Wes Craven's best legacy in pop culture would be his horror films that made a mark in the movie industry. Following the death of the renowned director, various commendations for his films circulated online. And as a tribute to his works, here's a list of Wes Craven films that one movie buff should not miss.
5. Red Eye
This movie was released after Wes Craven's five-year hiatus. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the movie was some sort of a "return to form for Craven" after directing the smash franchise, "Scream." It revolved around a hotel manager, played by Rachel McAdams who is travelling airborne and happened to sit beside a terrorist, played Cillia Adams. The movie was lauded by critics with Roger and Ebert noting, "After a summer of crashes, bangs, endless chase scenes and special effects that belittle the actors standing in front of them, what a pleasure to see characters in a thriller doing what people like themselves possibly could do."
4. The Last House on the Left
Released in 1972, this thriller was described as "a tad more deranged than most" by Rotten Tomatoes due to the very graphic sexual violence involved in the film. The movie was based on Ingmar Bergman's 1960 flick "The Virgin Spring" and mainly revolved on a rape-revenge fantasy. Craven's debut film clearly made an impression to filmmakers up to this day.
3. The Hills Have Eyes
The 1977 thriller movie focused on a suburban family who found themselves stuck in the Nevada desert and in a nightmarish encounter with a savage family living in the terrain. Entertainment Tonight wrote that "The Hills Have Eyes" originally got an X rating from the MPAA but eventually became one of Craven's unforgettable movies.
2. Scream
Many are claiming that the horror scene was on its deathbed in 1996 that's why when "Scream" was released that year, it acted as the genre's defibrillator. It also paved the way for some Hollywood actors to become instant household names like Neve Campbell, who played the female lead, and Drew Barrymore, whose appearance in the movie earned praises from critics and fans alike. According to What Culture, while shooting the scene where Barrymore's character was talking to the Ghostface, Craven was telling "true life animal cruelty" on the other end that helped the actress give very believable reactions. Almost two decades since the movie's release but its impact is still very much felt up to this day. In fact, MTV's recently concluded TV adaptation of the film was still able to put a fair amount of scare to its viewers.
1. A Nightmare on Elm Street
This film easily tops almost all the lists of most influential films by Wes Craven because of its originality. What Culture also wrote that Craven got the script inspiration from reading articles about the death of South East Asian men staying in Los Angeles. The articles stated that all these men died in their sleep. Craven also translated his childhood experience with a trench coat-wearing man who stared at him through a window to also become one of his inspirations to this horror masterpiece. The films centers on Freddy Krueger killing the children of all the parents of Elm Street who burned him years before for being a child killer. The film did well in the box-office, garnering a $25 million in total with only $1.8 million budget. To this day, Freddy Krueger still remains as one of the most popular icons in the horror genre.
Wes Craven devoted more than half of his life creating horror films but eventually succumbed to cancer on August 30, 2015. His contributions to the movie industry will always be remembered as they leave us screaming.
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