RIP Wes Craven

Hello, my dears! Sorry for lack of posts lately, I have been so absorbed in working on my book that I keep forgetting to post! I've been spending all of my energy working on it but I am loving every second of it! Not only have I been learning a lot through my research for it but I've also been going through some self discovery and getting more in touch with my witchy roots.

And now onto the post. 

It is with a heavy heart that I must share that Wes Craven passed away on Sunday. Wes Craven is an iconic film maker, he is famous for creating and directing Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Some of his other movies include My Soul To Take, Red Eye, The Hills Have Eyes and The People Under The Stairs. His specialty was horror. 

Wes Craven was my favorite horror director and film maker. He is my 2nd all time favorite film maker after Tim Burton, of course. Not only because he created my favorite horror film, A Nightmare on Elm Street but because of his amazing story telling. He knew how to tell a story and not just that, he knew how to shake things up and instill fear into his audience. I was extremely saddened to hear of his passing, I couldn't believe it! I literally cried.  It devastates me to know that his brilliant mind is no longer with us and that we will never have another movie made by him. 

Without Mr. Craven, I never would have become the horror fan that I am today. The very first horror film I remember seeing was Scream. I was about 3 years old and my aunt was watching it while babysitting me. This is actually one of my earliest memories. I remember seeing Ghost Face and being confused as to if I should be afraid or in awe. Growing up I would continue to watch horror movies with my aunt, but she would make me turn away at super scary or  gory parts.

Being a kid in the 90s at Halloween you saw an abundance of boys masquerading as Ghost Face while trick r treating. The boys in my neighborhood being no exception. At one point I became horrified of Halloween masks. The boys in the neighborhood knew this; they would chase and follow me around on Halloween to scare me. This fear sort of pushed me more towards horror. 

When I started getting back into horror in my pre-teen years I was sleeping over a friend's house and we watched Freddy Vs. Jason with her sister. I enjoyed every minute of it. I didn't feel an ounce of fear, but I was excited. This was the first time that I had seen a Freddy Krueger movie. I loved watching him, he was unlike anything I had ever seen in horror before. Unique and creepy yet hilarious. I craved more. 

So one late one night when the original Nightmare on Elm Street was on TV, I jumped at the chance to watch it. I was totally enthralled! I fell in love with this movie. It was just so awesome! Especially Freddy. It was such an amazing yet terrifying concept: a villain with knives for fingers that can kill you in your sleep. 

It immediately became my favorite and I sought out to see every Freddy movie that I could get my hands on. 

Soon I found myself having some dreams with Freddy in it. But unlike most people I wasn't scared, it was a great dream for me. Once in a while I will have dreams of a zombie apocalypse where I'm fighting zombies and I wake up with a smile on my face. It isn't scary for me, it's badass! It's like being in my own horror movie but without someone trying to kill me in real life. 

From there Wes inspired me to try to make my own horror films and write stories. Though it never went anywhere, I wrote an entire screenplay and even had auditions for some of the roles. He also contributed to my inspiration for special effects makeup. I wanted, and still do to recreate things from his movies. Whenever I get a certain ingredient I can create prosthetics to look like Freddy Krueger burns and I absolutely can not wait! 

Then came My Soul To Take. Parts of this film were actually filmed in my town. I was so mad that I missed the chance to meet my hero! Though this isn't my favorite of his movies (but I do like it) this one has some special meaning for me. One of the filming locations and major piece of scenery in the film was the place where my dad proposed to my mom and it also is a place where we threw some of my dad's ashes. 

And of course, when Scream 4 came out I was ecstatic! Though I couldn't see it in the theater, I begged my mom to buy me it when it came out on DVD, as soon as it came out. 

Thank you, Wes Craven. Thank you for the wonderful movies and characters you created. Thank you for the fear and the memories. And of course thank you for inspiring me as well as countless film makers. The horror industry would be a vastly different place if it weren't for your visions and creations. Rest in peace. 

Xoxo

Stay creepy