Sure, you've seen them, but what about how they were made? Today we're gonna check out some documentaries about some established horror movie franchises, from Nightmare on Elm Street down to Scream and things between.
Starting with Nightmare on Elm Street, there's a wonderful dvd release of the doc Never Sleep Again, so I urge you all to check it out because its rather comprehensive and amazing.
Instead, here's a vintage interview with Freddy himself, the esteemed actor Robert Englund. Englund has always been one of those rare gems of the circuit, being gracious and even cheeky and friendly about his role as the murdering madman in the sweater. While the shortest of out docs, this one is 20 minutes of the evolution of Freddy through production and years. Fun stuff!
In two parts, Friday the 13th's doc, Return to Crystal Lake has interviews with many of the actors, including Besty Palmer, whom has this wonderfully weird relationship with the film series. Matt, whom attended a horror convention and was able to see Palmer for a panel, comments on her spicy, matter-of-fact attitude on the series. Also in this doc are great inside stories on the special effects, which most of these doc will have, and you have to give these guys credit; most of these was before CGI, and so come off rawer, if cheesier, than slick new movies.
From the story of those opening bars of that haunting melody, to the mythos of The Shape, the Halloween documentary A Cut Above the Rest has tons of interviews from Jamie Lee Curtis to director John Carpenter, and lots of evolutions as they go along. Its a great doc for both fans of the movie as well as fans of horror in general.
Scream: The Inside Story is part of the Inside Story series on A&E, which is a real good movie documentary series. Scream was a relatively newer series, slicker, and smarter than old slashers of the time. Nowadays, such horror movies are a dime a dozen, but Scream was cutting edge and ahead of its time, bridging the gap between the monster slasher with true crime slasher, and the gory deaths are just the icing on the cake.
Last but not least is a doc for a movie I'm late to the party for and adore immensely. From the beforetimes of the 80s, comes Creepshow, and its doc Just Desserts: The Making of Creepshow. If you've never seen the vignette horror genre (Tales from the Darkside, Tales from the Crypt, etc), start with Creepshow. While dated and certainly corny now, this film was a delight to see, with its obviously fake bodies and scores of tempera paint blood. Stand out performances are Stephen King and Leslie Nielson.
Happy viewing!
By Dio (10/23/12)