As I stated earlier the older I get the more often I have to
say goodbye to my heroes and inspirations ant that includes the ones that I
always admired and helped me move forward in my career and aspirations.
Wes Craven was one of those individuals that gave me that
direction. As I stated on Social Media this week that I don’t know where I
would be without his visions and words and I meant every part of that
statement.
I choose not to go into too much details but the story is that there was a tramatic event in my life that I needed to deal with and on one of those evenings Nightmare on Elm Street was on USA and my issues seemed to go away for two hours and it is Craven that I had to thank for that as well as another time where Scream served this purpose as well.
Professionally I often cite many of the audio commentaries on his films
that helped me along the way to what I am now as a filmmaker.
Wesley Earl Craven was born in Ohio 1939. Due to his parents
strong religious beliefs the only films that Craven was allowed to watch were
approved Disney films and nothing else and in his childhood he witnessed a
vagrant walking down the street past his home wearing a dirty sweater and a
fedoria.
When he became aware that he was being watched he starred at
Young Craven who soon hid from the window and soon after waiting and being sure
that the man was gone he went back to the window only to find that the man was
still standing outside the window and soon walked to the door seeming to relish
in causing fear to this child.
This incident would in the future serve as one of the
inspirations for Freddy Kruger.
Craven would go on to become a teacher ranging in
instruction of English to Humanities at colleges and soon began to make his own
films on 16mm.
Looking for a new direction Craven took a job making industrials
before meeting Sean Cunningham and collaborating on their first feature film.
Last House on the Left was essentially a remake of Ingmar
Bergman’s The Virgin Spring telling to story of two teenage girls who when
going to a concert are soon kidnapped, raped and murdered by three escaped
criminals who in a twist of fate find themselves seeking refuge at the home of the
parents of one of the girls who deduct the fate of their daughter and the
revenge that they take on her killers.
To avoid fainting keep repeating, It’s only a Movie, It’s
Only a Movie was the add campaign used for the films and Last House on the Left
was unflinching in it’s content and later served as an inspiration for the
Texas Chainsaw Massacre with it’s documentary feel and was often edited in
theatres leading to various cuts that are floating around in the world and the
film was banned in the UK.
Craven and Cunningham’s follow-up to Last House on the Left
didn’t disappoint viewers. Telling the story of a vacationing family that runs
afoul of a band of cannibalistic Bandits in the Nevada Desert.
The Hills Have Eyes
again shocked viewers and made Craven a well-known face among Horror Aficionados and was the beginning of
the “In Jokes” Between Wes Craven and Sam Raimi as in Hills Craven has half a
poster of Jaws to symbolize that Jaws is Half as Scary as Hills and Sam Raimi in
Evil Dead showed a quarter of the poster of Hills to say that Hills was a
Quarter as scary as Evil Dead. This Joke would be a back and forth between
these Masters of Horror for years to come.
Craven went on to work on many other films around this time
including many Made for Television Films as well as Deadly Blessing which was
shot in my old stomping grounds of Waxahachie, Texas
Craven brought life to
the comic hero Swamp Thing with Dick Durrock and Adrianne Barbeau.
In 1984 a struggling distribution company approached Craven
to direct their first feature film to be released inhouse. Inspired by both the
incident with the vagrant as well as an article about the death of a young
Cambodian refugee that had earlier refused to sleep Craven penned the script
about a group of teenagers that are stalked by an unseen entity in their dreams
only to find that the culprit is a man that their parents murdered years prior.
While these children are being picked off one by one by this
villain in a dirty hat with knives for fingers it all falls to Heather Lankencamp’s
Nancy Thompson to face off against this monster.
A Nightmare on Elm Street was by far Craven’s most
successful film and not just took Craven’s career to the next level but
launched the careers of Bob Shaye, and Johnny Depp as well as making New Line a
major Studio in Hollywood and “The House that Freddy Built”.
The films antagonist Freddy Kruger became an Icon of Horror
and Robert Englund became synomious with the character through 5 sequels, a
spinoff, a television series, a crossover film, comics, video games, and a best
selling Halloween costume among other Halloween sales as well as the less
recieved 2010 Remake.
With the exception of writing the third film Craven largely
distanced himself from the franchise as he felt that Freddy had become a
wisecracking “Bafoon” in the sequels and he also took issue with the sales of
the costumes as Freddy was a Child murder and now children were dressing as
him.
After Nightmare Craven became a better known face in the
genre and in main stream entertainment as well bringing more iconic films to
life In this era of his life.
The Films have a
following in their own right.
Shocker tells the Story of a executed criminal Horace Pinker that manages to move from body to body while not a big hit upon it's release it has gained it's following in recent years.
