People Who Inspired Me To Be A Writer: Wes Craven

It’s the summer of 1997 and me and my big sister are over my dad’s house for the weekend. My dad shares a place with my uncle who lets me and my sister watch a lot of his movies in his room, the main movie we watched over and over again was Scream (1996).

June of 1999, on a summer night I’m upstairs in my mom’s room watching tv while she’s at work and my big sister is downstairs watching tv in the living room. While I’m watching Stand By Me (1986) on my mom’s tv my older sister is telling me to come downstairs with her and watch this good scary movie she was looking at on tv. After I finished watching Stand By Me I went downstairs and found her watching this movie about this monster-looking dude who had claw-like, razored fingers and he was chasing after this little boy and his mother in what looked like a boiler room with a waterfall. The monster’s name was Freddy Krueger and the name of the movie was called New Nightmare (1994).

Both of these films came from Wes Craven, who is not only my top favorite filmmaker ever, but also one of my biggest inspirations as a writer. To all, Wes Craven is known as the master of horror and with his classics like The Last House On The Left (1972), The Hills Have Eyes (1977), A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) and Scream (1996) he needs no introduction as to why. Though Wes is the master of horror, his horror quality alone is not the main reason behind how and why he inspires me. Horror is one of my favorite genres, but not just because of its scare factor, but because of the societal subtexts that horror films carry and the creativity that goes into making them. No one has ever impacted me with their level of versatility and real world commentary in this way like how Wes Craven has.

Watching his movies as a kid I always thought a lot about how his stories were not only entertaining, but also had a real life message of which was very relatable. A Nightmare On Elm Street is a film that explores the uneasy world of nightmares and dealing with the greatest fears buried in the back of our minds. Nightmares were a constant battle I fought as a kid on a daily basis so the A Nightmare On Elm Street series resonated with me on a deep personal level.

When watching this series I felt like I understood the thought process of Wes when he came up with the idea behind the story. He knew he was presenting a story that tapped into an unnerving fear that rested in society’s night time world and not only was he planning on telling an entertaining story, but also inspiring the viewer to take a real life stand against their own hidden fears. He of course kept this meta-commentary style of storytelling with other films that came before and after like The Hills Have Eyes, The People Under The Stairs and Scream.

This style of storytelling inspired me heavy as a storyteller because it made me want to ask questions that were out of the norm in the same way that Wes Craven asked. Many people think the inner city is its own force of evil, but if you go back and watch The People Under The Stairs (1991) Wes Craven suggest that the people who own the property and resting places of the inner city are the real villains. Being born and raised in the inner city this was a reality of which I was always aware.

With the Scream series it always seemed like the movie’s villain was never the person on trial for their crimes, instead it seemed like society as a whole was on trial. So it seemed as if Wes Craven was always asking this particular question with his works: is the person who you perceive to be the villain really the villain, or is society at large and the surrounding circumstances really to blame? This is the kind of storytelling I value. The storytelling that asks you to look at things outside of the norm.

There was always a lot that went into a Wes Craven film. Even in his films that were not so successful he always put a lot into his story and characters. Nothing was ever simple and there was always a lot to pick apart with his films. This definitely made me want to be an in-depth storyteller because this type of storytelling not only produces a more successful story for you, but also inspires the storytellers of the future, which is exactly what Wes Craven has done. He inspired so many great minds of film and storytelling, myself included.

He taught so many of us how to flesh out a character, be intelligently detailed with your story and even throw a little real world relativity into your work to really keep everyone talking about your art for a long time. When Wes Craven passed away I can honestly say I was not sad, on the contrary I was very happy with the body of work he left behind and how it gave me so many great memories that took me back to so many amazing places in my own life and showed me how to master the art of storytelling and being a creator. When you look at the new generation of Scream films and how they are dedicated to him you not only see the incredible influence that he left behind, but also how that influence has paved the way for generations to come.

Wes Craven will always be one of the greatest minds of cinematic history who shaped the landscape, broke grounds and created new life. He will also always be my number one biggest influence of filmmaking and one of the greatest storytellers who inspired me to be a writer.

~~Dedicated to the memory of Wesley Earl Craven. Thank you for inspiring me to be a writer and a storyteller.