Wes Craven: Remembering An Icon A Year After Death
By Joey Click
Today marks the one year anniversary since the passing of filmmaker Wes Craven. Today, we honor the man, the myth, the horror legend. Craven, you will always be missed.
On August 2, 1939, Wesley Earl Craven came into this world. Born and raised a strict Baptist by Paul and Caroline Craven, Wes grew up in a household unlike most. It was here where Craven, who wouldn’t see a film (ironically) until college, honed his skill as a storyteller with mountains of book by his bedside.
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Throughout his illustrious career, Craven would use this talent like Michael Jordan with a bouncing basketball and crisp-netted rim. With 1977’s The Hills Have Eye, Craven focused his film on family and fighting the forces who threaten it (also developed from his strict family dynamic). With 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, Craven used Fred Krueger as a symbol of the fear in all of us; fear of change, and ultimately, fearing fear itself. With 1996’s Scream, Craven used technology as a tool vulnerability, while flipping the genre on its head (for the second time).
Wes Craven’s ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ One-Sheet-Courtesy of Blood Relations Co.
While Craven’s accomplishments being achievements only few can truly claim, is a man only the sum of what he creates? Or is it more about how many people a man’s creations touch, and its lasting impact on a world we’re all only shortly a part of. And more importantly, how he treats the people his creations do touch.
Almost more than any other horror director, Craven was known for his good heart and great demeanor. It’s true, some filmmakers are jerkoffs, as I’ve met a few, but not Craven. While I sadly was unable to meet the man before his death, especially as Craven kept his illness a secret (something I highly respect), I’ve heard nothing but great things about the man – on media and personal interactions at many conventions. Which makes his passing even more of a hit to not just the horror genre, but the heads and hearts of every fan he touched.
On August 30th, 2015, Wesley Earl Craven left this world. Ironically stricken with cancer in his most vital asset, his brilliant brain, Wes Craven passed peacefully. Surrounded by the filmmaker’s closest friends and family, Craven went easy into the dark a year ago today. A place where, I can only hope, filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock and Bob Clark were waiting to discuss each other’s filmography.
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Though we wish you were still here, we know you’re in a better place Wes. And, when it’s all said and done, isn’t that the most important thing of all? Wes, we will meet one day, in the dark, and I’ll talk your ear off about New Nightmare, and how underrated it truly is. See you then.
RIP Wes Craven (1939-2015)
Miss Craven? Remembering the legend ? Let’s all have a moment of silence, and after, comment in the section below and tell us what Wes Craven means to you.