With a career spanning four decades, Wes Craven (1939-2015) bridged
independent exploitation cinema and Hollywood big-budget horror. A
pioneer of the modern horror cinema, Craven directed such landmark films
as The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm
Street, and Scream--considered not only classics of the genre, but
examples of masterful filmmaking. Producing an impressive oeuvre that
mixed intellectual concerns and political ideas, Craven utilized
high-tension suspense, devastating visual brutality, and dark humor to
evoke a unique brand of fear. Moreover, his films draw attention to the
horror of American society--namely racism, classism, and the traumas
often associated with family.
This collection of twenty-nine interviews--spanning from 1980 until his
final interview in 2015--traces Craven's life and career, from his
upbringing in a strict religious family and his life as an academic to
his years toiling in exploitation cinema. The volume also chronicles
Craven's ascendancy as an independent director, his work within the
studio system, and his eventual triumph in mainstream cinema. Within the
interviews gathered here, including three previously unpublished pieces,
Craven reflects on failed projects and the challenges of working with
studios while offering thoughtful meditations on the dynamics and appeal
of horror. Wes Craven: Interviews cements Craven's legacy as a master of
horror who left an indelible mark on the genre by forever altering
expectations of--and approaches to--the cinema of fear.
