Wes Craven is known to be one of the ultimate masters of horror. He was best known for his innovative, pioneering work in the horror genre, specifically with slasher films like Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street, where he blended satire with well-known cliches in the genre. During his career, Craven received several accolades for his work, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York City Horror Film Festival. Wes Craven was often the creative and directorial mind behind some of the horror genre’s greatest hits like The Hills Have Eyes, The Last House on the Left, and the Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.
Wes Craven served as the inspiration for younger horror directors who grew up on his films, admiring his technique and creativity. With such a massive catalog of frightening features under his belt, there’s no shortage of chilling Wes Craven movie scenes to recall. Here are six of his movies’ scariest moments.
6 The Hills Have Eyes - Trailer Scene
Released in 1977, The Hills Have Eyes was written, edited, and directed by Craven. It's about the suburban Carter family, who get stranded in a Nevada desert and become the targets of a group of cannibals. It's a gory and violent, yet humorous and innovative horror film that spawned a franchise, remakes and inevitably became a cult classic. While the premise of the entire movie can be unsettling, one of the scariest moments comes from the trailer raid scene. Feral cannibals break into the Carters' trailer, terrorize the women of the family and attempt to kidnap their baby. It's disturbing and lasts far longer than feels comfortable.
5 The Last House on the Left - Ending Scene
Premiering in 1972, The Last House on the Left was Craven's directorial debut. It's about a teenage girl who gets abducted and tortured by a family of fugitives on her seventeenth birthday. The group of criminals murders the girl and then unknowingly seeks refuge in her parents house. One thing leads to another, and the girl's parents discover that the people in their home murdered their daughter, and they decide to get revenge. The end scene where the parents carry out their revenge plot is as violent and gruesome as it gets. After an entire movie of hard-to-watch moments, everything culminates in the brutal end scene. For many at the time, the uncensored violence of the movie was simply too much, particularly leading up to the end, but — like many of Craven's films — it has since amassed a cult following.
4 Scream 2 - Car Crash Scene
The sequel to one of Craven's best works, Scream 2 is a horror movie sequel that can stand up next to the original. It's good. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and it's a repeat of that signature blend of satire and slasher film suspense that Craven perfected in the first movie. One of the scariest, most suspenseful scenes from Scream 2 comes during the car crash scene. Sidney (Neve Campbell) and Hallie (Elise Neal) are trapped in the back of a police cruiser hijacked by Ghostface. He crashes the car and seems to pass out, so the girls take this as their chance to escape. What follows is three minutes of pure tension as they crawl over Ghostface to escape, and just when they think they've made it, the audience is hit with an iconic jump scare.
3 A Nightmare on Elm Street - Bathtub Scene
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Another successful Craven franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street, brought the bad dream-inducing Freddy Kruger to life when it premiered in 1984. Spawning a massive franchise, complete with spin-offs and remakes, A Nightmare on Elm Street is a major horror classic. One of Craven's most famous movie scenes comes from the first installment in the franchise and is, of course, the memorable bathtub scene. Despite her best efforts, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) starts falling asleep in the bathtub and Freddy's signature claws start to emerge from the water until she's eventually pulled under. It's a short scene, but it packs a punch and stands out as one of Craven's best.
2 The Serpent and The Rainbow - Buried Alive Scene
In what may be one of Craven's lesser known works, 1988's The Serpent and The Rainbow is genuinely creepy, even if it doesn't feel like the works people are more familiar with. It's loosely based on the novel of the same name by Wade Davis that recounts his experiences in Haiti investigating the story of Clairvius Narcisse, a man who was allegedly poisoned and buried alive, only to be revived with an herbal drink, thus making him a zombie. The entire movie has an ere of creepiness to it and teeters the line between horror and psychological thriller. However, the most terrifying moment comes during the scene when the main character, Dennis (Bill Pullman) is being buried alive. It's a fear that's often visited in horror films, but this particular case is really something.
1 Scream - Opening Scene
The Scream franchise is the crown jewel of Craven's filmography. It's a well-loved classic by audiences new and old, and it's had a significant impact on horror movies as we know them today. Truly, all of Scream is iconic. It broke barriers in the horror genre, innovating beyond what was on-screen up until its release. The best and one of the scariest scenes, comes at the very beginning of the movie. Craven could expertly craft a cold open and Scream is proof of that.
It's the iconic scene of Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) home alone, making popcorn, and getting ready to watch a scary movie, when she receives an anonymous phone call from Ghostface. Suspense builds until he lets it slip that he can see her, and then it becomes pure terror, as Casey fights against a relentless masked intruder. It's such a standout horror movie scene, it's likely recognizable by everyone you know, whether they've watched the movie or not.