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Wes Craven
Wes Craven was born in cleveland in 1939. Son of Caroline (née Miller) and Paul Craven After an unhappy childhood, he left Cleveland to study for a degree in English Literature,in Illinois. But he left the school for one year before returning to study psychology. In 1963, he took a degree in writing and psychology and in 1964 he took a Masters from J. Hopkins University. While he was a humanities college teacher, Wes married Bonnie Broecker, mother of both his children, Jonathan and Jessica. But after few years, they separated, and the children stayed with Bonnie.
Wes left his job as a teacher, and after employment as taxi driver, he became a sound editor for a post-production company in New York. And after the co-direction of Sensual Paradise (1971) with Sean S. Cunningham, Wes made the horror movie The Last House On The Left (1972). The movie, released in August 1972, was a big success as was his second movie, The Hills Have Eyes (1977), winning the critic's prize at the Sitges Film Festival.
Wes has gone onto win many more awards, including one for the best movie at the Avoriaz Film Festival for A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). In 1999 he directed Music Of The Heart (1999), a change of direction from the horror genre for which he is known.
During his career, Wes Craven won nine cinematic awards and received three nominations.
In 1977, he won the 'Prize of the International Critics' Jury' in the "Sitges – Catalonian International Film Festival" for his film The Hills Have Eyes.
In 1985, his horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street won the 'Critic's Award' at the "Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival".
In 1992, the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film presented him the Pegasus Audience Award for the thriller The People Under The Stairs. His Fantasporto won the International Fantasy Film Award for Best Screenplay while the Best Film award went to his film Wes Craven's New Nightmare, the final A Nightmare on Elm Street film he directed. His Shocker was also nominated for Best Film in 1990.
The Gérardmer Film Festival granted him the Grand Prize in '97 for Scream.
He was nominated for Best Director for Scream at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA, in 1997.
In 2006, he was honored at Spike TV's Scream with the Mastermind Award (the tribute was presented to him by Neve Campbell).
Lives in Los Angeles. Has a production company with his professional partner Marianne Maddalena, called Craven/Maddalena Films
He is an avid birdwatcher.He was the disc jockey for the campus radio station at Clarkson College, where he was a humanities professor.
News |
What members say |
Filmography
Wes Craven - news / articles
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Craven conducted Scream 4 auditions with old film scripts -
12 April 2011
-Director Wes Craven was so concerned about script leaks on the set of the fourth Scream film, he conducted all auditions using scripts from the original horror movie.-The filmmaker struggled to combat a plot leak when he made the sequel in 1997 and he was determine
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Craven sticks knife into torture movies -
19 March 2011
-Moviemaker Wes Craven has taken aim at the modern crop of gory horror films, branding the numerous sequels tiresome and "exploitative".-
-The veteran slasher movie director admits he enjoyed the so-called 'torture porn' genre when it first became popular in the 200
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Craven 'glad' Arquette is getting help -
4 January 2011
-Moviemaker Wes Craven has spoken out about his Scream 4 star David Arquette's decision to enter rehab for alcohol issues, insisting he's glad the actor is seeking help. -
-And the director, who brought Arquette and his estranged wife Courteney Cox together in the
Wes Craven - what members say
review by from BRISTOL
20 October 2004
review by TheJazzman from Aberdeen
The Master reenergises 28 October 2004
review by from the middle of Dorset
Seminal eighties horror film 15 December 2004
Wes Craven - filmography
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Scream 4 - Blu-ray
(2011)
Starring: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate: 
Sidney Prescott, now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey and Gale, who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill and her Aunt Kate. Unfortunately, Sidney's appearance also brings about the return of ..read more »
 
58%
from 3,686 members
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Scream 4
on DVD
(2011)
Starring: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Sidney Prescott, now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey and Gale, who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill and her Aunt Kate. Unfortunately, Sidney's appearance also brings about the return of ..read more »
58%
from 8,226 members
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My Soul to Take
on DVD
(2010)
Starring: Max Thieriot, Nick Lashaway, Denzel Whitaker
Director: Wes Craven, Petra Korner
Certificate: 
Watch now: Unavailable
From the master of horror, Wes Craven, comes a terrifying tale of the Riverton Ripper who, legend has it, swore he would return to murder the seven children born on the night he died. Now, 16 years later, people are disappearing again. Has the psychopath come back to take his revenge? Did he ..read more »
55%
from 3,567 members
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My Soul to Take - Blu-ray
(2010)
Starring: Max Thieriot, Nick Lashaway, Denzel Whitaker
Director: Wes Craven, Petra Korner
Certificate:
Watch now: Unavailable
From the master of horror,Wes Craven, comes a terrifying tale of the Riverton Ripper who, legend has it, swore he would return to murder the seven children born on the night he died. Now, 16 years later, people are disappearing again. Has the psychopath come back to take his revenge? Did he survive ..read more »
51%
from 1,661 member
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Diary of the Dead - Blu-ray
(2008)
Starring: Nick Alachiotis, Matt Birman, Joshua Close
Director: George A. Romero
Certificate:
When a group of film students making a horror movie in the woods discovers that the dead have begun to revive, they turn their cameras on the real-life horrors that suddenly confront them, creating a first person diary of their bloody encounters and the disintegration of everything they hold dear.
