WES CRAVEN (Director) has been challenging audiences with his bold and often spine-tingling visions since the release of his first feature film, “The Last House on the Left,” which he wrote, directed and edited in 1972. In the more than three decades since that controversial film’s arrival on the big screen, Craven has demonstrated his craft as a filmmaker with an unbridled imagination and the ability to both terrify and touch audiences.
Craven’s career has been marked by both creative and commercial milestones. He virtually reinvented the youth horror genre in 1984 with the classic “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” which he wrote and directed. Although he did not direct any of its next five sequels, Craven deconstructed the genre a decade later with the hit “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare,” which he wrote and directed. That film became one of the rare horror movies to receive a nomination for Best Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Craven scared up a new generation of young horror fans and reached a new level of success with the irreverent, genre-bending “Scream” franchise. The first “Scream,” released in 1996, grossed more than $170 million at the worldwide box office and won the MTV Movie Award for Best Feature. Craven followed up on the original with two hit sequels: 1997’s “Scream 2,” and “Scream 3,” released in 2000.
In 1999, Craven broke his own mold as a master of the horror genre when he directed the moving, true-life drama “Music of the Heart,” based on the Oscar®-nominated documentary “Small Wonders.” Meryl Streep earned an Academy Award® nomination for her performance as a violin teacher who changes the lives of her inner-city pupils through music education.
Craven’s credits as a director also include “Cursed,” “Vampire in Brooklyn,” “The Serpent and the Rainbow” and “Deadly Friend.” In addition, he wrote and directed “The People Under the Stairs,” “Shocker,” “Swamp Thing,” “The Hills Have Eyes” and “The Hills Have Eyes, Part II.” He is currently producing a remake of “The Hills Have Eyes.”
For television, Craven co-created and executive produced the series “Nightmare Cafe” for NBC. He also directed the telefilms “Night Visions,” “Casebusters,” “Chiller,” “Invitation to Hell” and “Stranger in our House,” as well as seven episodes of the 1980’s revival of the classic series “The Twilight Zone,” which are available on DVD.
Apart from his film work, Craven is also an author. His first novel, The Fountain Society, was published in 1999. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Craven holds a Masters Degree in Writing and Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.
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