Wes Craven

Born on August 2, 1939, in Cleveland, Ohio, Wes Craven went on to direct horror films like Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes and Swamp Thing before helming the infamous Nightmare on Elm Street. He scored another major hit with Scream, which spawned three sequels as of 2011.

Craven made an impressive film debut in 1972's The Last House on the Left, which he wrote and directed. The movie mined human cruelty to fuel the horrific tale of teenage girls abducted by deranged prisoners. The evil that people can inflict on others provided the central conflict for another now-classic Craven film The Hills Have Eyes (1977).

Craven's works tend to share a common exploration of the nature of reality. 'A Nightmare on Elm Street', for example, dealt with the consequences of dreams in real life. 'The Serpent and the Rainbow' portrays a man who cannot distinguish between nightmarish visions and reality.

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 concept was emphasized in the sequels, as copycat stalkers reenact the events of a new film about the Woodsboro killings occurring in 'Scream'. 'Scream' included a scene mentioning an urban legend about Richard Gere and a sex act involving a hamster. Craven stated in interviews that he received calls from agents telling him that if he left that scene in, he would never work again.