Wes Craven Dies

Director Wes Craven died this afternoon in Los Angeles. Craven was 76 and passed away at home surrounded by his family after battling brain cancer.

Craven reinvented the youth horror genre again in 1984 with the classic and very scary A Nightmare On Elm Street, which also introduced a then-unknown Johnny Depp. The movie spawned several sequels, none of them directed by Craven. He deconstructed the genre a decade after the original, writing and directing the audacious Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, which was nominated for Best Feature at the 1995 Independent Spirit Awards.

In 1996 Craven experienced yet another rebirth in horror with the release of Scream, which he directed from a script by Kevin Williamson. Scream sparked multiple sequels and spoofs.