2 Aug. 1939 — 30 Aug. 2015
What follows is a look at some the projects he was involved in — actually and/or presumably. TV series are ignored.
The Dream Warriors
(1987, dir. Chuck
Russell)
"Sleep. Those little slices of Death. How I loathe them."
Edgar Allen Poe
Craven returned to the franchise for the
first time, taking on the role of executive producer and sharing the
story/script credit with Bruce Wagner, who went on to write the screenplay to
Paul Bartel's Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (1989) — not one of Bartel's better films.
Craven, it is claimed, was still not thrilled about the idea of a money-making
franchise and thus wrote a script that saw Freddy laid to rest — a concept
totally undermined by the movie's last scene (not to mention all subsequent
sequels). The direction was done by an at the time unknown named Chuck Russell,
making his directorial début after a variety of production and assistant
directorial jobs that included, among others, Chatterbox (1977 / trailer),
The Great American Girl Robbery (1979 / trailer),
and Hell Night
(1981). After Freddy 3, Russell went on to do a couple of decent films, including The Blob
(1988) and The Mask (1994 / trailer).
Of the unknowns given their first role ever in this film, Patricia Arquette has
become perhaps the biggest name, but the true babe of the flick was and still
is Jennifer Rubin (of Screamers
[1995]).
Trailer:
We saw the movie when it came out and
enjoyed it much more than we had its predecessor, though the inexplicable
reappearance of the (going by the first film) dead Nancy Thompson
(Heather Langenkamp) did bother us. Even today, the old-school effects as well
as the concepts behind some of dream kills are still decent and pretty
amazing — it took years for us to get over the images of the puppet suicide and
hungry junkie mouths. The downside of the movie is that it is the first one to move
into the "Funny Freddy the Anti-Hero" mold, even as it also presents
just how horrible a person Freddy was while alive: anyone out there ever
think about the implications of the little girl on a tricycle in the opening
dream of Kristen (Arquette) who, in the basement
with Kristen, says "This is where he takes us"?
For more on the good and bad of Nightmare on Elm Street III: The Dream Warriors, we suggest a look
at Final Girl,
who's one of the few that seems to remember that before Freddy got into killing
teens in their dreams, he had a thing for prepubescent children.
Music video to the theme song, Dream Warriors,
by Dokken,
a bunch of guys who use more hair spray
than all their mothers combined:
a bunch of guys who use more hair spray
than all their mothers combined:
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4:
The Dream Master
The Dream Master
(1988, dir. Renny Harlin)
"When deep sleep falleth on men, fear came apon me.
And trembling which made all my bones to shake"
Job IV, 13-14
Trailer:
Wes Craven bailed for Part IV of the by-now solidly footed franchise based on his
creation The Dream Master was the highest-grossing of the entire series until 2003's Freddy vs. Jason (which we still
haven't gotten to the end of). The directorial duties were given to a
young, unknown Finnish director, Renny Harlin, probably on the
basis of his prior credit, the horror film Prison (1987).
Harlin's American directorial debut,
Prison:
Harlin, as many know, is an
adroit director whose career is heavy with entertaining trash — Deep Blue
Sea (1999
/ trailer), Mindhunters
(2004) and The
Dyatlov Pass Incident (2013 / trailer), anyone? — and who
helped destroy Geena Davis's
career with the enjoyably daffy Cutthroat
Island (1995 / trailer) and the inanely fun Long Kiss Goodnight
(1996 / trailer).
The movie's plot? Freddy gets resurrected when
a dog named Jason pisses on his grave. He then takes up where he left off by
killing the survivors of Nightmare III before moving on to a new batch of
old-looking teenagers. Patricia
Arquette's part, Kristin, was recast with Tuesday Knight,
who also sang the song played over the opening credits; the closing credits
featured a pop rap song by the now mostly forgotten and always apolitical Fat Boys.
The Fat Boys —
Are You Ready for Freddy?
