While I make no secret that, with the exception of perhaps A Nightmare on Elm Street, not one of Craven’s works would make my all-time horror top twenty, the amount that would nestle comfortably in my top fifty suggests just how ever-present he has been through my tenure as a self-anointed horror aficionado and I’ve sure been grateful for the company. My plan today is to cast an affectionate eye over some of his key achievements in filmmaking as well as a handful of personal darlings from his vast oeuvre. With almost thirty directorial credits to his name over a distinguished career that stretched across five decades, there’s plenty of commemoration to be had. This is where my frightful tardiness actually makes it easier on all of us as, while there will always be that twinge of sadness as with the loss of any loved one, we have had time to process the information and can focus on celebrating his grand legacy, as opposed to making this an obituary. Given that the Cleveland born writer and director was every bit as present during my filmic development, that seems like decidedly poor form on my part but I’m not here to hang my head in shame.

However, while I wasted little time in paying my eternal respects to both Romero and Hooper, it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn’t extended their fellow American the same kindness. I guess it’s right what they say about bad news coming in threes. Romero, took his final bow and none of us saw it coming.

That in itself follows yet another body blow from mere weeks earlier as the Godfather of the Dead himself, George A.

I am writing this homage on August 30th, 2017, having just poured my heart out about another tremendous loss for the genre, the passing of Tobe Hooper. As fate would have it, this very day marks the two-year anniversary of his death, thus there seems no more fitting time to honor this great man. It is hard to believe that two years have passed since one of horror’s true leading lights, Wes Craven, was taken from us.

Caboodle 80s