"I believe the cinema is one of our principal forms of art. It is an incredibly powerful way to tell uplifitng stories that can move people to cry with joy and inspire them to reach for the stars."
Wes Craven, I will miss you.
I was first introduced to Wes “Master of Horror” Caven with
Scream, which still stands the test of time to this day. My thoughts on that film and the series as a whole can be found
HERE.
So I won’t speak too much about that franchise, instead I’ll focus on his other works. The man has so many “classic” horror films that if you ask any fan what their favourite Wes Craven film is, you’ll get a different answer every time.
Craven burst onto the screen with 1972’s
The Last House on the Left a terrifying look into the depravity of man. What do I remember most about this film? The tagline of course: To avoid fainting, keep repeating: "It's only a movie, only a movie, only a movie..." Without a doubt his most controversial and notorious film, being slapped with an X rating from the MPAA at the beginning and banned in multiple countries. That’s enough to get people talking about things to come.
His follow up, 1977’s
The Hills Have Eyes sealed the deal for the horror community. Wes Craven was a man to watch for. In part an homage to
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes had enough spark in it to stand apart and to this day be considered a horror classic. Again, much like his previous film, Hills was slapped with the dreaded X rating when it was first submitted. The film has a certain raw intensity that very few films these days are able to capture. The low budget shooting style suits the film perfectly. Despite many people not liking the remake, I found it to be a worthy remake. To each their own.
Of course everyone knows the film
A Nightmare on Elm Street, yet another horror classic. Here Craven gives us one of the most iconic horror villains of all time. Elm Street has the honour of being one of the select few films, to actually scare me when I first watched it. I made the wife watch it and she found it comical. I don’t think that that means the film has shown its age, I simply think she finds humour in the weirdest things. Freddy is a terrifying nightmare, one you can never get away from. Craven had a stroke of genius with the character and will forever remain a horror icon because of it.
With Elm Street, Craven got more creative with the camera. A bigger budget gave him more freedom to dream up his horrors. After a few more films, (
The Serpent and the Rainbow, Shocker, The People Under The Stairs), Craven would return to the franchise a decade later with
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. Which was a different take on the character and the series. One that was probably ahead of its time, very meta and the ground work for what was to become
Scream.
Before Craven would hit it big with
Scream, he made a film called
Vampire in Brooklyn with Eddie Murphy. I’ve never seen the film, but I remember when I was younger seeing the trailer and instantly wanting to see it. My uncle said no and for some reason I’ve never had the urge to try and seek it out. It doesn’t help that I’ve never heard a single positive thing about it.
Craven’s next series of films would be his famous
Scream trilogy, broken up by one very out of character dramatic film
Music of the Heart with Meryl Streep. I feel like once the millennium hit, people stopped caring about Craven’s output. It didn’t help that
Scream 3 was a total mess and his next film,
Cursed, was seen by nobody. There was a 5-year gap between those films and people were hoping that Cursed would be Craven’s big return to horror. They were wrong. His output after that was few and far between.
Red Eye was an enjoyable, if forgettable thriller. It would be another 5 years before his next film came out, to a critical panning and audience thrashing.
My Soul To Take was hated by a lot of people. I found it oddly enjoyable for a terrible film. Yes, I know how terrible it is. I don’t care.
Craven’s last film was
Scream 4, back in 2011. I found it to be the best since the original and thought Craven had found his way back in the good graces of the horror community. It tore down everything that the current horror generation loves and I loved it for that. Craven had a lot of good films, classic films that he will be remembered for. He also apparently has a lot of bad films, once that I didn’t know about, nor would ever really care to see. His legacy is gold in the horror community and I don’t believe anything will really tarnish that.
Will we see another Wes Craven? It’s hard to tell. He was unique in this strange way that I don’t really know if you could tell you were watching a Wes Craven film. In any event, those are big shoes to fill. It’s no surprise to me that 3 of the man’s films have been remade already. I’ll enjoy this upcoming week as I fill it with films of his: The Hills Have Eyes, Nightmare on Elm Street and maybe even one or two that I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing yet.
Rest in Peace.
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