Despite the fact that film was a hit, few people say
they like it. Indeed, we ourselves enjoyed it more for some of the tricks (the
time loop is great) and over-the-top effects than the story, as by then the
series was more cheese and corn than true horror. (Enjoyable trash, so to say,
but not good horror.)
At-A-Glance Reviews
hits the nail on the head in their review of the movie: "Continuing with
the natural devolution that hampers many populist film series, this outing
gives the star of the show, Freddy Krueger [Robert Englund, the headlining credit
for the first time in the series], an abundance of wisecracks and corny
one-liners. In the tradition of slasher movie sequels, there are more bodies
and the deaths are more elaborate. Elaborate beyond all rational boundaries.
What motive could a supernatural murderer like Freddy possibly have for
constructing all these complicated dreams and dressing up as characters in it? [...]
He begins his reign of terror again, this time moving beyond Elm Street. [...]
When one of the kids is burned alive in her bed, we are never shown the real
world consequences of that. What about the kid who drowns in a waterbed? Isn't
anyone the least bit curious how all these teenagers keep dying? But no, this
movie is too lazy to get into such details. It focuses on one character long
enough for him to be knocked off, then moves on to the next. Sorry, but 'by the
numbers' serial killer flicks not only don't work, they're exploitative
abominations. There's absolutely no reason for this piece of tripe to exist at
all."
The Serpent and the Rainbow
(1988,
dir Wes Craven)
Despite the fact that the author of the eponymous book
upon which this movie is based, Wade Davis, actually also worked on the movie
as a technical advisor, he later described Wes Craven's voodoo horror flick as
"one of the worst Hollywood movies in history". In our humble opinion,
however, Wade's statement says less about the movie than it does about how many
Hollywood movies Wade has seen. But we also have to admit that
although we caught
The Serpent and the Rainbow on the big screen when it first came out and remember rather liking it, today the
only thing we truly remember is that Cathy Tyson, the romantic interest of the
movie, is one hot tamale.
Soundtrack to
The Serpent and the Rainbow:
366 Weird Movies,
which doesn't find the film weird despite "some fantastic scenes", is of the opinion
that "Serpent is an above-average horror
outing, although it's ultimately a mild disappointment because the black magic
premise has so much unrealized potential. The voodoo milieu the civilized
doctor encounters in Haiti is memorable and spooky; the setting is
also unique in that it mixes witchcraft with politics by having
the main villain be both a powerful warlock and an officer of
Haitian dictator 'Baby Doc' Duvalier's secret police. In the
end, unfortunately, Craven can't figure out how to keep the momentum
rolling into a proper climax to an interesting premise. We end up with a
formula horror finale where Zakes Mokae's brilliantly sadistic Dargent Peytraud transforms
into a poor man's Freddy Kruger. The eye-rolling climax
comes complete with false deaths, catch phrases, an ironic comeuppance,
and other silliness."
TV Guide,
which sees the film as "a sloppy but ambitious mix of pop anthropology,
political observation, and good old-fashioned Val Lewtonesque horror [... that]
succeeds more often than it fails", has the plot: "Dennis Alan (Bill
Pullman) is a young scientist hired by an American pharmaceutical company to go
to Haiti and uncover the secrets of zombification. Recent studies have proven
the existence of actual zombies, and scientists suspect a drug or potion (the
discovery of which could mean a fortune to drug manufacturers looking for a new
anesthetic) is involved in the process. Dennis's trip, however, happens to
coincide with the collapse of the Duvalier government, and he finds himself
tossed into the resulting violent social upheaval. In Haiti Dennis teams up
with beautiful local psychiatrist Marielle (Cathy Tyson), who introduces him to
the mysterious world of voodoo. The deeper he probes, however, the greater the
opposition from voodoo priests, who attempt to invade his mind and transform
him into a zombie."
Trailer:
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5:
Dream Child
(1989, dir. Stephen Hopkins)
Wes Craven was not there anywhere for "Freddy 5",
the lowest-grossing instalment of the franchise, but of course Craven's
creation was. We saw it when it came out — and can't remember anything about
it at all, not even whether we found any of the fodder hot or not.
