B Movies Blog

Hello, Movie Mavens! Welcome back to the B Movies Blog. Today, we’re popping the work of Wes Craven into the ol’ VCR. 

It should come as absolutely no surprise that I love Wes Craven (RIP). He directed one of my favorite horror franchises of all time. He wrote and directed the original Nightmare on Elm Street and New Nightmare. He also directed the original Hills Have Eyes, The Last House on the Left,  Swamp Thing, Deadly Friend, and The Serpent and the Rainbow, just to name a few. 

He’s a legend. 

One of the best cameos of all time. 

I actually met Wes Craven by accident at SXSW when he was invited to a premiere. He was super nice, and he didn’t want a bunch of fanfare around his entrance. I only got to speak to him for a few brief moments, but for me, it’s still one of my favorite little horror memories. 

I sincerely can’t tell you the first time I watched a Wes Craven movie, but I can tell you my first was either Scream or Nightmare on Elm Street. These flicks each shaped me in different ways. 

Scream established my love of meta commentary (which I know Kevin Williamson had a heavy hand in, and I don’t want to discredit that). Scream showed me it was possible to comment on horror tropes while still creating one hell of a horror franchise. 

Video source: Movieclips

Nightmare on Elm Street, on the other hand, taught me about primal fear. How do you defeat a villain that lives within the dreamscape? Freddy Krueger is a literal nightmare, and we all have to sleep at some point. THAT’S horror, baby. 

One of Wes Craven’s biggest strengths was playing off the fear and trauma we all have internally when bringing films to life. In Scream, Sidney is betrayed by someone she loves. In Deadly Friend, Paul loses someone he loves to tragic circumstances. In The People Under the Stairs, there is so much familial trauma and classism to unpack that I don’t know where to start. 

He had a way of making movies that you could just watch straight or unpack if you wanted to. *Cue the cold open to Scream (2022)* 

Video source: MoviesDestination

For fear of going on a tangent or just waxing poetically, we’ll end it here. 

RIP, Wes. 🖤