Wes Craven was a personal hero of mine. When I saw ELM STREET many, many years ago, something in it beckoned to me — the symbolism, the mystery and dark myth of it — he had a huge hand in breaking me into being a huge fan of horror.
I loved his other big watershed flick, SCREAM, but it was some of the lesser known ones that stuck forever in my psyche: THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, DEADLY BLESSING, THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW, NEW NIGHTMARE, THE HILLS HAVE EYES. In particular, I was a big fan of three of his TWILIGHT ZONE segments (’80s edition): “Shatterday”, “Wordplay” and my particular favorite, “A Little Peace and Quiet” (a wish-fulfillment story of a housewife who can stop time).
What was always a thrill for me was to watch him speak. In interviews, it was very clear he was extremely intelligent, well-spoken and thoughtful. He always verbalized a penetrating and resourceful take on a genre that is often accused of being one-dimensional and sophomoric.
I know you’re not supposed to meet your heroes, but I wish I would’ve had that moment to tell him how damned cool his visions were, and how much I loved them.
“A lot of life is dealing with your curse, dealing with the cards you were given that aren’t so nice. Does it make you into a monster, or can you temper it in some way, or accept it and go in some other direction?”
