Horror Master Wes Craven on This Day in History

This day in history: American film director, screenwriter and producer Wes Craven was born on this day in 1939. Craven has commonly been recognized as one of the greatest masters of the horror genre, particularly slasher films, where he mixed horror cliches with humor and satire.

Craven created the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise (1984–2010), specifically writing and directing the first film, co-writing and producing the third, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), and writing and directing the seventh, Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994). He additionally directed the first four films in the Scream franchise (1996–2011). He also directed cult classics The Last House on the Left (1972) and The Hills Have Eyes (1977), Deadly Friend (1986), The People Under the Stairs (1991), and psychological thriller Red Eye (2005). His other notable films include Swamp Thing (1982), The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988), Shocker (1989), Vampire in Brooklyn (1995) and My Soul to Take (2010).

Throughout his career, Craven was nominated for and won numerous awards, including multiple Saturn Awards and several film festival honors.

In 1977, Craven won the critics award at the Sitges Film Festival for his horror film The Hills Have Eyes. In 1997, the Gérardmer Film Festival granted him the Grand Prize for the slasher film Scream. In 2012, the New York City Horror Film Festival awarded Craven the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Craven died of a brain tumor at his home in Los Angeles on August 30, 2015, aged 76. Many actors and fellow directors paid tribute to him, including David Arquette, Adrienne Barbeau, Angela Bassett, Bruce Campbell, Heather Langenkamp, Neve Campbell, John Carpenter, Courteney Cox, Joe Dante, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Lloyd Kaufman, Jamie Kennedy, Rose McGowan, Kristy Swanson, Edgar Wright, and Amanda Wyss. The tenth episode of the horror television series Scream and the fifth film in the franchise (2022) were dedicated in his memory.

"Some people ask why people would go into a dark room to be scared. I say they are already scared, and they need to have that fear manipulated and massaged. I think of horror movies as the disturbed dreams of a society." Wes Craven

Buy : Halloween and the Strange in Story and History for 99 cents (50 Chapters) and Buy this Kindle book on Amazon on Vampires and Werewolves for only 1.99

Supernatural Horror in Fiction Literature - 350 Books to Download

Tortured Artist Edvard Munch on This Day in History

This Day In History: Artist Edvard Munch was born on this day in 1863. He is best known for his painting, "The Scream," an image that inspired the mask in the Wes Craven movie "Scream" and the poster for ‘Home Alone’ featuring Macauly Caulkin. 

In his diary in 1892, Munch describes his inspiration for The Scream:

"One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord – the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This became The Scream."

The bridge depicted in The Scream is said to have been a popular spot for suicides, and it was within listening distance of a slaughterhouse and an insane asylum. 

During the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, thieves placed a ladder up to the window of the National Gallery in Oslo, made their way inside, and made off with the painting. The theft was so easily committed, they left a note that read, "Thanks for the poor security." The painting was recovered within three months. It was stolen again 10 years later. London bookies were taking bets in 2012 that the painting would be stolen again before it went to auction at 20/1 odds.

Munch's later years were private, but not after battling heavy drinking and a mental breakdown.

Buy : Halloween and the Strange in Story and History for 99 cents (50 Chapters) and Buy this Kindle book on Amazon on Vampires and Werewolves for only 1.99