Foster on Films
says: "Yup, he came back after he was absolutely and unequivocally dead … again.
It's hard to get too involved in these plots to destroy Freddy since they are
all different, and they all work only until the next sequel. This time, Alice (Lisa Wilcox), the dream master from the last sequel,
having mysteriously lost her dream combat skills, finds herself pregnant by her
quickly deceased boyfriend (Danny Hassel) and
popping in and out of dream worlds. The dreams looks good, particularly the M.C.
Escher room of stairs. Even in the dreams, Freddy is a bore, speaking only
unmemorable one-liners. Outside the dreams, we get Alice telling everyone about
Freddy and everyone saying she's nuts. This isn't exciting the first time so
you can imagine how riveting it is the tenth time."
Director Stephen Hopkins went on
to do the fun Predator II (1990 /
trailer),
Lost in Space
(1998) and the intensely annoying The
Reaping (2007 / trailer).
Trailer:
Shocker
(1989,
writ & dir. Wes Craven)
"On October 2, at 6:45 AM mass murderer Horace Pinker was put to death. Now, he's really mad."
"On October 2, at 6:45 AM mass murderer Horace Pinker was put to death. Now, he's really mad."
Another one of Craven's less successful and
less known films, Shocker suffers in
that the filmmaker's intentions are obvious: cut out of the Freddy franchise by
New World Pictures, Craven tried to come up with a new horror figure with which
to get his piece of the rent-paying pie — regrettably, he modeled his character, story, and
movie after the lesser sequels instead of the truly scary first Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
Freddy-lite — aka "Horace
Pinker" — didn't work, and neither did the movie. A
mild success, the concept of a franchise was (luckily) quickly dropped. At the
recommendation of a horror-loving friend, we saw it once on DVD — stoned and
drunk and in the perfect condition for a teen horror trash — and we hated it.
So do most other people, it seems (other than our friend, but he's a cop in
Amsterdam so his taste would logically be different than most people).
Trailer:
The Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Review
has the plot: "High school
quarterback Jonathan Parker (Peter Berg) is knocked out after running into the goal
post during a game. While unconscious, Jonathan has a vision in which he sees
his mother and sister murdered by a serial killer. He comes around and moments
later and receives a phone call from his police lieutenant father (Michael Murphy of Count Yorga, Vampire [1970 / trailer],
Phase IV [1974 / trailer]
and Strange Behavior [1981 / trailer]), informing him that his mother and sister
have been butchered just as he saw in his vision. Jonathan is able to use his
psychic link to lead the police to the killer, TV repairman Horace Pinker (Mitch Pileggi).
Pinker is sent to the electric chair but this only serves to transform him into
a being of electricity. Jonathan realizes that Pinker is able to pass through
electrical appliances and possess people. Jumping between host bodies, Pinker
comes after Jonathan seeking revenge."
The SFHFR also says
that "[...] Shocker
is a film that embodies all the worst excesses of Wes Craven. Once again,
Craven is stuck in dream/reality territory and this time only getting sillier
by degrees. He never for a moment seems able to settle onto a single idea,
whipping the film off on a trail of concepts left over from Elm Street, the recent body-hopping
hit The Hidden (1987 / trailer),
and the old B-movie Man-Made Monster (1941) about an
electrically charged killer staggering up from the electric chair."
Trailer
to Man-Made Monster (1941) —
a much better film than Shocker:
Night Visions
(1990,
writ & dir Wes Craven)
Well, if you can't get a
film franchise of the ground, how about a television series? Wes Craven
returned to the boob tube and produced, directed and co-wrote (with Thomas
Baum) this lesser project, a TV movie that plays out like the pilot it was.
