Legendary horror director Wes Craven passed away this weekend from brain cancer. The auteur best known for A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream was 76. In addition to a rich legacy of surprising and scary films, Craven famously collaborated with gay writer Kevin Williamson on the Scream series and the underrated Cursed. Here, in honor of the master, are my favorite Wes Craven flicks, in chronological order.
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
An early example of Craven’s penchant for using real life sources—in this case, legends of road side marauders victimizing unwary travelers in Scotland—and exploring the complexities of violence and human nature, as a typical American family has to become as vicious as the cannibalistic mutants hunting them in order to survive. It’s an air tight, supremely suspenseful thriller with a gut punch of an ending.
Reach out and touch someone: Heather Langenkamp gets a harassing call in A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Craven first unleashed Fred Krueger, his most iconic creation, in this scrappy low budget hit, inspired by newspaper articles concerning Cambodians who died in their dreams. In this film Freddy (Robert Englund) doesn’t make quips—he’s deadly serious. Burned to death by an angry mob of parents, Krueger comes back as an avenging ghost who stalks their children in their dreams. Surrealistic set pieces and unforgettably gory murders ensue. There’s also a “final girl,” Nancy, whose portrayer Heather Langenkamp has become adored by a legion of gay fans.
There goes the neighborhood: Craven (center) with the villains of The People Under the Stairs
The People Under the Stairs (1991)
Wes Craven’s racial commentary here isn’t subtle—it ends with “Do the Right Thing” playing—but it sure is entertaining. “Fool,” a young African American, sneaks into the home of a wealthy white couple to steal their rumored inheritance and discovers a maze of booby traps and an entire population of feral children being held captive inside. Can he outsmart the pair, who are actually brother and sister and more perverted than anyone imagined? You’ll have a great time finding out, in a roller coaster ride that stands as one of Craven’s most unusual and innovative films.
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)
Craven presaged the innovations of Scream with this meta sequel pitting the “real” Langenkamp, Englund, and the director himself against an ancient demon who’s come to inhabit the persona of Freddy Krueger. Although it wasn’t a hit at the time, New Nightmare is now celebrated by fans as one of the best movies in the series. A strong through-line about the supposed impact of horror on children adds further layers to a fun, appropriately imaginative thriller.
One last scare: Cox, Jamie Kennedy, and Campbell in Scream
Scream (1996)
After a string of disappointments, this movie put Craven back on the map in a huge way. Aided by Kevin Williamson’s whip smart script and a top notch cast led by Neve Campbell, Craven created a blockbuster that managed to be both a clever commentary on the genre and an extremely scary picture in its own right.
Red Eye (2005)
Always eager to explore genres beyond horror, Craven pulled off a terrifically engrossing suspense picture with this one. Rachel McAdams is a hotel manager whose airplane seat mate (Cillian Murphy) is a sinister assassin. He attempts to blackmail her into helping him take out a government official, using her imperiled father as collateral. The first two thirds of the movie take place almost entirely on the plane, effectively wringing tension from the interplay between the two terrific actors. The finale takes us off the plane and into action territory followed by a cat and mouse game between McAdams and Murphy. And no one knows how to do cat and mouse like Craven.
Cursed (2005)
Ironically, this was probably one of Craven’s least favorite movies. It had a famously troubled production, with a screenplay that wasn’t fully ready when filming started and an apparently brilliant lead performance by Scream’s Skeet Ulrich, who dropped out when the movie went into reshoots. Still, I found Craven’s collaboration with Williamson on a Hollywood werewolf romp to be plenty enjoyable, buoyed by strong performances from Christina Ricci, a pre-Social Network Jesse Eisenberg, Joshua Jackson, and the always dependable Judy Greer as a publicist from hell. There’s also an adorable queer subplot in which Eisenberg’s school nemesis (Milo Ventemiglia) turns out to be a sensitive closet case nursing a crush on the other boy, plus cameos from Portia de Rossi and Lance Bass.
Scream 4 (2011)
I’m a big fan of the entire Scream series, even the goofy Scream 3 (which was glaringly not scripted by Williamson), but the franchise really returned to form for this one. Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette all reprise their roles along with a terrific cast of young actors including Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, and Hayden Panettiere. The movie pulls the neat trick of satirizing both the state of the horror genre in the ten years since part 3 and callow, technology obsessed youth culture. The killer’s sneering final speech provides some of Craven’s most cutting commentary to date. Perhaps it’s appropriate that this will be the final film in an unforgettable career.