49%
from 2,754 members
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Diary of the Dead
on DVD
(2008)
Starring: Nick Alachiotis, Matt Birman, Joshua Close
Director: George A. Romero
Certificate:
When a group of film students making a horror movie in the woods discovers that the dead have begun to revive, they turn their cameras on the real-life horrors that suddenly confront them, creating a first person diary of their bloody encounters and the disintegration of everything they hold dear.
50%
from 10,326 members
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Going to Pieces - The Rise and Fall of t...
on DVD
(2006)
Starring: Malek Akkad, John Carpenter, Lilyan Chauvin
Director: Jeff McQueen
Certificate:
Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
Gorehounds will love GOING TO PIECES, a documentary filled with the best scenes in slasher film history. From essential classics like PSYCHO to newer films like CABIN FEVER, this movie features interviews with horror's biggest names like Wes Craven and Rob Zombie. With clips featuring frightening ..read more »
59%
from 1,897 member
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Cursed
on DVD
(2005)
Starring: Christina Ricci, Joshua Jackson, Shannon Elizabeth
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Watch now: £2.49
A brother and sister are trying to recover from the shock of losing their parents. Out driving one day they become involved in a car accident and are attacked by a wild beast which drags off the other driver involved. Soon the siblings begin to experience physical changes..
49%
from 16,443 members
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Red Eye
(2005)
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate: 
A hitman terrorises Lisa, a passenger on board a flight to Miami. His business is killing and his latest contract involves a wealthy businessman. He needs Lisa's help to fulfil the contract.
58%
from 47,704 members
Not currently released
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Scream 3
on DVD
(2000)
Starring: Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Neve Campbell
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Watch now: £2.49
Wes Craven's final installment of his highly successful SCREAM trilogy concludes with a fun, fast, and furious romp that cuts through B-movie cliches as readily as it does the warm flesh of its hip young cast. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox Arquette), and Dwight "..read more »
59%
from 9,399 members
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Scream 3 - Blu-ray
(2000)
Starring: Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Neve Campbell
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Watch now: £2.49
Wes Craven's final installment of his highly successful SCREAM trilogy concludes with a fun, fast, and furious romp that cuts through B-movie cliches as readily as it does the warm flesh of its hip young cast. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox Arquette), and Dwight "..read more »
61%
from 339 members
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Scream 2
on DVD
(1997)
Starring: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jada Pinkett, Liev Schreiber
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Watch now: £2.49
The hip, darkly comical sequel to self-aware "SCREAM." Sidney Prescott, now in college, once again finds herself the target of a bloodthirsty, cloak-clad, mask-wearing, knife-wielding, psychotic killer whose penchant for pop movie trivia runs deep. This time, however, the body count is higher and ..read more »
63%
from 10,895 members
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Scream 2 - Blu-ray
(1997)
Starring: David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Watch now: £2.49
The hip, darkly comical sequel to self-aware "SCREAM." Sidney Prescott, now in college, once again finds herself the target of a bloodthirsty, cloak-clad, mask-wearing, knife-wielding, psychotic killer whose penchant for pop movie trivia runs deep. This time, however, the body count is higher and ..read more »
69%
from 380 members
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Scream
on DVD
(1996)
Starring: David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Watch now: £2.49
The sleepy little town of Woodsboro just woke up screaming. There's a killer in their midst who's seen a few too many scary movies. Suddenly, nobody is safe, as the psychopath stalks victims, taunts them with trivia questions, then rips them to bloody shreds. It could be anybody... Sidney, the ..read more »
69%
from 18,075 members
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Scream - Blu-ray
(1996)
Starring: David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Watch now: £2.49
The sleepy little town of Woodsboro just woke up screaming. There's a killer in their midst who's seen a few too many scary movies. Suddenly, nobody is safe, as the psychopath stalks victims, taunts them with trivia questions, then rips them to bloody shreds. It could be anybody... Sidney, the ..read more »
77%
from 535 members
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Vampire In Brooklyn
on DVD
(1995)
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Angela Bassett, Allen Payne
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Eddie Murphy is Maximillian, the last of a race of vampires from the Caribbean who travels to New York in search of Rita (Angela Bassett), an NYPD officer whom he considers to be the perfect woman to carry on his dying bloodline. Once he hits Gotham, Maximillian has a series of fish-out-of-water ..read more »
56%
from 2,091 members
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Wes Craven's New Nightmare
on DVD
(1994)
Starring: Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Miko Hughes
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Freddy's back, only this time he's not confined to dreams in this macabre film within a film. Heather Langenkamp, star of the original NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, along with other actors and director Craven all appear as themselves. When Heather's husband is mysteriously killed her son begins to have ..read more »
58%
from 4,393 members
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The People Under The Stairs
on DVD
(1991)
Starring: Brandon Adams, Everett McGill, Wendy Robie
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
A boy called Fool and his mother are about to be evicted from their home by the local landlord. Fool, anxious to get money from anywhere agrees to help his sister's boy-friend break into the landlord's house. What they discover there is beyond their wildest nightmares.
