find us on:
Nightmare on Elm Street
Background:
“Horror films don’t create fear. They release it.” Wes Craven
Moviemaker Wes Craven is famous as a horror specialist whose landmark project A
Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) won the Critics Choice Award from the Avoriaz
Fantastic Film Festival and the French Science Fiction and Horror Film Festival.
The movie also introduced the notorious villain Freddy Krueger. First catching
critics’ attention with The Hills Have Eyes (1977, netted a Sitges Catalonian
International Film Festival’s Prize of the International Critics’ Jury), Craven
was praised for his horror movies Shocker (1989, earned an International Fantasy
Film nomination), The People Under the Stairs (1991, won a Brussels
International Festival of Fantasy Film’s Pegasus Audience Award) and New
Nightmare (1994, collected a Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award and an
International Fantasy Film nomination). Among younger audiences, Craven was
known for his teen horror trilogy Scream (1996, nabbed a Gérardmer Film
Festival’s Grand Prize), Scream 2 (1997) and Scream 3 (2000).
Despite the commercial success from the Freddy Krueger movies, Craven ironically
agreed to give up the rights to all sequels and merchandising of A Nightmare on
Elm Street (1984) to secure the director's chair for the first film. In 2002,
the co-owner of production company Craven/Maddalena Films donated several
properties and merchandise from his movies, including Scream (1996), to the
Planned Parenthood/Dream Catchers Foundation charity auction.
As for his romantic life, the filmmaker was previously married to Bonnie
Broecker (1964-1969) and Mimi Craven (1984-1987). Presently, he lives with
partner Iya Labunka (November 27, 2004 - present) in Los Angeles. He has two
children (a daughter and a son) from his first marriage.
First Movie at College
Childhood and Family:
On August 2, 1939, Wesley Earl Craven was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Paul
Craven (died in 1943) and Caroline Craven. Growing up in a devout Baptist
family, Wesley was forbidden to watch movies with the belief that they were
tools of the Devil.
Eventually, Wesley watched his first movie while studying at Wheaton College in
Illinois, where he took English and Psychology classed. Right after graduation,
he taught at the Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. He then
earned a Masters degree in writing and philosophy at Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, Maryland, before working as a Humanities and Modern Drama professor
at the Clarkson College in Potsdam, New York.
In 1964, Wes married Bonnie Broecker, with whom he has two children, Jonathan
and Jessica. Five years later, they were divorced and the children stayed with
Bonnie. Wes then married flight attendant/actress Mimi Craven in 1984, but they
separated in 1987. He now lives with producer Iya Labunka.
Scream
Career:
At age 27, Wes Craven decided to quit teaching and work as a messenger for a
film post-production company in New York City. Craven, who became interested in
experimental, art and documentary cinema, was employed as an editor and
assistant producer by exploitation filmmaker Sean Cunningham. In 1971, he became
the associate producer for Cunningham’s adult film titled Together.
Craven advanced and made his filmmaking debut as a writer and director with the
modestly budgeted horror feature Last House on the Left (1972), a tale of rape,
murder, and revenge. In the next five years, he served as a film editor and
screenwriter, although his scripts never went to production. Among his screen
credits were It Happened in Hollywood (1973) and Sweet Cakes (1976).
Craven fared better with his second attempt at screenwriting and directing in
the horror film The Hills Have Eyes (1977, also edited), in which he was handed
a Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival’s Prize of the International
Critics’ Jury. Centering on a family’s attempt to survive a cannibalistic clan,
The Hills Have Eyes is considered to be one of Craven’s best directorial works.
A year later, the new filmmaker was credited as a gaffer for the comedy Here
Come the Tigers (1978) and the cinematographer of the self-written documentary
The Evolution of Snuff (1978). He also helmed the made-for-TV horror Stranger in
Our House (1978), an adaptation of Lois Duncan’s novel that starred actress
Linda Blair. Craven’s next movies included Deadly Blessing (1981, starring
Sharon Stone), Swamp Thing (1982) and Invitation to Hell (1984, TV).
Still working in the horror genre, Craven scored huge success with A Nightmare
on Elm Street (1984), which later became an influential feature for its
signature character, Freddy Krueger (played by Robert Englund). Before long, he
harvested the Critics Choice awards from the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival and
the French Science Fiction and Horror Film Festival. The movie, which also
launched the career of actors Johnny Depp and Jsu Garcia, was developed into
sequels: A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985), A Nightmare
on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream
Master (1988) and A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (1989), as well as
the TV series “Freddy’s Nightmares” (1988-1990). However, the spin-off projects
did not perform as well as the predecessor.
Additionally, Craven’s horror movie Shocker (1989, also appeared as a neighbor)
was nominated for International Fantasy Film’s Best Film. Following the flopped
sitcom “The People Next Door” (1989) and the cop movie Night Visions (1990, TV),
the moviemaker won a Pegasus Audience award from the Brussels International
Festival of Fantasy Film for his horror comedy, The People Under the Stairs
(1991). Craven also continued with the short-lived horror series “Nightmare
Café” (1992) before reviving Freddy Krueger’s notoriety in New Nightmare (1994,
won a Fantasporto International Fantasy Film award for Best Screenplay and
earned an International Fantasy Film Best Film nomination). A year later, he
helmed the mediocre Vampire in Brooklyn (1995).
Craven marked his next success after working with screenwriter Kevin Williamson
in the self-helmed teen horror Scream (1996), which was about a group of teens
dealing with a serial murderer. He soon was given a Grand Prize from the
Gérardmer Film Festival and a Saturn nomination for Best Director. Later, Craven
completed the trilogy by making the sequels Scream 2 (1997) and Scream 3 (2000).
In the trilogy, the director also made unaccredited cameo appearances.
Amid his horror pictures, Craven detoured to the drama genre and directed Meryl
Streep, Angela Bassett, and Gloria Estefan in the biopic about a violin teacher,
Music of the Heart (1999). He then worked with actress Christina Ricci in the
horror Cursed (2005), helmed the action thriller Red Eye (2005), co-wrote the
screenplay of Pulse (2006, with Kiyoshi Kurosawa) and made the “Père-Lachaise”
segment of the collage movie Paris, je t’aime (2006).
Craven, who in 2000 was granted a Cinequest San Jose Film Festival Maverick
Tribute award and an Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival Lifetime Achievement
award, will release his self-directed/written thriller Bug, in 2007. He will
also team up with son Jonathan Craven and Alexandre Aja to remake his classic
movie, The Hills Have Eyes II (2007). Additionally, Craven is set to executive
produce the forthcoming thrillers Home (2007) and The Waiting (2007).
Awards:
