Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 20, 2023

Though even some diehard movie trivia buffs may not instantly remember it, both Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi had rather long and impressive filmographies before they essayed the parts that would later probably haunt them for the rest of their careers, namely Frankenstein (yeah, yeah, yeah, Karloff is the monster not the doctor) and Dracula. Something somewhat similar also happened to Robert Englund, though frankly his pre-A Nightmare on Elm Street filmography, while quite notable, is nowhere near as long as either Karloff's or Lugosi's before their famous "horror movie monster" star turns. This very appealing documentary gets into quite a bit of background on Englund's career, both pre- and post-Freddy Krueger, and it should certainly be enjoyed by fans of either the A Nightmare of Elm Street franchise or Englund himself.

Englund is on hand throughout this piece offering some fun and at times rather sweet memories of both his life in general and his movie career in particular, and the documentary also includes some nice moments with his wife, Nancy. A number of other talking heads including folks like Eli Roth offer their takes on Englund and Freddy Krueger, and the documentary also delves into some of those aforementioned other films in Englund's oeuvre. There's kind of a refreshing lack of "behind the music" (and/or "horror movie") drama in terms of personal peccadilloes and the like, and the result is a nicely informative but also quite intimate feeling portrait.

Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinedigm with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer (often) in 1.78:1. As tends to be the case with the career retrospective documentaries, there is a glut of material from a variety of sources, some of which are in pretty ragged shape. Some of the archival videotape in particular can look pretty shoddy at times (see screenshot 9 for just one example), and even some of the films clips are in less than optimal shape, though several of them look great. All of the contemporary interview segments offers excellent detail and nicely robust palette.

Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which may be a bit of (no Freddy Krueger pun intended) overkill, since so much of this piece is simply talking head material, where frankly things are anchored front and center. The surround channels can occasionally open up during some of the film clips, but one way or the other even without an onslaught of immersion, the track provides excellent fidelity and clarity. Optional English subtitles are available.

Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Horror Icons (HD; 20:00) is a fun piece looking at some memorable monsters and the actors who portrayed them, though there's a kind of curious emphasis on more modern characters, with only some passing references to, say, Karloff and Lugosi.


• Nightmare Cafe with Jack Coleman (HD; 4:26) offers Coleman reminiscing about working with Englund.


• A Conversation with the Directors (HD; 5:38) offers Gary Smart and Christopher Griffiths , the co-directors of this documentary.


• Robert Englund: Chatterbox (HD; 4:39) is a joking tribute to Englund's verbosity.


• A Peek Behind the Curtain: Dance Macabre (HD; 3:09) is a brief look at one of Englund's lesser remembered efforts.


• Official Trailer (HD; 2:25)

Additionally, packaging features a slipcover. It looks like Cinedigm is also offering a SteelBook edition available as a Wal-mart exclusive.

Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story may not be overly revelatory, but it has a few surprises up its shredded sleeve in terms of some of Englund's career zigs and zags. Technical merits are generally solid, and the supplements very enjoyable. Recommended.