Editing Wes Craven (section)

==Career==
Craven had a letter published in the July 19, 1968, edition of [[Life (magazine)|''Life'']] praising the periodical's coverage of contemporary rock music and offbeat performers such as [[Frank Zappa]].<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Craven, Wes|date=July 19, 1968|title=Letters To The Editors|page=17|magazine=Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QT8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA17-IA4}}</ref> Craven left the academic world for the more lucrative role of pornographic film director. In the documentary ''[[Inside Deep Throat]]'', Craven says on camera he made "many hardcore X-rated films" under pseudonyms. While his role in ''[[Deep Throat (film)|Deep Throat]]'' is undisclosed, most of his early known work involved writing, film editing, or both.<ref name="NPRobit">{{cite web |last1=Domonoske |first1=Camila |date=August 30, 2015 |title=Wes Craven, Master Horror Movie Director, Dies At 76 |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/30/436171462/wes-craven-master-horror-movie-director-dies-at-76 |access-date=August 31, 2015 |website=NPR}}</ref>

Craven's first feature film as director was ''[[The Last House on the Left (1972 film)|The Last House on the Left]]'', which was released in 1972.<ref name="biography">{{cite web| url=http://www.biography.com/people/wes-craven-193498| title=Wes Craven| website=Biography.com| access-date=August 31, 2015}}</ref> Craven expected the film to be shown at only a few theaters, which according to him "gave me a freedom to be outrageous, and to go into areas that normally I wouldn't have gone into, and not worry about my family hearing about it, or being crushed." Ultimately the movie was screened much more widely than he assumed, leaving him ostracized due to the content of the film.<ref name="AVCraven">{{cite web |last=Tobias |first=Scott |date=March 11, 2009 |title=Wes Craven |url=https://www.avclub.com/wes-craven-1798215940 |access-date=25 January 2018 |website=Avclub}}</ref>

After the negative experience of ''Last House'', Craven attempted to move out of the horror genre, and began writing non-horror films with his partner [[Sean S. Cunningham]], none of which attracted any financial backing. Finally, based on advice from a friend about the ease of filming in the [[Nevada]] deserts, Craven began to write a new horror film based on that locale. The resulting film, ''[[The Hills Have Eyes (1977 film)|The Hills Have Eyes]]'', cemented Craven as a "horror film director" with Craven noting, "It soon became clear that I wasn't going to do anything else unless it was scary".<ref name="Hillsfront">{{cite web |last=Stratford |first=Jennifer Juniper |title=WES CRAVEN: ONE LAST SCREAM |url=http://www.thefront.com/read/wes-craven-one-last-scream/ |access-date=25 January 2018 |website=The Front}}</ref>

Craven frequently collaborated with Sean S. Cunningham. In Craven's debut feature, ''The Last House on the Left'', Cunningham served as producer. They pooled all of their resources and came up with $90,000.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} Later, in Craven's best-known film, ''[[A Nightmare on Elm Street]]'' (1984), Cunningham directed one of the chase scenes, although he was not credited.<ref name="biography"/> Craven had a hand in launching actor [[Johnny Depp]]'s career by casting him in ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'', Depp's first major film role.<ref>{{cite book|last=Blitz, Krasniewicz|title=Johnny Depp: A Biography}}</ref>

''Elm Street'' villain [[Freddy Krueger]] appeared with Cunningham's [[Jason Voorhees]] in the 2003 slasher film ''[[Freddy vs. Jason]]'', produced by Cunningham with screenwriter [[Victor Miller (writer)|Victor Miller]] credited as "Character Creator". In [[The Last House on the Left (2009 film)|the 2009 remake]] of ''The Last House on the Left'', Cunningham and Craven share production credits.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/19559|title='Scream IV' Officially Greenlit with Wes Craven Attached|date=March 23, 2010 }}</ref>

Although known for directing horror/thriller films, he worked on two films which are outside this genre: ''[[Music of the Heart]]'' (1999) and ''[[Paris, je t'aime]]'' (2006) (as one of the 22 directors responsible for it).<ref name="NPRobit"/> Craven designed the [[Halloween]] 2008 logo for [[Google]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Wes Craven Carves Google Logo|date=October 31, 2008 |url=http://www.comicmix.com/news/2008/10/31/wes-craven-carves-google-logo}}</ref> and was the second celebrity personality to take over the [[YouTube]] homepage on Halloween.<ref name="Wes Craven Takes Over YouTube for Halloween!">{{Cite news|date=August 31, 2008|title=Wes Craven Takes Over YouTube for Halloween!|work=[[Tubefilter|Tubefilter News]]|url=http://news.tubefilter.tv/2008/10/30/wes-craven-takes-over-youtube-for-halloween/|access-date=November 11, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205035048/http://news.tubefilter.tv/2008/10/30/wes-craven-takes-over-youtube-for-halloween/|archive-date=December 5, 2008}}</ref> In the mid-1980s, Craven worked briefly in the television industry by directing seven episodes of the 1985 reboot of ''[[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]'', including an episode that was written by [[George R. R. Martin]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-twilight-zone-80s-best-episodes/ |title=The Twilight Zone: Hidden Gems of the 1980s Reboot |work=[[Den of Geek]] |first=Daniel |last=Kurland |date=April 18, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://cinemamediations.wordpress.com/2015/09/30/wes-craven-in-the-twilight-zone/ |title=Wes Craven in the 'Twilight Zone' |work=Cinema Mediations |date= September 30, 2015 |first=Dawn |last=Fratini}}</ref>

Craven created ''Coming of Rage'', a five-issue [[comic book]] series, with ''[[30 Days of Night]]'' writer [[Steve Niles]].<ref name="comic"/> The series was released in [[digital comics|digital form]] in 2014 by Liquid Comics with a print edition scheduled for an October 2015 debut.<ref name="comic">{{cite web| url=http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/07/17/wes-cravens-coming-of-rage-finally-comes-to-print-from-steve-niles-and-francesco-biagini/| title=Wes Craven's Coming Of Rage Finally Comes To Print From Steve Niles And Francesco Biagini – Bleeding Cool Comic Book, Movie, TV News|author=Rich Johnston| work=Bleeding Cool Comic Book, Movie, TV News| date=July 17, 2015| access-date=August 31, 2015}}</ref>