Wes Craven dead at 76

Wes Craven, father of Freddy Krueger, has passed away. The writer-director helmed a variety of horror films, thrillers, and some non-genre work during a career that stretched from LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT in 1972 to MY SOUL TO TAKE in 2010. Other titles included THE HILLS HAVE EYES, THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, SHOCKER. After a career ebb, he bounced back in the late 1990s with the SCREAM trilogy.
His most seminal work, however, was A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984), which unleashed dream-demon Freddy Krueger on the world. The film launched a franchise that led to multiple sequels, a short-lived TV series, and a 2010 remake. Craven was at times critical of the direction in which the character was taken in later films; after the original film, he was directly involved only with A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS and WES CRAVEN’S NEW NIGHTMARE, a self-referential film, in which Craven appeared as himself, while his creation seemed hell-bent upon penetrating the “real” world.
Craven died of a brain cancer. He was 76. Variety has details.

Leave a Reply