In
the book Wes Craven: The Art of Horror, author John Kenneth
Muir explains the plot: "Psychologist Sally Powers (Loryn Locklin) has the ability to see into the minds of psychotic killers, and
joins with a Los Angeles police officer (James Remar)
to catch the serial murderer known as the 'Spread Eagle Killer'. As a
relationship develops between the two partners, Powers is forced to confront
not only her dark abilities but haunting elements of her own past as well."
Adding to the complications is the fact that the shrink has multiple
personalities. Night Visions did
not get picked up as a series and has pretty much fallen off the face of the
earth, though it did get a VHS release in Europe and can now be found on-line.
Loryn Locklin went on to do the sub-standard Stuart
Gordeon movie, Fortress (1992 /
trailer);
James Remar was already and still is one of our favorite character actors and
can be found in many a film good and bad, including the maligned kiddy film, The Phantom
(1996).
OK, why not? According to imdb and others, Wes Craven is credited as "advisor" on this Roger Corman-produced
Don "The Dragon" Wilson movie directed by a one-shot wonder never heard
of again. (Perhaps Craven's advice was to leave the industry?)
The Bloodfist franchise, begun the year previously with Bloodfist Fighter (1989 / trailer), lasted nine movies (to date), the last being the TV movie Bloodfist 2050 (2005 / trailer), the only one in which Don "The Dragon" Wilson didn't appear. (As of yet, the only Don "The Dragon" Wilson we've seen, Sort Target (2006), we sort of enjoyed — read the review to find out why.)
The plot? Bloodfist II is basically a cheap remake of the far superior Bruce Lee classic Enter the Dragon (1973 / trailer), which costarred the great John Saxon & once hunkadelic, now dead Jim Kelly. Retro Junk explains it as thus: "This time, Wilson is up against a diabolical Fu Manchu type named Mr. Su (Joe Mari Avellana). Our hero and five other kickboxing experts are kidnapped by Su and forced to do battle against the villain's steroid-crazed henchmen. It's up to Wilson to straighten things out."
Johnny LeRue's Crane Shot, a blogspot we trust, says: "Readers of Blackbelt and The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazines should get a real (ahem) kick out of Bloodfist II, which offers a lot of fighting. A lot of fighting. I doubt more than five or six minutes ever pass without Wilson or one of his friends getting into a battle with somebody, usually using their bare hands and feet, but sometimes grabbing a handy knife, staff, spear or sword. Since much of the cast, including 'The Dragon' [...], are actual martial-arts champions, the frequent fight scenes have an air of authenticity about them that help ground the comic-book plot in some sort of reality. Not that you should take Bloodfist II seriously [...]."
Bloodfist II
(1990, dir. Andy Blumenthal)
The Bloodfist franchise, begun the year previously with Bloodfist Fighter (1989 / trailer), lasted nine movies (to date), the last being the TV movie Bloodfist 2050 (2005 / trailer), the only one in which Don "The Dragon" Wilson didn't appear. (As of yet, the only Don "The Dragon" Wilson we've seen, Sort Target (2006), we sort of enjoyed — read the review to find out why.)
The plot? Bloodfist II is basically a cheap remake of the far superior Bruce Lee classic Enter the Dragon (1973 / trailer), which costarred the great John Saxon & once hunkadelic, now dead Jim Kelly. Retro Junk explains it as thus: "This time, Wilson is up against a diabolical Fu Manchu type named Mr. Su (Joe Mari Avellana). Our hero and five other kickboxing experts are kidnapped by Su and forced to do battle against the villain's steroid-crazed henchmen. It's up to Wilson to straighten things out."
Johnny LeRue's Crane Shot, a blogspot we trust, says: "Readers of Blackbelt and The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazines should get a real (ahem) kick out of Bloodfist II, which offers a lot of fighting. A lot of fighting. I doubt more than five or six minutes ever pass without Wilson or one of his friends getting into a battle with somebody, usually using their bare hands and feet, but sometimes grabbing a handy knife, staff, spear or sword. Since much of the cast, including 'The Dragon' [...], are actual martial-arts champions, the frequent fight scenes have an air of authenticity about them that help ground the comic-book plot in some sort of reality. Not that you should take Bloodfist II seriously [...]."
