No director of horror movies was as influential in the modern era as Wes Craven. It is thus with regret that I write an obituary to the great man, who died yesterday, the 30th of August, aged 76, after a three-year battle with brain cancer. Alongside writing and directing some of the most seminal films of the last 45 years, Craven was also a keen bird conservationist and a novelist, but will be best known to the general public for his array of classics. The Last House on the Left can claim to be one of the most influential horror titles of all time and also one of American cinema's most compelling debut features; after that, he went on to make other memorable films such as The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The People Under the Stairs, New Nightmare and Scream. He, like many horror filmmakers, was never popular with industry voting bodies, but impressed audiences and critics alike throughout his career, regularly bouncing back from a number of flops to turn out yet another work of genre excellence. He is survived by his wife, former Disney vice president Iya Labunka and his two children from a former marriage.
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