Wes Cravens 10 Best Movies (According to IMDb) | ScreenRant – Screen Rant

Wes Craven was a famous horror director who began his directing career in 1972 with his iconic film The Last House on the Left. Wes Craven passed away in 2015 at the age of 76, but the filmmaker's legacy will live on for years to come.

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Craven may have had a few duds sprinkled throughout his career as a director, but the horror maestro also created some of the most legendary faces in the horror genre such as Freddy Krueger and Ghostface. Craven has over 30 directing credits to his name, but some of his films are better than others. Here are Wes Cravens 10 Best Movies (According to IMDB).

Wes Cravens last film before his death just barely makes it into his top 10 films. Scream 4was released in 2015 and took place ten years after the events of Scream 3. Neve Campbell once again returns as Sidney Prescott and is joined by the likes of David Arquette, Courtney Cox, Kristen Bell, and Emma Roberts.

Scream 4 got mixed reviews upon its release, with many people complaining about the film still relying on horror movie clichs. That being said, most people agreed that Scream 4 was a significant improvement from Scream 3.

After seeing the success of Screamin 1996, Wes Craven was quick to develop Scream 2 with Dimension Films just a year after the first film. Unfortunately for Craven and company, Scream 2 didnt perform critically or financially as well as the original but was still seen as a box office success.

Most people criticized Scream 2 for not finding original ideas for the sequel, but given the films release date, development and production were clearly rushed. Scream 2 may not have been able to live up to the first film, but it is still considered the best sequel of the franchise.

One of Wes Cravens earliest films is The Hills Have Eyes, which was released in 1977. The film is centered on a family who must survive a group of deformed cannibals after they get stranded in the middle of the Nevada desert. The film got mixed reviews upon its initial release but has become more of a cult classic over the years.

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The film did better at the box office than The Last House on the Left and is still one of Cravens most notable works to date. This film even spawned a reboot in 2006, which actually has a higher score on IMDb than the original.

Another film that Wes Craven is well-known for is The People Under the Stairs. The film revolves around two robbers who break into a house only to find several children locked in the basement of a house. The film was a surprise hit at the box office, earning over $30,000,000 at the box office off of a $6,000,000 budget.

Like many of Wes Cravens films, The People Under the Stairs got mixed reviews when it was first released, but has gotten more positive ones as the years have rolled on.

After five Nightmare on Elm Street sequels, Wes Craven returned to the franchise to direct New Nightmare. For many horror fans, this was the best sequel of the franchise, especially since Craven brought Freddy Krueger back in a fresh way rather than just resurrecting him once again.

New Nightmare is an example of a meta-horror film, where the actors in the film play themselves and acknowledge that A Nightmare on Elm Streetwas just a movie. Unfortunately for Heather Langenkamp, Freddy has figured out a way into the real world and is after her son. Despite getting stellar reviews, Wes Cravens New Nightmare, unfortunately, didnt perform well at the box office.

After moving away from the Scream franchise, Wes Craven directed a thriller called Red Eye, starring Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, and Brian Cox. The film mainly takes place on an airplane, with a terrorist forcing a woman to assist in assassinating a politician.

Upon its release, Red Eye got mostly positive reviews, with fans and critics praising the acting of Murphy and McAdams. Red Eye was a unique film in Wes Cravens filmography mainly because it moved away from the slasher genre and was more of a mystery thriller.

Before Bill Pullman gave his iconic speech as the president of the United States in Independence Day, he starred in Wes Cravens The Serpent and the Rainbow. Craven loosely based his movie on the book of the same name by Wade Davis, which was often criticized for being scientifically inaccurate.

Wes Cravens film was not non-fiction, however, so he did a bit better with critics. The Serpent and the Rainbow got mixed reviews upon its release in 1988 but has gotten more attention over the years with each new home media release.

Most of Wes Cravens filmography is made up of horror films, but Music of the Heart is the rare exception. The film is based on the real-life tale of Roberta Guaspari, the founder of Opus 118 Harlem School of Music in New York. Madonna was originally cast in the lead role, but Meryl Streep ultimately took her place.

While Music of the Heart is a clear departure from Cravens usual films, it is often considered one of his best films. This is made clear by being in Cravens top 3 films according to IMDb and the fact that it was nominated for two Oscars in the 72nd Academy Awards.

Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger are the faces of slasher films in the 80s, but the focus shifted to Ghostface in the 90s. The plot of the film is iconic, with a killer hunting down a group of teenagers while mocking them with horror movies.

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Scream got mainly favorable reviews upon its release in 1996, with many praising the film for its use of sly humor and meta-jokes about the horror genre. The film spawned three sequels and a TV show, but the original Scream is usually considered the best in the franchise.

Wes Cravens best film, according to IMDb, is A Nightmare on Elm Street, which stands with a solid 7.5 out of 10. By now, most people know the story of Freddy Krueger. Hes the child killer who hunts teenagers in their sleep, and if they die in their sleep, they die for real.

Freddy Krueger quickly became one of the most iconic characters in horror history, and its not hard to see why. Like many of Cravens franchises, the original Nightmare is often deemed the best in the series. Craven didnt want his movie to turn into a long-running franchise, but he obviously didnt get his wish.

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Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero