RIP, Scaremaster Craven

Like many movie fans, I feel sad over the recent passing of filmmaker Wes Craven, who gave us such innovative horror movies as The Last House on the Left and A Nightmare on Elm Street.  Surprisingly, my favorite Craven film is the intense psychological thriller Red Eye rather than one of his horror offerings. “This is definitely not a horror film,” Craven insisted. “There aren’t people being chased by a maniac with a butcher knife, and nobody wears a mask – except in the sense of presenting himself as one thing and then turning out to be totally different.”

And yet, it’s Red Eye that frightened me the most, perhaps because I am so afraid of flying. The idea of being on a plane is scary enough to me, but watching a woman sitting in cramped quarters next to a stranger who’s trying to involve her in a diabolical assassination plot is almost too terrifying to bear. In this terrific film, Craven creates the same kind of excruciating suspense associated with Alfred Hitchcock thrillers. 

My thoughts and prayers go out to Wes Craven’s family, friends and fans during this difficult time.