Thanks for the scares, Wes.

[The Curmudgeon]

SO you'll have no doubt read that Wes Craven has died. From brain cancer, no less. Very sad.

While he didn't have the greatest body of work, a large number of his films have all taken their rightful place in the canon of modern horror. I remember the first time seeing Nightmare on Elm Street when I was really quite young, and what scared me the most was that the most frightening stuff happened during the day. That scene where Nancy is sitting in class and then the guy is reading (from Poe, if memory serves) and then he looks at her and says SLEEEEEEEEP in that horrible distorted voice..and then the body bag sliding across the floor... holy shit.

And don't get me started on the original Hills Have Eyes, one of the most disturbing, frightening movies I've ever seen. These weren't boogeymen like Freddy, these were real, horrible people that we've all imagined are out there when we drive through the middle of nowhere. And that weird, sick shit they did to the family. Brrrrr.

Scream, of course, is what a whole bunch of people will remember Wes for, and the opening scene really struck me the first time I'd seen it. This wasn't some stupid girl running around falling over shit, while a plodding serial killer calmly walks behind her. This was a real CHASE. This killer made mistakes. Somehow, that made it all the more frightening. Pity the series turned to shit, but the first one was great.

So there's a huge body of work I'm probably unfairly skimming over. Anyone else have any particular memories of Wes Craven movies?

[trashcanman]

Last House on the Left was one of the first horror films I watched that really, truly disturbed and disgusted me. The horrible and realistic WRONG of that scene combined with that happy go lucky music was just so off-putting and upsetting to me. One of those movies you only want to see once, but never forget. It's been ripped off many times too. The Serpent and the Rainbow is extremely underrated and as informative about the real world history of zombieism as it is compelling and frightening. Craven has some serious garbage on his resume, but he's also got more genuine classics on his hands than almost any current director will ever match. In any genre. He'll definitely be remembered as one of the horror greats.

[Ben]

Last House on the Left definitely did something to me. The dichotomy between the goofy "Three Stooges" cops and the rape scene made the latter infinitely more disturbing.