And the Horror Genre loses another...

Well, today the genre so many of us love and are devoted to lost another strong personality that meant a great deal to Horror...Wes Craven. From brain cancer. I can recall listening to an audio commentary on the Nightmare on Elm Street film where Craven cracked that perhaps the boiler room building might contribute to their demise one day due to asbestos issues. I am not saying that was what caused the brain cancer that took Wes from us, but it came to mind immediately to me just the same. Certain filmmakers were active during a critical period of my development as a horror fan. I can remember so many instances of cable showing Shocker (a film I admit is loony tunes) and Deadly Friend (a film that is so tonally odd I love it) as a kid. I was nineteen when Scream (1996) became a surprise hit, and I firmly recollect the influence of his Freddy Krueger on us kids. I didn't watch The Hills Have Eyes or Last House on the Left until much later, in my 20s, but I don't deny their place as exploitation/horror stalwarts. Each film he made was a little different, and although "slasher" is attached to him, I don't think he was really that identifiable to a serial killer slicing up teenagers completely. Mutant psychos in the desert, products of too many bomb experiments. Psychotics looking to humiliate, rape, and mutilate a couple girls. A nightmare burn psycho with a dirty sweater and razor knife gloves preying on teenagers in their dreams. A teen genius using his talents to bring a girl he cared for back to life like some high school Frankenstein. A death row inmate able to move through electrical outlets, while a high schooler must stop him one way or the other. Teenage horror fans applying movie logic to attack their peers using tricks of the trade they learned by watching too many movies. A couple move into a house in the community of Mennonites soon encountering a demonic evil, resulting in the wife being literally dragged to hell by perhaps the devil himself. Bill Pullman encountering voodoo. A wacko family with a dark secret uncovered by a black kid involving "captives under the stairs".

The plots certainly are all over the place in terms of horror content, but what a career, if you stop and think about it. The topics covered (the death penalty, how normal parents can commit atypical violence when pushed over the breaking point, voodoo, cryogenics, nuclear fallout and how the effects of the environment can warp the lives of inhabitants, the effects of the Vietnam war and how the era of hippy love took a dark turn into the 70s, etc.) characters featured (wise-cracking killers, vengeful normal folks who couldn't take it anymore, horror fans a bit too influenced by the movies they watched, etc.), developments that often were unexpected (basketball decapitation, anyone? Don't tell me you saw that devil from hell coming out of the floorboard to snatch the homeowner...), and the actions committed in his films (often quite inhuman and fiendish) all really established Craven as a unique kind of filmmaker.

Let me tell you, though, he came under scrutiny by horror fans. There are (and always will be) supporters. He made several key horror films, and a few sleepers that will be re-evaluated and re-visited after today. Perhaps certain films will be re-considered as more than they are or maybe even a few of his less-valued efforts will be viewed anew for what they might offer.

Some of his films will entertain some and repel others. That won't change regardless of how long he is gone. I wish he wasn't, though. I have already ordered Deadly Friend, and plan to rent and watch a few of his films I haven't watched in a while (People Under the Stairs, The Serpent and the Rainbow) just to honor his memory and remember the past movies and the number they did on me in one way or another. Regardless of what side of the fence you are on, there's no denying he made an impact. It was loud and has lasted. It will continue to last. Craven may be taken from us, but his films will live on. No doubt, A Nightmare on Elm Street will live on long past me and the generation after.