Do we like Wes Craven?
Our score: 8 out of 10. A decent record with one real talking point, the brutal violence of his first film, and plenty of warm tributes from people who worked with him.
Wesley Earl Craven was born in Cleveland in 1939 and took the long way round to Hollywood. He studied English and psychology at Wheaton College, did a philosophy masters at Johns Hopkins, then taught university humanities and high school before he ever touched a film set. He started as a messenger and post-production assistant before directing his first feature.
That first feature, The Last House on the Left (1972), is the stoush that follows him around. Craven meant it as a comment on the graphic violence in Vietnam War news coverage, but plenty of viewers read it as endorsing the violence. It was banned in the UK, and some cinemas cut it or were pressured to destroy their prints. The backlash reportedly shook him and cost him serious projects, which pushed him towards horror.
On the harm check, the record is thin in a good way. We found no harmful words of his own about LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or the planet, no campaigning, no conspiracy rabbit holes, and no pattern of working with people who push that stuff. The one argument is artistic: whether the violence in his early work was a critique or a thrill. That's a fair debate about a film, not a mark against the man.
The arc from there is a proper horror career: Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street, then the Scream series that he directed all the way to Scream 4 in 2011. He also stepped outside the genre to direct Music of the Heart, which earned Meryl Streep an Oscar nomination. Not a bad run for a bloke who started out teaching high school.
On how he treated people, the tributes are consistent. Neve Campbell said she was “devastated” after his death and credited him with her career. Kevin Williamson, who wrote Scream, said Craven took time on a stressful first day of shooting to teach him how to build tension. We found no allegations of mistreatment, and we found no complaints about how he treated crew or cast.
The recent news is posthumous. Paramount's new genre label, Paramount Primal, is developing a fresh Nightmare on Elm Street based on his original script, licensed from his estate. New Line keeps the international rights, and plot, cast and release date haven't been announced.