It’s close to impossible to hear Wes Craven’s name without immediately picturing Freddy’s glove or the ghostface mask. Over the year’s Craven’s name has become synonymous with the characters he created –and we remember them together because Craven was astoundingly good at predicting which kinds of scares would hit us at our core. From gore to crass wit to mind-bending self-reference (he basically invented meta), no one invigorated the horror genre quite like Craven, who died Sunday of brain cancer.
Craven passed away surrounded by family members on August 30th at the age of 76. While we mourn the loss of this prolific director, we want to celebrate all the times he gave us goosebumps and made us wish we still slept with a nightlight. Here’s a look back some of Craven’s best spine-chillers.