On this date in 2015, Wes Craven, one of the most influential Horror filmmakers to ever live, passed away. I, perhaps, like many others, felt an immediate connection to Wes Craven. Not because of the many films he made per se, but because of the human, the man who made those films.
Horror Maestro
Most Horror fans will recognize Craven’s work. Films such as:
- The Last House on the Left (1972)
- The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
- Deadly Blessing (TV – 1981)
- Swamp Thing (1982)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
- The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1985)
- Deadly Friend (1986)
- The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
- Shocker (1989)
- The People Under the Stairs (1991)
- Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)
- Vampire in Brooklyn (1995)
- Scream (1996)
- Scream 2 (1997)
- Music of the Heart (1999)
- Scream 3 (2000)
- Cursed (2005)
- Red Eye (2005)
- My Soul to Take (2010)
- Scream 4 (2011)
Unfilled Artist
Not all of Craven’s filmography is exceptional (I’m looking at you, Deadly Friend, Cursed, and The Hills Have Eyes Part II!), but what is clear is that Craven made films that were distinct, memorable, horrifying, thoughtful, and impactful. I identified with Craven, and still do, on a personal level because he was a college teacher at one point just like I was. He felt unfilled in that profession and dropped everything to chase the dream of being a filmmaker, just as I did many years ago. Like many independent filmmakers, he struggled to escape the confines of the genre he was most successful in, eventually giving in and owning his love for it.
Academia, Mythology, Symbolism
What is most interesting to me was his gentle nature, scholarly attitude and demeanor, and thoughtful mind behind the films he made. Craven infused his films with symbolism, mythological concepts, and powerful themes related to religion, classism and racism, gender politics, and the deconstruction of the Horror genre he was working in with both New Nightmare (1994) and the Scream films (1996 – 2001). With these films, Craven constructed meta-narratives that spoke to and about the very nature of how we consume and interact with Horror films.
Layered Work
Each time I sit down to rewatch a Wes Craven film, I come away with something new that I didn’t notice before, making me realize that most of his films work best after multiple viewings because of the many layers he wove into them. On the surface, watching a film like A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) could just be a slasher film about a monster who haunts teenagers dreams, but upon subsequent viewings, the audience is forced to ask what role the parents have in causing their children to suffer, and the anemic if not downright absent role parental authority plays in the film.
Life of Sacrifice
But I need to come back to my personal connection with Wes Craven even though I never met the man. When he passed, I was devastated, which is strange considering celebrity deaths do not often affect me except for when Prince shuffled off this mortal coil. I think this was because Craven sacrificed and suffered for his dream of living a creative life.
For those of us who have toiled in obscurity, trying to make the next film or write the next book, without resources and with very little, if any, support, we understand those artists who have worked through the same things. We understand how hard and unsympathetic the world can be to those of us willing to put ourselves on the line for the sake of creating something out of nothing.
Not many do, and in Wes Craven, I felt that same spirit of independence, of creativity, of art beyond all else.
So, I end with this.
Wes Craven impacted my life when I watched his films, but more so, he impacted my life when I found out he was a flawed human, just like me. Just a man trying to live his dream, the same way many of us are trying to live.
And, for that, I thank him, and miss him.