Product Description
Nightmare On Elm Street, A: Special Edition (Dbl DVD)
Additional Features Though a barrage of inferior sequels and ceaseless marketing has somewhat dulled Freddy Krueger's menace, the subconscious-stalking slasher fiend was never more frightening than in writer-director Wes ( Scream, The Hills Have Eyes) Craven's original Nightmare on Elm Street feature, which has been bolstered by fresh supplemental content in this new two-disc set. Played to the hilt by character actor Robert Englund (who's still enjoying his status as Hollywood's King Boogeyman in films like 2001 Maniacs), Krueger was a diabolically novel movie villain, a pitiless child murderer who pursued the offspring of the parents who killed him through their dreams, and butchering them with a horrific knife-fingered glove whose wounds would be inflicted in the waking world as well as in their sleep. Craven's mix of suspense, gore, and surrealism struck a major chord with audiences in 1984, which lead to a lengthy Freddy franchise and the elevation of parent company New Line Cinema from second-tier distribution house to major Hollywood studio. It also helped establish Craven as one of horror's most dependable (and profitable) filmmakers, and gave a first-time actor named Johnny Depp a memorable debut as the boyfriend of embattled heroine Nancy (Heather Langenkamp). The Infinifilm Special Edition is not the definitive presentation of A Nightmare on Elm Street--minor deleted scenes that have been featured in other DVD releases are not present here, and the version presented in this set is the R-rated edit, which means that the few seconds of splatter trimmed from the picture by the MPAA prior to its theatrical release are still missing. But the new featurettes--on the making of the film, New Line's post-Nightmare horror efforts, and an interesting look at the science and philosophy of dreams--are all well-produced and informative, and offer interviews with most of the major players involved in the production, from Craven and Englund to producers/New Line heads Robert Shaye and Sara Risher. Two commentary tracks--one vintage, with Craven, star John Saxon, Langenkamp, and cinematographer Jacques Haitkin, and the other new, which adds Risher, Shaye, and co-stars Ronee Blakeley and Amanda Wyss to that line-up (but without Saxon)--are also included, as are three alternate e
