Full Metal Film Reviews: Craving Craven: The Films of Wes Craven

The Story So Far:

Like most people my age, the first Wes Craven film I had the pleasure of experiencing was A Nightmare on Elm Street. I probably first saw that film when I was 12 years old. I loved it and I watched all the sequels which I loved too. Oh to be a naive 12 year old. The first Craven film I saw in theatres was Wes Craven's New Nightmare. I loved it!! It was as good and if not better than the original. It was definitely, with out a doubt, hands down better than all the sequels so far.

A Nightmare on Elm Street made Craven a legend in the horror world. It put him up there with John Carpenter, George Romero and David Cronenberg. His legendary status was written in stone with the release of the first nightmare and confirmed when he wrote the third in that series. In 1996 he skewered the genre he helped create with the film Scream and in the process he not only reinvigorated the horror/slasher film but he cemented his name in the horror hall of fame.

But even still, not all of Craven's films are very good. In fact, of the 10 that I have seen, and if my memory serves me correct, only six of those were any good and only three out of those six were actually great movies. Of those 10 films, five of them I haven't seen in years, or as an adult, and thus as I take this epic odyssey of Wes Craven my opinions could change for many of those films.

Since I have only seen 10 of his films, that leaves 12 that I have not. That makes a total of 22 films (not including ones that haven't been officially released in North America in uncut widescreen prints). That's 22 films, and I'm guessing that out of those 22 films only a handful of them will be any good. It only takes one film to make you a horror master; Craven has at least three. But then he has at least three that are complete stinkers as well.

I can't wait to watch Wes Craven's New Nightmare and Scream again. I look forward to Red Eye and The Hills Have Eyes (I love the remake) and I am excited to finally see more than the first half hour of The Serpent and the Rainbow. Bt then I also have to trudge through absolute crap such as Vampire in Brooklyn and the even worse than the third part, Scream 4. And then there are the two TV movies, My Soul to Take and from what I hear, an excruciatingly bad sequel to The Hills have Eyes.

I can't believe how excited I am to work my way through Craven's catalogue of films. I really have no reason to be so excited. After all, I am expecting more bad, more crap, more shite and more pain (as in painful to watch) than good, great or brilliant films. I love horror films, I could watch them all day everyday and I can usually see the good in them versus the trashing they usually get by most critics.
Out of the 22 films, 21 of them are horror films. So even if they turn out mostly bad, even if 80 percent of them suck, I will still have a great time watching, dissecting and discussing them with you fellow readers of full metal reviews.