Top 10 moments from Wes Craven movies.

 Top 10 moments from Wes Craven movies.

This week I've been paying tribute to director Wes Craven who sadly passed away Monday. Here is a list of my ten favorite moments from films of his.

10) Last House On The Left - "What have we done?"

- In Wes Craven's 70's shocker Last House On The Left, one of the scenes that packs the biggest punch is after both teenage girls are both brutally raped and murdered. Phyllis is left gutted against a tree, while poor innocent Mary is raped and then shot while slowly walking into the nearby lake while in a state of shock. The following scene shows the gang standing there completely blood drenched with the late David Hess' "Now You're All Alone." playing as for just a few minutes we're shown a frightening human side of these killers. Here they stand, rubbing their blood stained hands against their pants, picking grass away, and all looking at each other in disgust over what they did. 

9) The Hills Have Eyes Part II - "I can't go."

- Believe it or not this lackluster sequel has grown on me and has become a guilty pleasure of mine. I really feel had Wes been given the budget and time he needed this movie could of been almost as amazing as the original. In the opening scene the audience finds Bobby, now older and still haunted by the events that took place years ago in the desert. Going to therapy, he admits that he still isn't completely over what happened and is down right terrified of the desert now since he believes all of the killers that attacked his family might actually still be alive. In a brief scene at Bobby's garage, we learn he made some sort of special fuel for motor bikes and has a whole team of racers that are testing out the high power gas at a race the next state over. The only problem is they have to cross the same desert from the original. Huddled down on the floor the morning they are supposed to leave, Bobby is haunted by flashbacks of what happened. Knowing he can't make the trip, he admits this to one of the members of the team as well as his wife Rachel who is actually Ruby from the original. It seems she survived and married Bobby after the film's original events. Here we see a tender scene where Rachel tells Bobby she'll go instead. The two embrace, kiss, and sadly this is the last time you see Bobby again. I truly feel had he had a bigger role in this installment the sequel would have worked much better.

8) Deadly Friend - "Paul?"

- Not the most popular Craven film, but still one of my all time favorite guilty pleasures. At the very end of the movie Sam aka BeBe escapes and goes completely crazy running around town with Paul chasing after her. Surrounded by the police after accidentally killing somebody, she's trapped in the driveway. The police on both sides. Thanks to some amazing music, and the look of utter confusion on Sam's face she stares at Paul and slowly her real memory returns as she sees the boy she once loved more clearly. Staring at him with her hollow blue eyes, she stares before uttering one word. "Paul…" Here Paul's experiment is finally a success, he was able to bring the real Sam back. Sadly this scene ends tragically as BeBe's computer of a brain takes over Sam making her charge a police officer and get shot. As she lays in Paul's arms, her last words are his name before she closes her eyes and dies for the second time.

7) The People Under The Stairs. - Meet the children. 

- This movie is full of memorable moments, but for me one of my all time favorite scenes has to be at the very end when Mommy attacks Alice, locking her in the house. Here the two finally have the standoff we've been waiting for the entire movie. Alice knowing how that these aren't her real parents decides to finally fight back. When we think she may be trapped all of her "brothers" lunge out of the walls and stairs and attack. Here we are shown one Hell of an ending to one of the scariest villains of the movie. I love how they all surround her before slowly stabbing, and taking her apart.

6) Wes Craven's New Nightmare. - "Nancy…"

- There are tons of iconic non-couple that are featured in horror movies. Freddy and Nancy have to be my favorite. These two have had one of the most twisted and messed up relationships of all time! Sure we all remember the famous "You!" scene from Dream Warriors. Well in New Nightmare it had been a total of 7 years since Freddy and Nancy danced that dance. In this movie my favorite scene has to be when Heather is sitting alone in her bedroom watching the news and hearing that two of her late husband's friends and co-workers were murdered just like how she saw it happen in her dream. The TV goes on by itself, and suddenly an earthquake happens causing the lights to go out. Stumbling around in the dark, Heather looks at the open closet before Freddy bursts out. Now we're not talking the goofy jokester Freddy we all remember from part 5 and 6. This is a much darker and frightening Freddy who lunges out tackling her to the ground. There Freddy stares down at Nancy as he grins. Here one single name is uttered and you know exactly what kind of ride we're about to go on. "Nancy…" Here the good and evil meet face to face yet again.