62%
from 3,708 members
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Shocker
on DVD
(1989)
Starring: Michael Murphy, Peter Berg, Richard Brooks
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
After a series of unusual dreams, young football star Jonathan Parker (Peter Berg) captures serial killer Horace Pinker (Mitch Pileggi), a diabolical television repairman responsible for the deaths of several families. Pinker is sentenced to die in the electric chair, but the execution goes awry ..read more »
56%
from 1,105 member
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The Serpent And The Rainbow
on DVD
(1987)
Starring: Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Based on the real-life experiences of Wade Davis, THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW is the story of a Harvard anthropologist (Bill Pullman) who takes an assignment from a wealthy pharmaceutical firm to investigate a 'miracle' drug found in a well-established religion in Haiti--voodoo. The drug is ..read more »
60%
from 1,279 member
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Deadly Friend
(1986)
Starring: Matthew Laborteaux, Kristy Swanson, Michael Sharrett
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate: 
In this unusual tale of the dead returning to the world of the living, a teenaged girl is killed by her abusive father. Her grief-stricken friend implants his robot's brain into her body. This proves unscientificly sound as the undead girl begins murdering people, and the junior inventor has to ..read more »
58%
from 33 members
Currently unavailable
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A Nightmare on Elm Street 1
on DVD
(1984)
Starring: John Saxon, Johnny Depp, Ronee Blakley
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Watch now: Unavailable
A hellish, razor-fingered monster enters the dreams of the teenage residents of a bucolic town and systematically slaughters them in their sleep--until one courageous young woman does battle with the predatory fiend. An excellent, surprisingly surrealistic genre entry from the master, Wes Craven.
68%
from 13,366 members
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The Hills Have Eyes - Part 2
on DVD
(1984)
Starring: Michael Berryman, John Laughlin, Tamara Stafford
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
Crazed mutants with an insatiable thirst for human blood attack a group of youngsters walking along a lonely desert road in the dead of night. Everyone is killed except a man and a blind girl who are left to face the terror alone. This sequel to the beloved cannibal film is directed by famed horror ..read more »
49%
from 1,258 member
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A Nightmare on Elm Street - Blu-ray
(1984)
Starring: John Saxon, Johnny Depp, Ronee Blakley
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Watch now: Unavailable
A hellish, razor-fingered monster enters the dreams of the teenage residents of a bucolic town and systematically slaughters them in their sleep--until one courageous young woman does battle with the predatory fiend. An excellent, surprisingly surrealistic genre entry from the master, Wes Craven.
71%
from 707 members
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Swamp Thing
on DVD
(1981)
Starring: Louis Jourdan, Ray Wise, Adrienne Barbeau
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
In an attempt to relieve the world of hunger, a group of scientists develop a chemical which causes things to grow at a prodigious rate. When the substance is spilled on one of the researchers, he becomes a foliage covered monster and abruptly moves into the local swamp. Based on the DC comic book.
48%
from 601 members
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Summer Of Fear
on DVD
(1978)
Starring: Linda Blair, Jeremy Slate, Jeff East
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
When Rachel's (LINDA BLAIR) cousin Julia comes to live with on the family farm; strange things start to happen. Slowly Julia starts to influence the people around Rachel, who starts to suspect that her cousing is a witch. Finally Rachel is forced to fight for her life when things start to go ..read more »
39%
from 366 members
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The Hills Have Eyes
on DVD
(1977)
Starring: Robert Houston, Susan Lanier, Michael Berryman
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Horror auteur Wes Craven followed his threadbare but horrifically compelling cult classic Last House on the Left with this wonderfully demented morality fable about a bloody war of attrition between two extremely different families. The story opens on the journey of the Carters, a mildly ..read more »
54%
from 4,672 members
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Last House On The Left
on DVD
(1972)
Starring: Sandra Cassel, David Hess, Lucy Grantham
Director: Wes Craven
Certificate:
Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
Two teenage girls head to a concert for a birthday celebration that is brutally interrupted when they are kidnapped, raped, and murdered by three sadistic escaped convicts. However, the killers stumble in the home of one of the girls, and the parents take the opportunity to gain violent revenge for ..read more »
44%
from 4,253 members
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Wes Craven facts
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... icon before the closing credits roll begins to get tiresome. Not perfect, but Wes Craven's best horror film (yes - better than A Nightmare on Elm Street), it's just a p...
