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 Craven, who was also behind the 1990s horror hit "Scream,"
died surrounded by his loved ones at his Los Angeles home after
suffering from brain cancer, the family said.
"It is with deep sadness we inform you that Wes Craven passed
away," the family said. "Our hearts are broken."
Craven suffered from ailing health over the past three years,
but continued to work on projects including several television
shows, a graphic novel and a new film, "The Girl in the
Photographs," which is set to premiere at the 2015 Toronto Film
Festival next month.
Craven, born in Cleveland, shot to fame, at least among horror
film fans, with his first feature, "The Last House on the Left,"
which has achieved cult classic status over the decades. He
moved into film work after spending a few years as a college
professor.
Other horror films also now deemed classics quickly followed,
including "The Hills Have Eyes" and "Swamp Thing." But it was
with 1984's hit "A Nightmare on Elm Street" that Craven rose to
the top of the genre.
The film, which cost less than $2 million, starred Robert
Englund as Freddy Krueger, a clawed villain who torments a group
of youths through their dreams, was a box office bonanza earning
some $25 million, and spawned eight sequels, as well as a
television series and novels.
In 1996, he struck box office gold again with "Scream," another
teens-in-peril slasher film which also satirized the genre.
Craven directed three more "Scream" films over the next 15
years.
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He broke from the genre in 2005 with "Red Eye," a well-received
airline thriller that starred Rachel McAdams.
Craven was awarded lifetime achievement awards by the New York City
Horror Film Festival and the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy &
Horror Films, according to the Internet Movie Database.
Tributes poured in for the film director, writer and producer over
social media as news of his death spread.
"Today the world lost a great man, my friend and mentor, Wes Craven.
My heart goes out to his family," actress Courteney Cox, who starred
in Craven's 1996 "Scream" and appeared in the franchise's three
subsequent films, posted on Twitter.
Actress Rose McGowan, who was also featured in the original
"Scream," said on Twitter: "Shedding tears now. A giant has left
us."
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner and Chris Michaud; Editing by Lisa
Shumaker, Robert Birsel)
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