1. Never Sleep Again
Following four films of a decidedly political nature the number one position in this countdown had to concern movies. I considered Lost In La Mancha which chronicles Terry Gilliam's unsuccessful attempt to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote with Johnny Depp, but plumped for this instead. This four hour film wins because it is quite possibly the best horror movie documentary ever made. This is like something the great John Pilger would make were he a horror film geek. This is the definitive look at the Nightmare On Elm Street series which examines in forensic detail both the evolution of the horror icon Freddy Krueger, and the metamorphosis of New Line from a tiny independent studio into a multi-million dollar corporate behemoth. This feature covers everything you would ever want to know about the original eight-film franchise, beginning with Wes Craven's original film and ending with the 2003 box office hit Freddy vs. Jason. The documentary brings back most of the main cast and crew from each film (apart from stars Johnny Depp, Laurence Fishburne and Patricia Arquette) as they reminisce about the thrills, spills, highs and lows that the Elm Street series has given each of them. Each film is given is explored in detail and a lot of inside information is shared with us, such as Charlie Sheen pricing himself out of the role which eventually went to Johnny Depp, David Warner being the original choice to play Freddy, Renny Harlin asking actress Toy Newkirk to redub her lines because she didn't sound "black" enough, and the fact that they briefly considered introducing Pinhead at the end of Freddy vs. Jason when the two protagonists descend to hell. Being four hours long, one would assume this documentary would be a bit of a slog. However, as the credits scrolled, I popped in disc 2 straight away for the bonus interviews. You don't have to be a fan of the Nightmare On Elm Street movies to recognise the accomplishment of this documentary. The sheer scale of the work transcends the subject matter and any film fan would be enthralled by this thing: a fascinating cross between a PhD thesis and a love letter. It is sublime.