Using the backdrop of an urban house of horrors The People Under the Stairs gives us particularly evil villains that not only torture their victims but keep their tenets in the houses that they own under torment as well.
The Serpent and the Rainbow is regarded as one
of the most frightening films of the 90s educating us on real zombies and voodoo in Haiti.
In 1994 with his name above the title Wes Craven brought
life back to Freddy Kruger with New Nightmare. A different direction for the
franchise New Nightmare followed the makers of the Nightmare series being
stalked by a demon that has taken the form of the horror icon. The only one
that can face off against this entity is Heather Lankencamp herself while
Craven tries to write the story to keep this monster at bay.
New Nightmare is one of those films that is a dividing line
between the Nightmare fans as the traditionalists hated the flick and others
like myself loved the direction that the film took.
As I stated earlier that the 90s were not a good time for
the Horror genre as the slasher craze had inflicted much damage to the art but
that was all about to change.
Kevin Williamson one night after watching a television
documentary about The Gainesville Murders in the early 90s soon found the
inspiration that he needed to create a new type of horror film that would
revitalize the genre as well as the industry for years to come.
Writing a script about a series of murders in a small town
that have been inspired by various horror films essentially making the
characters aware that they are in a “Scary Movie” which was the original title
of the film.
Williamson soon sold the script to Dimension Films and with
Williamson’s lack of directorial experience the studio felt that it needed a
more experienced genre director to helm this project and they found that
director in Wes Craven.
Scream told the story of Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) who
was the central figure in the film dealing with the murder of her mother in the
town of Woodsboro and the stalking from a killer wearing a ghostface mask who
taunts her with calls from a cell phone.
A breakthrough hit in 1996 winning massive awards and
quickly finding it’s audience with the MTV generation Scream quickly found it’s
imitators and a sequel was inevitable and quickly put into production.
With Craven and Williamson once again at the Helm Scream 2
followed Sidney and the other survivors in College being stalked by another
killer donning the Ghostface attire with a strange connection to the first
film.
While Scream 2 was a massive success it was plagued with
issues including security as the original script was leaked on the internet and
rewrites had to be done on the fly and many of the cast and crew didn’t even
know who the killer was until it was shot and even had bets among themselves on
the outcome.
After Scream 2 Craven felt to branch out and take a hiatus from
horror and helmed the Meryl Streep starring film Music of the Heart which under
his direction Streep received an Oscar nomination. This was Craven’s only
non-Horror Film.
With Williamson unavailable to continue with the Scream
films Craven chose to remain on as director to conclude the trilogy that he had
helped create.
Scream 3 finished out the trilogy with Sidney and the other
characters going to Hollywood to face off against the third incarnation of
Ghostface and his ties to the entire series.
After Scream 3 Craven focused most of his efforts as an executive
producer with Wishmaster , They and the Dracula 2000 series which was helmed by
Scream editor Patrick Lussier and many other writing efforts such as 2006’s
Pulse he did however return to the directing reteaming once again with Kevin Williamson
to make the Scream styled Werewolf flick Cursed as well as the less received My
Soul to Take.
Looking more toward the Thriller Genre Craven also directed
Red Eye telling the story of a young woman being held captive by a Terrorist on
a flight in order to facilitate an assignation of one of her clients who is an
upcoming politician.
In 2011 Craven once again returned to Woodsboro to reunite
with Neve Campbell as well as franchise stars David Arquette and Courtney Cox
to helm Scream 4 and introduce a new cast of characters to a new audience
making reference to the recent trend of Remakes.
While originally planned as a new trilogy Scream 4 became a stand-alone
entry to the franchise and the decision was made to turn Scream to a television
series on MTV with Wes serving as a Executive Producer.
On August 30th 2015 Wes Craven passed on bringing to an end
the life of a Man that entertained and frightened generations as well as taught
us various lessons in our culture and reality in general.
Soon after his passing was announced the outpour on social
media from all of his fans and collaborators thanking him for his inspirations
and the Honor of working with him.
Like many filmmakers Craven has in fact found a form of
immortality as where ever Freddy Kruger is seen you will always think of Wes
Craven and people will always see that white ghostfaced mask every Halloween in
various incarnations and that is not his only Legacy.
New Generations are discovering his films on Bluray and
streaming Media Scream Factory is due to release Shocker, The People Under the
Stairs and many of his other classics among others.
So tonight sit back and toast with a beverage of your choice
and turn on one of the flicks and enjoy the life of a man that honored us with
his presence and his visions and Nightmares.
I know I always will.
Goodbye Wes Craven…You are already Missed.
