We are celebrating by featuring MovieFone's article with the "Master of Horror" himself, Wes Craven! Craven's latest horror movie premieres today: Last House on the Left.
5 Questions With: Wes Craven
Without Wes Craven, the face of horror would be a much different, far less scary beast. In a career that spans 37 terrifying years, he's haunted moviegoers' dreams with the 'Nightmare on Elm Street' movies; made audiences laugh and scream with the 'Scream' franchise; and scared the bejesus out of all comers with underrated cult fare like 'The Serpent and the Rainbow' (one of his personal favorites) and 'Swamp Thing.'And it all began with 'Last House on the Left,' the short but sweet (read: frightening as hell) chiller that marked Craven's writer-director debut in 1972. With a Craven-produced 'The Last House on the Left' remake headed to the big screen, the legendary filmmaker opens up about his unlikely introduction to the horror genre, the inspiration for his 'Nightmare' and whether fans will be seeing him at the helm of 'Scream 4.' -- By Tom DiChiara
1. What inspired you to make the original 'Last House on the Left'?
Way back when I was a college teacher, I was watching the films of Bergman, and 'Virgin Spring' always stuck in my mind. It's such a concise and powerful story. And Sean Cunningham, who I'd been working for for a year, said: "I have these guys in Boston. They have outdoor theaters and they want me to do a scary film. If you want to write something scary, then you can direct it and cut it and I'll produce it, and, you know, we'll have fun. So that was basically my introduction to being a director -- being given that opportunity. I had never really seen a horror film, though in some ways I think that was good because I didn't set out to do something I'd already seen. I was much more influenced by the mid-'60s directors -- Fellini and people like that -- who had a great sort of hallucinogenic element in their films, and yet they were very serious films. That's how it started.
See the other 4 questions, pictures of the film's stars, and the movie trailer on MovieFone.com
Posts
