Wes Craven biography

Synopsis

Early Life

The creator behind such classic horror films as A Nightmare on Elm Street, Wes Craven grew up Cleveland, Ohio. Raised in a strict Baptist household, Craven saw few movies as a child because of his parents' religious beliefs. He later explained on his website that he was "allowed to see Disney films." Craven especially liked Fantasia.

After high school, Craven went to Wheaton College in Illinois. He had to take a break in his studies after the first year because of illness. Craven returned to the college and continued to explore his interest in writing, contributing to one of the college's literary magazine. He also served as literary magazine editor for a time. Craven went to earn his master's degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1964.

After finishing his degree, Craven worked as an English professor for a time. He also wrote short stories and poetry before making his name as a filmmaker.

Master of Horror

Craven made an impressive film debut in 1972's The Last House on the Left, which he wrote and directed. The movie mined human cruelty to fuel this horrific tale of teenage girls abducted by some deranged prisoners. Again the evil that people can inflicted on others provided the central conflict for another now-classic Craven film The Hills Have Eyes (1977).

In 1984, Craven gave audiences thrills and chills with A Nightmare on Elm Street. The movie featured Freddy Krueger, a supernatural killer who attacked his victims in their dreams and gave a young Johnny Depp one of his first film roles. A Nightmare on Elm Street launched a hugely successful film franchise, but Craven had little to do with any of the sequels. He only wrote the screenplay for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 (1987). In 1994, Craven returned to the character of Freddy Krueger with New Nightmare.

Craven tried his hand at directing a humor-horror hybrid with 1995's Vampire in Brooklyn starring Eddie Murphy and Angela Bassett. But he enjoyed one of his biggest hits the following year as the director of Scream, a horror film that played with and made fun of many of the genre's standard tropes and tricks. Written by Kevin Williamson and starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette, the movie brought in more than $100 million and spawned several sequels.

In 1999, Craven stepped away from horror completely for the well-received drama Music of the Heart starring Meryl Streep. Streep played a music teacher working with young urban students in the film, and she received an Academy Award nomination for her work. Red Eye (2005) proved to be another departure from his standard fare for Craven.