch Michael Benni Pierce
Production company	1428 Films
Distributed by	1428 Films
Release date	May 4, 2010 (2010-05-04) May 23, 2012 (2012-05-23) (Region 4)
Running time	240 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy is a 2010 American four-hour direct-to-disc documentary film that chronicles the entire Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, except the 2010 A Nightmare on Elm Street remake. The documentary also features the rise of New Line Cinema. Written by Thommy Hutson, produced by Daniel Farrands and Thommy Hutson, and co-directed by Daniel Farrands and Andrew Kasch. Heather Langenkamp, who portrayed Nancy Thompson in three of the Nightmare films, served as the project's executive producer and narrator.

Farrands, Hutson, and Kasch first worked together on the documentary film His Name Was Jason. Farrands and Kasch were subsequently reunited by Paramount Pictures to create bonus features for Friday the 13th DVD deluxe editions, and they later worked together on bonus features for Farrands' The Haunting in Connecticut. According to Farrands, who reunited with Hutson shortly thereafter, they jointly decided that it was time to tell the backstories of how the various Elm Street films were created and decided to fund the entire project independently. In referencing the difficulties faced during the shooting of His Name Was Jason, the Elm Street retrospective would be produced by a smaller core group of artists and editors who were more dedicated to creating a quality film. Interviewees were asked to provide any rare footage, or behind the scenes photos, that had not been seen before. By way of example, Farrands reported that David Schow brought in a tape from his own work on Freddy's Nightmares that included ten minutes of Robert Englund footage that had never been aired. He also shared that during the shooting of the Elm Street films, cast and family members of cast would often take personal photos, which would be highlighted in the finished documentary. At the time of their interview with FEARnet, the production had shot a teaser trailer for the project, some on-location spots and B-roll, and they anticipated principal photography to require a 20- to 25-day shoot. In referencing the writing, Farrands made note that Hutson spent hours creating outlines and structural pieces for production to follow and wrote both the narration and "tens of thousands of questions for the interviewees".