Halloween is a time for horror, so let'skeep the month of October rolling along with a look at one of the directors on the Mount Rushmore of Horror Directors*: Wes Craven. He's the man behind two of the biggest horror franchises of all time: A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream, as well as two of the biggest indie horror sensations of the 70s: The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes.
His name alone was synonymous with horror, so much so that he often lentit to horror flicks like Wes Craven Presents Dracula 2000and Wes Craven Presents They, giving them an air oflegitimacy they wouldn't have otherwise had—and frankly often didn't deserve. He often cameoed in his own films, and sometimes even gavea boost to his friends' projectslike John Carpenter's Body Bags and Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Craven also made quite a few television movies, at a time when television was viewed as a lesser art form. Among them are Stranger in Our House with Linda Blair, Invitation to Hell with Robert Urich and Susan Lucci, and Night Visions with James Remar and Loryn Locklin. Craven's films are also notorious for having their budgets slashed during production. In fact, it wasn't until his late 90s renaissance with the Scream franchise that he ever really got a chance to run wild with a big budget.
Though his early work is defined by a down and dirty, almost documentary like flurry of activity in front of the camera, he came to embrace the lighter side of horror in his later years. He even made a bizarre detour into the world of drama with the Oscar nominated Music of the Heart (aka Mrs. Holland's Opus). However, no matter the quality of his work, his filmography is united by a clean, classic style, and a mastery of tone from which other directors working in the genre could take more than a few lessons.
But, as we always do, let's start at the beginning...