Since 1972 with "Last House on the Left", Wes Craven has made a living scaring the poop out of moviegoers. While a lot of writers only hope to get a couple of classic movies under their belt, Wes Craven's list of movies span over three decades. Unfortunately, Wes Craven passed away on Sunday, August 30th at the age of 76.
Rather then babble on about his life, we have taken the time to put together our thoughts on Wes Craven, or more specifically, our first experience with one of Wes Craven’s movies.
"I wasn't allowed to watch scary movies growing up in my house, but every so often I'd go to a friend's house and catch a movie. The first time I saw a Freddy Krueger movie was 1992 at a friend's house. I laughed at house he was killing these kids and in awe of how he manipulated reality and the dream world. He wasn't just some scary guy with claws. He was a comedian who took pride in making sure every death had a punch line and a meaning. I would eventually go back and watch them all and see how his character evolved movie to movie. Wes Craven created a character that will live on forever."- Mark Anthony Lynch
"The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Wes Craven actually happens to be my earliest memory of his work. I have a very distinct memory of the first “A Nightmare on Elm St “ movie. I recall as a child walking in on my mother and brother watching a dimly movie. There is a girl standing there and a person who is completely covered in darkness is walking towards her. The thing is his arms were long as all get out.
Eight-year-old Lovell was both confused and intrigued by the image. I quickly sat down to figure out what the heck was going on. The camera panned to the young lady as she exclaimed, “Please god…”. The camera quickly pans back to the other figure, which was now in plain view. His face was horribly scared and he put his clawed hand to his face and retorted, “ This… is god”. He then chased after the girl. Watching it back know, it is pretty hilarious. As a kid I was terrified… and I loved every minute of it."- Lovell Porter Vavel editor
"One film changed all that and that film was A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. As an only child I was privy to an access of things most of the kids in my neighborhood could never see." "When I got my hands on A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET it was the first time I was accepted by many of my future peers because it was the film they were all not allowed to watch.
Most people (except my mother) are unaware of how horror films terrified the s*** out me. Nightmares were a common thing in the Brown household and to see Wes Craven’s masterpiece created it quite a stir within myself. Finally a film spoke to me and was more than just a barrage of killing of teenage campers (which I enjoyed as well) and took the slasher genre in a new direction."- Travis Brown *see more of his tribute here*
