The gods gave us Wes Craven on 2 August 1939. They must have been in a good mood.
Yes, I say gods! Because he got his start as a porn producer. And he could have continued to do that. Hollywood’s Big Red Son generally makes more money than the “legitimate” films that people like me obsess about.
Wes Craven’s first film, The Last House on the Left, was supposed to be pornographic. It is also his most important film even though he made a number of great ones.
Sex is one of the oldest exploitation vehicles in all of film. But I generally find it pretty boring. So adding sex scenes to The Last House on the Left would not have helped it. And it probably would have been that Wes Craven would have spent his career making tons of money on porn and never would have created The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The People Under the Stairs, and Scream.
But I assume you’ve watched all of those and more. An interesting film that most people haven’t seen is Swamp Thing. It is one of most believable superhero films you’ll find. And it all works very well, especially considering its clearly modest budget. Here is an excellent print you can watch without commercials for free:
Other 2 August Anniversaries
Filmmakers
- Jack L Warner (1892-1978): Co-founder of Warner Bros.
- Charles Bennett (1899-1995): Screenwriter especially associated with Alfred Hitchcock in films like The 39 Steps and Sabotage.
- Myrna Loy (1905-1993): Actor known especially for The Thin Man and its sequels.
- Peter O’Toole (1932-2013): Iconic actor known for The Stunt Man and My Favorite Year.
- Susan Denberg (1944-): Actor known for Frankenstein Created Woman.
- Butch Patrick (1953-): Actor known for his role of Eddie on The Munsters.
- Kevin Smith (1970-): Director of Clerks, Tusk, and more.
- Edward Furlong (1977-): Actor known from Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Pet Sematary Two.
Films
- The Eyes of Laura Mars (1978): A fashion photographer can see through a killer’s eyes.
- Fright Night (1985): When a vampire moves into the neighborhood, a boy goes to a horror host for help.
- Weird Science (1985): Nerds create a woman and learn valuable lessons.
- Body Parts (1991): A man has a serial killer’s arm replace his own and you know how that goes.
- Signs (2002): Crop circles show up on a farm.
- Graveyard Alive (2003): A nurse becomes a zombie while still looking for love.
Wes Craven image via Bob Bekian under CC BY-SA 2.0.