The Soul of Wes Craven
Published by Harker Press, 2024. 460 pages
By Joseph Maddrey

Out of all the directors that were reigning supreme in my formable years, the ‘80s, with names like Romero, Carpenter, Cronenberg, Hooper, Coscarelli, Wes Craven was never in my favorites. There were a few of his films that I still love to this day, such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, but for a career as a whole, he’s not high up in my list. But by reading this new book on him, it proved yet once again that by learning more about a subject, really going behind and deep into the person, you cannot help but see things differently. Doesn’t mean it changed my feelings towards some of his work, but it gives one so much more understanding on what you see.

There was a lot about Craven that I knew, such as him being a very intelligent man, that he used to be a teacher at one point, as well as wanting to break free from the genre that he was continually forced to work in. A younger me would state that he just used the genre to get his foot in the door, but never really was a fan. Once you read of his life, being raised in a very fundamental religious background, you realize he is never far away from true horror. And wanting to do something different from just that genre, that he was a very creative person who wanted to show that while he enjoyed working in scary tales, he also could show you something else.