Out of Wes Craven's 25 Hit Films, What's Your Favorite Scary Movie?

Many horror movie fans were saddened by the death of Wes Craven this past week after he lost his battle with brain cancer. Fans and coworkers of Craven have just poured out their grief on social media and through articles and interviews. A topic of interest isn't just what Craven brought to the industry, but how can we as horror fans and Wes Craven fans honor him and his life's work? Many have taken to rank his films and to promote marathons of your favorites. Hitflix in particular is encouraging their writers and readers to pick their favorites and to watch all of them. "Wes Craven directed a total of 25 feature-length films over the course of his career. While not all of them were up to the level of Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street...a bit of his personal stamp shone through in every movie he made."

The three main films that come to mind if you were to capture the essence of Craven's progression through the horror genre would be to watch Last House On the Left (1972) (or The Hills Have Eyes (1977)), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and Scream (1996). Hitflix claims that the first, quite shocking film is more admired for its "impact" more so than for its "execution." "There have been so many terrible movies that have directly borrowed or stolen from the film that it's practically a sub-genre, culminating in one of the great 'Ain't It Cool' moments of all time, but when Craven released his original film, it must have felt like a shotgun blast to audiences. It is mean and it is dirty and it is nasty" Hitflix says.

Next would be the embodiment of the modern day boogeyman--Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street and then onto the slasher genre, which he famously invented the meta-sub-genre of the slasher film with Scream, which later turned into a franchise. No matter what contribution he was making to the horror genre, Huffington Post put it perfectly. "In a world where things are often dreadfully serious or absolutely absurd, Wes Craven was always able to take the minute idiosyncrasies of these two extremes and meld them into something unique. Simply put...Wes Craven made fear fun."

In addition to what Craven brought to the film industry, specifically in the horror genre, the actors and crewmembers who were lucky enough to have worked with him only had all but the finest things to say about their beloved director. Neve Campbell, who starred in the Scream films says to the Hollywood Reporter, "Wes Craven loved to play! On set, he was like a kid in a candy store. He loved what he did, he was great at it, and he was grateful for it. You could feel that across the room from him - gratitude, elation, a childlike enthusiasm mixed with a quiet but steadfast confidence." Kevin Williamson, who penned the Scream stories and characters explained that Craven really took him under his wing. "He let me be a part of the process. I didn't know at the time that this was unheard of on a set. Most directors would have grown annoyed by the writer dogging their every step, asking questions, whispering constantly in the background - but Wes allowed it. He said it was exciting to see my enthusiasm...I've never forgotten that," Hollywood Reporter says.

Craven was working up until his death and we all will miss the fun that he brought to the genre and to our lives!