5) Scream 4 - Jill's set up.

- Ever wonder how Billy and Stu from the first movie would have staged everything after Sidney and her father were killed? This is had everything gone as planned. Sure we saw them brutally stab themselves, but how could they have made this look like a complete accident? Well in part 4 we got that answer. Here it's revealed that Jill, Sidney's cousin is in fact a fame seeking psycho bitch who does in her partner Charlie before stabbing Sidney (mmmm should have made sure she was truly down for the count there honey.) Here she acts fast knowing the police are on the way. She plants the knife and gun, rips out her own hair, stabs herself, and then in a truly amazing moment slams herself into a wall and then back into a coffee table! The best moment of course has to be when she lays down in the exact position as Sidney. In fact how bad ass would it have been if she had gotten away with it? The last scene being her being taken away with cameras flashing.

4) A Nightmare On Elm Street - Nancy takes a bath.

- The original Nightmare On Elm Street is jammed packed full of iconic images. One of my personal favorites has to be Craven showing the thin line between dreams and reality and how easy it truly is to fall asleep. Here Nancy, beyond exhausted after almost two days of no sleep takes a bath. Here her mother knocks on the door checking up on her, telling her she's heated up some warm milk for her. (Warm milk? Gross…) She's warned about not falling asleep in the tub since she could drown. Nancy gives some sass, but it seems that her mother that actually right. Since just moments before she was in fact drifting off with Freddy's claw slowly reaching up between her two legs (ouch) Shortly after Nancy nods off and is quickly pulled underneath the water. Here we see the surreal but beyond awesome image of Nancy shrunken being pulled down the drain with Freddy underneath the water (this effect was actually really easy to do with a girl being dragged into a swimming pool with a cover over it and a hole cut into it. Here Nancy splashes around, struggling to make it through the hole. I don't care who you are but that scene always gets me every time!

3) A Nightmare On Elm Street - Tina's death

- The second most memorable moment in the entire series. The movie is set up originally to have Tina as the film's lead, only to have everything turned on it's head with her brutal and beyond crazy death. In fact this very scene is one of the main reasons I got into horror. We follow Tina in her dream as she wanders around her back yard and into the side streets behind. Here Freddy firsts shows himself, and back then he was without any word of a lie completely terrifying. After a frightening chase scene, Tina falls backwards with Freddy on top of her. Here we're shown what's actually happening in reality as Tina thrashes around in bed screaming waking up her boyfriend Rod who jumps out of bed, ripping off the sheet. Here invisible claws rip Tina apart as she screams bleeding everywhere. Here she's shown being dragged up the wall by an unseen force and up over the ceiling where she's slashed and reaches down screaming before finally being thrown down on the bed. Talk about dropping the mic! Boom!

2) The Hills Have Eyes - Bobby and Brenda fight back.

- Often now overshadowed by the brutal 2006 remake, the original classic 1977 film is downright terrifying! Here after the attack on their family, teenage twins Bobby and Brenda are left with one gun with just a few bullets, their dead mother, and the shock over being raped and attacked by blood thirty killers. With their brother in-law off trying to get his baby daughter back who has been kidnapped, the two teens are forced to fight back knowing the killer clan is conning back to get them. Here we're shown how truly smart this pair is as they rig traps for the killers and instead of running and screaming actually fight back tooth and nail. So wish these two could have come back for a bigger role in part 2!

1) A Nightmare On Elm Street - Glen's death.

- The this and final pick of mine from Craven's most popular movie. This scene goes down as one of my all time favorite death scenes ever in a horror movie. Featuring a young Johnny Depp, Glen the adorable likable boyfriend is tragically killed while Nancy helplessly watches locked up across the street. As his TV signs off for the night, just at the strike of midnight Glen is pulled down into his bed as a huge waterfall of blood spurts up into the ceiling. So strange, but so amazing. "You don't need a stretcher, you need a mop!"