Farewell to Wes – Guest Blog: Tom Holland
Steve Barton
|
Wes Craven was a lovely person. That sounds like a cliché, but with Wes it was true. He was always polite, guardedly friendly, and encouraging. I say guardedly because he was never effusive, but rather thoughtful. He was professorial, which makes sense because he’d been an academic at some point in his career, and there was that quality about him. As though he was a teacher in a film class, who was trying to help you with a mixture of caring and professional honesty, a man who wanted you to make the best film you could, but with your eyes open.
The terror that was in his movies, especially Last House on the Left and Nightmare on Elm Street, seemed foreign to his nature, and yet, there it was on the screen. I never knew where that came from because kindness was his default position. You felt like he never wanted to hurt anyone, that jealousy was foreign to his character, and that made him eminently likable.
A lovely human being who made some brilliant horror movies. A Master of Horror who seemed rather surprised to find himself in the genre. Rest in peace. He was an original who helped create the genre.
— Tom Holland
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
