Wes Craven
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl "Wes" Cravenwas a prolific and influential American film director, writer, producer, and actor known for his pioneering work in the genre of horror films, particularly slasher films. Due to the success and cultural impact of his works in the horror film genre Craven has been called the "Master of Horror"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth2 August 1939
CityCleveland, OH
CountryUnited States of America
For me with all this stuff, both the horror films and thrillers like this, the most interesting thing is what goes on inside people's heads, ... The rest is just the setting. She is sort of trapped in her seat, with this guy a few inches apart watching her facial expressions for clues about what she is going to do and it is just so oppressive. Even when he lets her go to the bathroom she doesn't get long to unwind.
Everybody's making horror films and, to me, not especially well. I don't know if it's (due to) the corporations taking over studios or what it is. But it really calls for some young filmmakers to come in and just do something from their hearts.
The audience that would see that movie, by and large, doesn't go to see horror films, ... It was a great pleasure to make, and to see Meryl (Streep) nominated (for a best actress Oscar) for it. But most of the people I run into who loved it are surprised that I made it. When you have a name that means scares, you have to live with that.
It's a thriller, it's definitely not a horror film, but it has enough of the elements that also work in horror films like suspense.
It's obviously not buckets of blood; it's a psychological thriller, ... For me, it was kind of an announcement that I can step out of the horror context and hold my own with the best of them.
All of us have our individual curses, something that we are uncomfortable with and something that we have to deal with, like me making horror films, perhaps.
Horror films don't create fear. They release it.
I said, 'I don't know how to write a scary movie,' and he told me, 'Just pull all the skeletons out of your closet,' ... Over the weekend, I wrote The Last House on the Left , and those guys (in Boston) loved it. We shot it in 16 mm. It caused a firestorm of controversy, and off I went.
Without being on the set, I was very closely involved.
My whole family still lives there, ... I mean, where is Cleveland anymore? They're in Cleveland Heights, Burton, Willoughby, places like that. Mostly all over the eastern suburbs.
If we shot them from the front, we had to be peering over the heads of the passengers in front of them.
There is an emotionality and vulnerability. She knows what is of value and what is not. And for another thing, she's a legend in her own time. I think everyone in Hollywood takes her very seriously.
I don't know where the limits of her range are. I certainly didn't find them.
She has a quality that is missing in a lot of American girls now ...