This Day in Horror History: Remembering Wes Craven on His Birthday
Josh Millican
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It’s been almost five years since Wes Craven passed away on August 30th, 2015, and for horror fans of a certain age, it’s still an opened wound. Today, on what would have been the Master of Horror’s 81st birthday, we look back at some of his greatest achievements.
Craven exemplified 1980s era horror as the mastermind behind the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Amazingly, he changed the game AGAIN in the 1990s, teaming up with writer Kevin Williamson on the Scream franchise.
In addition to these powerhouse series, Craven helmed some truly fantastic stand-alones, films like Shocker, The People Under the Stairs, and Red Eye.
Check out the video from our friends at WatchMojo below; it’s a retrospective of the filmmaker’s Top 10 movies. Will your favorite We Craven movie make the list?
Trivia:
He nearly turned down the option to direct the hit Scream (1996) because the first scene with Drew Barrymore reminded him too vividly of the climax sequence of The Last House on the Left (1972), his first film. (Source)
Craven developed the “evil house” premise for the computer game Wes Craven’s Principles of Fear. Although the game won About Game’s Bronze Medal award for Interactive Fiction when the prototype was demonstrated at the 1997 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Atlanta, the game was never completed, due to the financial failure of the game’s publisher. (Source)
Craven based the story of A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) on a news report about a group of young men who died in their sleep during horrific nightmares despite having no history of health problems and showing no specific cause of death. Also, Freddy Krueger’s appearance (especially the dirty clothes and hat) was inspired by a hobo who Craven saw staring at him through his window one day when he was age 10. (Source)
Feel free to share some of your favorite Wes Craven films or memories in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also carry on the convo with me personally on Twitter @josh_millican.
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