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Wes Craven, the man who brought the world Freddy Krueger, the Scream films and so much more in the pantheon of horror and beyond, has died at the age of 76.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Craven’s initial career after college was in academia, teaching English at Westminster College in Pennsylvania and humanities at Clarkson College of Technology, in Potsdam, New York. But after working as a sound editor in a post-production company in Manhattan, he was lured away by a seemingly more lucrative career in the pornographic film industry, where he worked as a writer and editor of various films using several pseudonyms, including Abe Snake.
He shifted his focus to the horror genre with a chance to direct something people would readily have admit to watching, though it was the controversial 1972 rape-revenge drama The Last House On The Left. With that success – it earned $3 million on an $87,000 budget – his film career was off and running and he went on to direct the likes of Deadly Blessing, The Hills Have Eyes and 1982’s Swamp Thing. But the biggest impact he would have on the genre and filmmaking in general came with 1984’s A Nightmare On Elm Street, which introduced the razor-gloved Freddy Krueger to the world. While he wasn’t involved with most of the sequels, he did write the third and came back for 1994’s New Nightmare, which put a post-modern spin on the idea. The meta theme continued with 1996’s Scream, which saw Craven directing Kevin Williamson’s script. The film was a big success and spawned a further three movies.
He didn’t often stray outside of genre, though he did experiment, with such films as 1999’s Music Of The Heart, which starred Meryl Streep. Still, he seemed content to be a writer, director, occasional actor and inspiration for the horror genre, with several of his movies remade and Scream generating a current TV series.
“I can see that I give my audience something,” he once told fellow filmmaker Mick Garris in an interview. “I can see it in their eyes, and they say thank you a lot. You realize you are doing something that means something to people. So shut up and get back to work.”
The family’s official statement runs thus: “It is with deep sadness we inform you that Wes Craven passed away at 1PM on Sunday, August 30 after battling brain cancer. He was 76 years old. Craven was surrounded by love, in the presence of his family at his Los Angeles home. Craven is survived by his wife, producer and former Disney Studios Vice President Iya Labunka, older sister Carol Buhrow, son Jonathan Craven with wife Rachel Craven and their two sons Miles and Max; daughter Jessica Craven with husband Mike Wodkowski and their daughter Myra-Jean Wodkowski; and Wes’ stepdaughter Nina Tarnawksy.”
Source Empire News http://ift.tt/1idT9Ap
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