Director Analysis: Wes Craven

I decided to do a textual analysis of perhaps the most well known and best horror film directors: Wes Craven.

Craven was best known for creating the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise featuring the Freddy Krueger character, directing the first installment and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, and co-writing A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.

Craven also directed all four films in the Scream series, and co-created the Ghostface character. Some of his other films include The Hills Have Eyes, The Last House on the Left, The People Under the Stairs, Red Eye, The Serpent and the Rainbow, and Vampire in Brooklyn.

Craven's works tend to share a common exploration of the nature of reality. For instance, A Nightmare On Elm Street focused on the consequences of dreams in real life. I had a similar idea for one of my proposed films as I'm wanting to create the same effect of 'real life horror'. 

In Scream, the characters frequently reference horror films similar to their situations, and at one point Billy Loomis tells his girlfriend that life is just a big movie. This is an exceptional use of 'reverse psychology' on the audience and creates the exact effect of 'this isn't a movie, this is real life' that I'm going to try and recreate in my film. 

Cravens work tended to share a common exploration of the nature of reality. Night mare on elm street focused on the consequences of dreams in real life. In Scream the characters constantly reference other horror films that are similar to the situation they're in.
I want to do this as well as I believe true horror films leave a lasting effect on the audience and make them go home believing what they have just watched could happen to them.