2. “Filmmaker Wes Craven has consistently and
imaginatively scared movie audiences since the
early 1970s. His films encompass a variety of
styles, elements and themes, from the nihilistic
existentialism of The Last House on the Left to
the successful A Nightmare on Elm Street
(which sent horror in a bold new direction), to
the hallucinatory dreamscapes of The Serpent
and the Rainbow.” –
John Kenneth Muir Author of The Art of Horror
3. About Wes Craven
• Born on Aug. 2, 1939 in Cleveland, OH, Craven was raised in a fundamentalist Baptist
home by his father, Paul, and his mother, Caroline, both of whom instilled the idea that
movies were the work of Satan. Seeking out something to fill his imagination, Craven
turned instead to literature
• Wes Craven studied and majored in Physcology and Literature he then gained his
masters in Philosophy he then began teaching humanities and modern drama at
Clarkson college, he brought his own camera on whim from a pawn shop and began
making short movies with his own students.
• Craven had an ephiany that he wanted to make films as a career so he moved to New
York city and took a job as a messenger for a post production company, he worked his
way up to assistant manager a independent films company gave craven the opportunity
to make his own horror flick that would
soon become a cult classic
The Last House On The Left.
• Craven went onto creating the horror classics
Of Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills have eyes
And the Scream series.
4. “Everybody's making horror films “For me
and, to me, not especially well. I with all
don't know if it's (due to) the this stuff,
both the
corporations taking over studios horror
or what it is. But it really calls films and
thrillers
for some young filmmakers to like this,
come in and just do something the most
from their hearts.” interestin
g thing is
what goes
on inside
On horror movies: "It's like boot camp for the psyche. people's
In real life, human beings are packaged in the flimsiest heads, ...
of packages, threatened by real and sometimes horrifying The rest
dangers, events like Columbine. But the narrative form puts is just the
these fears into a manageable series of events. setting.”
It gives us a way of thinking rationally about our fears."
5. Craven’s Cinematic
•
Style
Craven creates his horror film’s based on the fears surrounding the time period so
that the audience can relate to the film : “In retrospect, it's usually pretty easy to look at
horror movies and see the influences of the time. And I think right now, with the post-9-11 world
and Iraq, creative people are almost being goaded to look at things in the strongest way
possible. If you look at the Academy Awards [movies], those are films about real issues. I think
everybody is saying, 'We have to talk about the nitty-gritty stuff here.' It's not the time for
confections. [March 2006]”
• “Horror films don't create fear. They release it.” Craven doesn’t aim to induce
fear into his audience instead he aims to help release the audiences fears by helping
them face them through his films.
• “The first monster you have to scare the audience with is yourself.”
Craven believes in adding originality to films and taking ideas and inspirations from
the own fears you face and the demons inside yourself, the side of human nature that
isn’t so kind.
6. Wes Craven On Being a Film
Maker
http://youtu.be/AaWg50QG5dM
