Farewell to Wes – Dread Central Writer Justin “Mr. Dark” Julian
Steve Barton
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I love telling people the story of how Star Wars changed my life.
Seven years old, day after it came out, sitting in the second row of the theater because the rest was full by the time we arrived. That star destroyer flew over my head and the entire world changed. Cops and robbers because stormtroopers and rebels. Six-shooters became blasters. Tonka became X-Wings.
Something similar happened when I was 14. A Nightmare on Elm Street had hit theaters, and I was way too young to go. But among my friends, talk started. The trailers were terrifying. That stretch-arm shot in the alley? That was in the trailer and it gave us all nightmares.
At that age, just hitting puberty, just moving past the fears of childhood, your friends were the judges of every test. You’re constantly hit with challenges to prove you aren’t a “kid” anymore. At the same time, the innocence of youth led to legends and myths sprouting like weeds.
This movie was dangerous, they said. People really died in their sleep. It was so scary that you were left with nightmares so intense they could cause heart attacks right in your bed.
Watching it became a dare. Who had done it? People lied, claimed they had, proven to be frauds when questioned about details.
When it hit VHS, my dad and I rented a VHS deck and the movie, anxious to see it. Yes, I was nervous. I didn’t believe my friends and the lore… well, I mostly didn’t.
What struck me while watching it was that it wasn’t just scary, because it was, but that it was good. Different. I’d seen several straight-to-video horror movies, and they’d been cheesy, silly. This had brains behind it, and that engaged me. Lit up my imagination.
The next week at school, of course, I bragged about how it was no big deal, and that I’d slept without nightmares for days. But as an impromptu rite of passage, Craven’s most famous work achieved two things in my life. It not only made me “cool” for one of the few times in my teenage years, it spawned a deeper love for horror and a fearlessness in what I was willing to watch and read. I’d seen Elm Street; what was out there that I couldn’t handle?
Thanks, Wes. You changed my life.
— Justin “Mr. Dark” Julian
With the tragic passing of Wes Craven, literally everyone in the industry has been reeling and expressing love for the man and his work. Several people have been writing in to Dread Central to ask if it would be cool to post their thoughts. So this Farewell to Wes feature will be their opportunity to share their feelings and their thoughts with you, the horror community.
Some will be long, some will be short, but all are important and will be featured with love and caring. It’s our honor to be able to do this for the man who gave us so very much.
Categorized:News
