RIP Wes Craven: 6 Things to Remember About the Horror Movie King

The legendary Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream filmmaker passed away at his home in Los Angeles on Sunday 30 August, following a battle with brain cancer.

A family statement said Craven had been suffering from brain cancer.

Wes Craven, the prolific writer-director who thrilled audiences with iconic and bloody suburban slashers like “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Scream” that made his name synonymous with horror, has died.

He presided over eight “Nightmare on Elm Street” films, and in the 1980s directed some episodes of the revival “Twilight Zone” series. Craven earned an undergraduate degree in English and Psychology from Wheaton College in Illinois and a master’s degree in Philosophy and Writing from Johns Hopkins University. I said, “Are you serious?’ He looked like he needed a bath”.

“The success of the film about teenagers who are stalked in their dreams spawned a franchise of films”.

Other horror films now deemed classics quickly followed, including The Hills Have Eyes (1977) and Swamp Thing (1982).

Horror wasn’t the only genre he was good at, he directed the drama Music of the Heart, which got Meryl Streep nominated for an Oscar.

After a brief stint as a professor, he said he worked on “many hard core X-rated films” as he tried to break into filmmaking.

Actor Jamie Kennedy said he would have had “no career if it were not for Wes Craven”.

He also served as an executive producer of the upcoming feature The Girl in the Photographs which will premiere next month the 2015 Toronto Film Festival. He was not part of the current ScreamTV series on MTV, which ironically has its first season finale on September 1 and will undoubtedly have some kind of tribute to Craven. You realize you are doing something that means something to people. His last TV appearance came when the horror legend guest starred in a 2013 episode of ABC’s Castle, playing a version of himself that Rick consulted with on a case.

Ulrich, who played the masked killer in the original Scream, wrote, “So sad to hear the news about Wes”.

He is survived by his wife, producer and former Disney Studios vice president Iya Labunka, his two children from a previous marriage, Jonathan and Jessica, a stepdaughter, Nina Tarnawsky, and three grandchildren.