Wes Craven

Jackie,
I loved the original Hills Have Eyes. And of course, the original, Nightmare on Elm Street. I just love Wes' work period.

Craven

Never have been able to read Craven. Don't like anything at all about his writing. I can watch the Freddy Kruegar movies, but I'm not crazy about them, either.

Craven just comes across as too much of a shock jock for me.

The first Kruger movie and The Hills Have Eyes are my favorite Craven flicks.
I'm sorta' with JamesR in that some of Craven's stuff is a little long on shock effect and short on story.

I do think when he first emerged on the horror scene, he had a helluva impact on a new generation of fans.

Can't say I've ever seen anything or read anything by him. That whole Nightmare slasher stuff bores me.

Shadow_Ferret said:

Can't say I've ever seen anything or read anything by him. That whole Nightmare slasher stuff bores me.

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I thought the first Kruger movie had a pretty decent story, even though Craven played heavy on gore for effect.

I also think Halloween may be the all-time greatest slasher flick, all though by today's standards it barely qualifies. Classic example of pairing precisely the right music with setting and action.

I do enjoy Halloween and that is the only "slasher" flick I own. But, I'm a John Carpenter fan and also, it is basically the original that started that whole genre in the 80s (if one doesn't count Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Psycho).

Shadow_Ferret said:

I do enjoy Halloween and that is the only "slasher" flick I own. But, I'm a John Carpenter fan and also, it is basically the original that started that whole genre in the 80s (if one doesn't count Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Psycho).

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Halloween is considerably restrained as far as slasher flicks go. It's definitely one of my favs. Craven's hit or miss, in my eyes. Like most others, I like the 1st Nightmare movie, & I also like New Nightmare. He had little to do with the others, the studios ran with (and over) his concept. Scream was a decent send up of the genre, even if it was overdone in a few too many aspects. 2 & 3 are throaway. Some of his other stuff is pretty bad. He made Vampire in Brooklyn for God's sake. And sometimes it seems he's not taking his own material seriously enough. The Serpent and the Rainbow had a lot of potential, but he just went campy at certain parts of it.