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3 Years Ago Wes Craven Left This World, But His Legacy Will Remain Forever

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On August 30, 2015, the horror community awoke to the upsetting news that legendary filmmaker Wes Craven had passed away in his home due to brain cancer. In a year when many great actors and musicians seemed to enter their eternal slumber, the one that impacted me the most was the loss of Wes. With the ability to combine pop-culture references, psychological torment, gore, and the well-timed (but not over used) jump scare, Wes Craven secured himself in the hearts and dreams of horror fanatics around the world.

Since his 1972 directorial debut on The Last House on the Left (which ironically released on August 30th), the horror maestro continued to push the envelop with every project that was lucky enough to attach his name.

In 1977 he shocked the world with his scenic thrill ride through the desert in The Hills Have Eyes. Wes was starting to find his stride as not only a reliable and creative director, but a thought provoking and relentless writer as well. Unbeknownst to many, in 1982 he turned his artistic efforts towards the comic book realm with the release of Swamp Thing.

Image via IMDB

But it was in 1984 that Wes Craven would etch his name in the history books of horror, as one of the most iconic and influential directors the genre would ever bear witness to. From the darkest corners of his demented mind, Wes gave birth to one of the most terrifying and heinous horror villains to ever haunt our dreams, Freddy Krueger.

Backed by an unforgettable performance from Robert Englund, A Nightmare on Elm Street tormented teens with its macabre and hellish imagery, and spawned a new franchise (along with Johnny Depp’s career) that would continue to thrill moviegoers for years to come.

As if one world famous fictional killer wasn’t enough to be praised for, in 1996 Wes Craven directed the highly successful first entry to the Scream franchise. Written by Kevin Williamson, the duo introduced us to the Ghostface killer, and kept fans guessing as to who would don the spine-chilling mask and voice changer through three sequels (all directed by Craven).

Image via IMDB

Wes continued his reign of terror in 2005, directing the claustrophobic airplane thriller Red Eye, starring veteran actors Cillian Murphy and Rachel McAdams. In 2010, he again put his imaginative pen to paper, writing and directing the mystery thriller My Soul to Take.

Like a large portion of the horror community, the works and artistic vision of Wes Craven forever impacted my life. When I was in the fourth grade, my older brother made me watch Scream while my parents were out of town. To this day, I can still pinpoint the start of my love for all things horror related to the first time I heard Roger Jackson’s voice asking Drew Barrymore, “What’s your favorite scary movie?”

Image via IMDB

Wes Craven was always willing to push the boundaries with his storytelling abilities, and his name will live infamously in the hearts of horror fans around the world. His legacy will continue to influence future filmmakers, and his villains will undoubtedly stand the test of time. From all of your family, friends, and fans everywhere… we miss you and may you rest in peace.

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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