Wes Craven’s five greatest death scenes
As one of the genre’s most vital contributors, Wes Craven is cited by many as a master of horror, employing a stylised and thematic use of codes and conventions and developing the execution of horror throughout his career. The director boasts two of the most iconic franchises in horror under his belt in the shape of Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream, with the latter still growing today.
Craven’s films have remained horror staples years after release through a balanced blend of familiar traditions: originality and satirisation – and presented against attentive camerawork and soundtracks. The director has also branched into various horror concepts, such as serial killers, dark magic and twisted social commentary, creating some of the genre’s most iconic stories and figures.
Craven realised his potential and path in horror filmmaking following the release of The Hills Have Eyes, his second directed feature film. According to The Front, after this unsettling film about a family of cannibals terrorising a group of travellers, “It soon became clear that I wasn’t going to do anything else unless it was scary”. After this, Craven directed a series of simply brilliant horror scenes.
Through the director’s creative perspective and skilled direction, his movies offered horror fans some thrilling and terrifying kills, some knowing no boundaries in visuals or physicality. Here, we look at five of the best death scenes in Wes Craven’s movies.
Wes Craven’s five greatest death scenes:
Casey Beckett’s phone call (Scream, 1996)
As one of Craven’s most iconic features, Scream follows a gang of high school students being stalked and killed off by a masked serial killer known as Ghostface. Littered with satire, meta jokes, and brilliant horror, Scream is a timeless classic.
Craven’s film opens with one of horror’s most iconic sequences, featuring Drew Barrymore as Casey Beckett, a high school student getting ready for a movie night. After she receives a terrifying call from a mysterious stalker, Casey is chased frantically out of her own house by Ghostface and stabbed in the chest. In a tragic turn of events, Casey’s parents return home, and she desperately calls out for help, only to be finished off by the killer.
Glen’s nightmare (A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984)
Craven gave horror one of its most famous faces in Freddy Krueger, the terrifyingly unique film about a vengeful serial killer who tortures and murders teenagers in their dreams. However, two of his victims vow to stay awake and take Krueger down, no matter how hard.
In his film debut, Johnny Depp appears as one of Krueger’s victims in one of the franchise’s most defining kills. His character, Glen, misses a warning call from the final girl, Nancy, and goes to sleep. After a giant hole emerges, Krueger drags Glen into his bed along with the covers, television, and radio. After that, a geyser of blood spews out of the hole onto the ceiling. It is pure ’80s horror, flashy yet horrifying.
Fugitive family get comeuppance (The Last House on the Left, 1972)
The Last House on the Left is an exploitative horror film that arrived as Craven’s shocking debut. Its plot, about two young girls who are brutally raped and murdered by a family of criminals, initially had a limited release, which “gave me (Craven) 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.”
The Last House on the Left is infamous in horror for its controversial, brutal and distressing content. Craven puts two innocent characters through a terrible ordeal at the hands of some pure evil. However, these criminals get their comeuppance when the parents of a girl enacts some fitting revenge in a climactic ending. The fugitives have body parts ripped from them, fall victim to horrific traps, and find themselves on the other end of a chainsaw.
Maureen Evans’ movie date (Scream 2, 1997)
Sidney Prescott and the other survivors of the Woodsboro murders are trying to adapt to life after the ordeal. Sidney tries to settle in and start a new life at college, but a copycat Ghostface killer poses a problem.
Scream 2’s opening does not necessarily outdo its predecessor, but it is still a thrilling sequence. Two new characters, Maureen Evans and her boyfriend, Phil Stevens, go to the theatres to see Stab, a fictional movie inspired by the first film’s events. There, Phil is killed off in the bathroom from a stab to the ear, and Ghostface sits beside Maureen in Phil’s place, pretending to be him. An unsuspecting Maureen is stabbed several times, leading her to climb up on stage in a cry for help, which the audience mistakes for a publicity stunt until she dies. The image of her bloodied body screaming frantically in front of the big screen as a crowd of Ghostface masks watches her is both chilling and sets the film up perfectly.
Crucifixion (The Hills Have Eyes, 1977)
Craven’s gritty commentary on American politics and morality comes in the form of a typical suburban family becoming the target of a family of cannibal savages after being stranded in the Nevada desert.
The Hills Have Eyes is relentless in its graphic violence and disturbing tones, evident in the family patriarch Bob’s horrific death. The cannibals kidnap him, tie him to a cross, mimicking a crucifix, and set fire to it. Bob’s family rushes in to try to save him, and he screams in agony as the flames consume his body. After a tortuous wait, the family’s frantic efforts fall short.