Trailer to
Bloodfist II:
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
(1991, writ. & dir Rachel Talalay)
Trailer to
Freddy's Dead — The Final Nightmare:
AKA A Nightmare on Elm Street 6: Freddy's Dead. Once again, Wes was not part of the project — but, damn it! He created the original character! We never bothered to see The Final Nightmare,
but it was intended as the last of the franchise — which might explain
the number of guest appearances, including that of Johnny Depp (in a
commercial) — but proved too successful for the powers that be to stop
flogging the dead horse. Director Rachel Talalay, not surprisingly the only female director to do a Nightmare film, went on to direct one film that we have both seen and reviewed: Tank Girl (1995).
Iggy Pop sings
the Golden Raspberry-nominated song
Why Was I Born (Freddy's Dead)
from Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare:
the Golden Raspberry-nominated song
Why Was I Born (Freddy's Dead)
from Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare:
A better song,
from a different movie:
from a different movie:
People under the Stairs
(1991, writ. & dir. Wes Craven)
"In every neighborhood there is one house that adults whisper about and children cross the street to avoid…"
(1991, writ. & dir. Wes Craven)
"In every neighborhood there is one house that adults whisper about and children cross the street to avoid…"
Oddly enough, even today The People Under the Stairs remains one of Craven's most underrated movies... possibly because, although it was a commercial success, it came at a time when the horror genre was in a creative slump and, to further remove it from the lily white masses found in the movie duplexes of the American malls, the movie was both surprisingly Afro-American and critical of the prevailing value systems of capitalist USA. (And also inverts the typical home-invasion horror chestnut by making the minority invaders the likable good guys and the lily white moneyed homeowners the bad guys.)
Trailer:
* We are intentionally ignoring the non-movie known as The Hills Have Eyes II (1985).
Much like the other top-notch throwback to the Blaxploitation days released that year, New Jack City (1991 / trailer), The People under the Stairs makes it clear that the man ain't gonna be of any help, and if Black America wants justice, they gotta take it in their own hands. (Where are the Black Panthers when you need them?)
Over at Rove, Karl Williams explains the plot of this great, "surrealistic horror-comedy, which was inspired by a true story of parents keeping their children locked in a basement for years. Fool (Brandon Adams), an African-American teen, breaks into the home of the wealthy landlords who evicted his family from a ghetto tenement. A fortune in gold coins is rumored to exist inside, but Fool discovers that the mansion is a chamber of horrors presided over by a pair of incestuous, serial killer siblings (McGill and Robie). The twisted couple has also tried to raise a succession of kidnapped boys. Each botched effort is handled the same way — the victim's eyes, ears and tongues are removed, and he's sent to live in the sealed-off basement, where a colony of similarly deformed 'brothers' resides. Fool is able to avoid the evil lovers as he moves through the house's maze of hidden passageways. He discovers that the occupants have a daughter, Alice (A.J. Langer of Grey Knight [1993 / trailer] and Albert Pyun's cheesy Arcade [1993 / trailer]), who has survived their abuse, so he rescues her and they attempt to free the 'people under the stairs'."
Laurel Canyon
(1993, dir. unknwon)
The one that go away. Listed everywhere as having Wes Craven as the executive producer, listed on Robert Kurtzman's CV as one of his special-effects projects for 1993, and supposedly with Elaine Hendrix in it, nothing can be found anywhere regarding what it's about. Romy and Michele's High School Reunion mentions that it was a pilot for NBC, while in an interview at filmzine, composer J. Peter Robinson says "Laurel Canyon
on the other hand, was a pilot the Wes and I did that never made it to
the light of day. Pity, because I thought it was very good." In any
event, it isn't listed on Craven's own website, so who knows if it ever flickered across any screen anywhere...Body Bags
(1993, dirs. John Carpenter & Tobe Hooper)
Trailer:
Go here for Part IV.
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