Overview

This edited collection provides an insightful look at the career and output of American horror director Wes Craven, whose most famous films such as The Last House on the Left (1972), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and Scream (1996) came to define the form in the later decades of the 20th century. Also paying attention to Craven's more underrated work, from Deadly Friend (1986) through to his melodrama Music of the Heart (1999), this academic study argues that the filmmaker's influence can still be felt on cinema today, many years after his passing. Featuring 16 chapters and an extensive introduction, this addition to the ReFocus line will prove to be essential reading for scary movie connoisseurs and brings a valuable contribution to the growing field of horror film studies.

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9781399507011

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Reviews

This is (rather unbelievably) the first academic study on the work of Wes Craven and it is both comprehensive and thorough, providing readers with new ways to think about his contribution to the genre and how his legacy continues to live on after his sad passing in 2015. A deep dive like no other into one of horror's most extraordinary directors, this entry in the ReFocus series proves itself to be both essential and exceptional.--Moving Pictures Film Club ""Rebecca McCallum"" Calum Waddell's new collection is an invaluable intervention, being the first extended attempt to make sense of the remarkably elusive Wes Craven. It proves a fitting tribute to a career that lasted over forty years and to the 50th anniversary of his first cinematic release.--Mark Jancovich, University of East Anglia This edited collection on Wes Craven is long overdue. The book surveys Craven's entire career, exploring his more popular films from interesting new angles, while also bringing attention to more overlooked work. It stands as a testament to a great auteur, who consistently broke new ground in the horror genre.--Lindsay Hallam, University of East London ReFocus: The Films ofWes Craven has an excellent editor in Waddell, an authority on horror and grindhouse cinema, whose stated goal is to prompt readers and viewers to look beyond the A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream series, and recognize Wes as a ""nearly unrivaled influence within the genre"" as well as an ""essential American filmmaker."" Through close readings of Wes's minor works--as well as two new essays about the original Nightmare on Elm Street--ReFocus makes a strong case for Wes as an auteur.--Joe Maddrey ""maddrey.blogspot.com""

Author Information

Calum Waddell is a lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, where he also received his PhD. His previous work includes The Style of Sleaze, The American Exploitation Film (2018), Images of Apartheid: Filmmaking on the Fringe in the Old South Africa (2021), South African Horror Cinema (2025), and the edited collection The Films of Wes Craven (2023). He has occasionally worked on producing bonus content and documentary work for Blu-ray labels and documented the gory glory days of grindhouse cinema with his feature-length nostalgia-trip 42nd Street Memories (2015).

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