Farewell to Wes – Dread Central Writer Staci Layne Wilson
I grew up on the A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream movies. Wes Craven was an idol of mine, so when my writing career rolled over into entertainment reporting, I considered myself a lucky duck indeed when I got the opportunity to meet the man behind the masks.
The first time I interviewed Wes Craven was in 2005 for his thriller Red Eye. I’d spent several days in Tokyo, but I was so excited to have landed this exclusive trophy that I went directly from the LAX international terminal to the Dreamworks Studios campus to meet him: literally from the “red eye.” I somehow babbled my way through, and he couldn’t have been nicer (I think we talked more about Tokyo than the flick). After the chat, his then-assistant Carly Feingold snapped a photo of us, and both of our eyes glowed red in the light of the flash.
Our second encounter was shortly after the DVD of Cursed was released, with my quote on the back. I think I said, “The best horror movie of the year!” or some similar hyperbole… a bit of a joke, since I screened the film in January. So, technically, it was the best film of the young year… When Mr. Craven signed my copy, he wrote “Thanks for the good – great! – review.”
There were more interviews to follow, and I always found him to be soft-spoken, thoughtful, gracious and kind. He was one of the good ones, and we are all beneficiaries of the amazing horror film legacy he left.
We are all his children now.
— Staci Layne Wilson
With the tragic passing of Wes Craven, literally everyone in the industry has been reeling and expressing love for the man and his work. Several people have been writing in to Dread Central to ask if it would be cool to post their thoughts. So this Farewell to Wes feature will be their opportunity to share their feelings and their thoughts with you, the horror community.
Some will be long, some will be short, but all are important and will be featured with love and caring. It’s our honor to be able to do this for the man who gave us so very much.
Categorized:News
