Wes Craven is widely recognized as a master of horror, known for his ability to push the boundaries of the genre and create unforgettable movies that have left a lasting impact on audiences and filmmakers alike. Throughout his career, Craven made some of the most iconic and terrifying movies in horror history, blending psychological tension with visceral scares.
His influence on the genre is undeniable, from redefining the slasher movie with A Nightmare on Elm Street to deconstructing it with Scream. This list highlights the 10 scariest Wes Craven movies, showcasing his genius at creating fear. These movies represent Craven’s enduring legacy as one of horror’s greatest visionaries.
Editor’s note: The following discusses disturbing and violent content, including sexual assault. Please be advised.
10 ‘Shocker’ (1989)
Starring Michael Murphy, Mitch Pileggi, John Tesh
Shocker follows prolific serial killer Horace Pinker (Mitch Pileggi) who is arrested after a killing spree murdering over 30 people, including family members of Lieutenant Don Parker (Michael Murphy), the investigating detective on the case. Pinker is quickly convicted and sentenced to death after his arrest. On the day of his execution by the electric chair, Pinker reveals that he has previously made a deal with the Devil, and when executed, he does not die. Instead, Pinker transforms into pure electricity, with the ability to possess people to continue his killing spree.
Shocker is one of Craven’s campiest movies, with its bizarre and surreal tone and a villain jumping between electronic devices and humans. The idea of fighting and catching an almost invincible serial killer who you can touch, trace or stop from moving is frightening. Moreover, the movie is filled with viscerally violent and graphic scenes filled with the gore of Pinker’s murders. In fact, the movie was edited to go down from an X rating to an R rating.
9 ‘Deadly Blessing’ (1981)
Starring Maren Jensen, Sharon Stone, Susan Buckner
Deadly Blessing follows Martha (Maren Jensen) after her husband, Jim (Douglas Barr), dies in a freak accident. Martha’s friends, Lana Marcus (Sharon Stone) and Vicky Anderson (Susan Buckner), travel to Martha’s secluded farm to convince her to return to Los Angeles with them. During Lana and Vicky’s stay with Martha, a mysterious black-dressed figure starts targeting and attacking them and other people in town, and the group of friends must find a way to survive.
The existence of a very controlling religious fanatic group surrounding Martha, Lana, and Vicky creates a dreadful atmosphere.
Deadly Blessing takes place in a secluded farmhouse that is surrounded by an isolated religious sect known as the Hittites who hate Martha because they see her as the person who took Jim away from his religion. The existence of a very controlling religious fanatic group surrounding Martha, Lana, and Vicky creates a dreadful atmosphere. Also, the isolated nature of the farm adds to the scary factor as it highlights the vulnerability of the friend group. Craven utilizes nightmares in Deadly Blessing to blur the lines between real life and dreams, creating a terrifying dream sequence that feels very real.
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8 ‘Scream’ (1996)
Stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Skeet Ulrich
Scream follows Sidney (Neve Campbell) and her friends, who become the targets of a mysterious masked killer obsessed with horror on the first anniversary of Sidney’s murder. Sidney quickly learns that the killer has links to her mother’s murder a year prior, and doesn’t know if she can trust anybody around her. With the killer stalking the group everywhere they go and taunting them with scary phone calls, they must bond together to find a way to fight back.
The Scream franchise is Craven’s most popular and recognized part of his career. Scream introduced one of the scariest killers in the genre, Ghostface, who sometimes appears to be invincible. Throughout the movie, the victims receive chilling phone calls from Ghostface in which he taunts them before murdering them in a brutal over the top way which creates a very dreadful and terrifying atmosphere. The unpredictable nature of Ghostface and their twisted intentions only makes Scream more terrifying.
7 ‘Red Eye’ (2005)
Starring Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy
Red Eye follows Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams), who has a managerial position at a hotel, on a red-eye flight. While at the airport, she has a drink with Jackson (Cillian Murphy) and is surprised to find him seated beside her on the flight. However, Jackson’s charming and nice demeanor quickly changes when they take off, and he informs Lisa that he is part of a terrorist organization planning to assassinate the current United States Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security who is staying in the hotel she works at. Jackson forces Lisa to help them when he threatens to murder her father if she refuses to.
Red Eye is one of Craven’s most underrated movies, with a terrifying performance from Murphy and a vulnerable, heartfelt performance from McAdams. The horror in Red Eye is very claustrophobic, as Lisa has no way to run to escape Jackson. She is trapped in a plane in the air with nowhere to go. She tries her best to escape, but Jackson predicts her every move, making him even more terrifying. With a runtime under 90 minutes, the pacing of Red Eye is tight and filled with suspense. The realness of the threat in Red Eye is what makes it horrifying.
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6 ‘The People Under the Stairs’ (1991)
Starring Brandon Quintin Adams, Everett McGill, Wendy Robie, A. J. Langer
The People Under the Stairs follows three burglars, including Fool (Brandon Quintin Adams), who break into the house of The Robesons (Everett McGill and Wendy Robie) to steal money required for Fool’s mom’s cancer treatment. Inside the house, Fool meets Alice (A. J. Langer), the Robesons’ abused daughter, who reveals very dark secrets about the Robesons and the house, as he stumbles upon a large group of pale children in a locked pen inside a dungeon-like basement. Fool must come up with a plan to escape the house of horrors and rescue Alice.
The People Under the Stairs is one of Craven’s most chilling and underrated movies. It depicts a house full of horror and relentless abuse at the hands of the Robesons, who have no limits when it comes to how violent they can get with their children. The movie mixes horrifying imagery of gore and body horror to create grotesque imagery. The People Under the Stairs explores themes of child abuse, cannibalism, and mutilation in a very explicit and disturbing way that leaves an impact even after the credits roll.
5 ‘The Serpent and the Rainbow’ (1988)
Starring Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson, Zakes Mokae
The Serpent and the Rainbow revolves around Dr. Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman), an anthropologist, on his trip to Haiti after being commissioned by a pharmaceutical company to research a drug used in Haitian Vodou to create zombies. In Haiti, Alan meets people who claim they have been revived after dying. Alan is taken into custody, where he is threatened by Dargent Peytraud (Zakes Mokae) and told to leave Haiti, but he refuses.
The Serpent and the Rainbow is a zombie movie. However, it is a very unique take on the zombie genre as it is rooted in accounts of real life Hatitian practices and beliefs rather than fictional tropes. The Serpent and the Rainbow explores themes of colonial exploitation, as a Western company wishes to exploit a cultural practice in Haiti. The scariest part of the movie is Peytraud who is immensely powerful, whether in politics or even due to his supernatural superpowers. There are plenty of terrifying scenes, including hallucinatory visions of death and demonic figures and Alan being buried alive.
4 ‘Wes Craven’s New Nightmare’ (1994)
Starring Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Miko Hughes, and John Saxon
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare is a meta-horror where Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) finds a way to cross into the real world and starts targeting and terrorizing Heather Langenkamp, who played Nancy in the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies, and her family. When Langenkamp visits Craven for an explanation of how Freddy Krueger is now real, she sees a script detailing every single dialogue and action she has experienced, and she learns she has to embrace her role as Nancy again to stop Freddy.
Craven’s use of meta-horror by introducing Freddy Krueger to the real world diminishes the line protecting the audience from the monsters on the screen, which makes Wes Craven’s New Nightmare a terrifying experience. Freddy Krueger in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare is more terrifying in every aspect. Englund’s performance foregoes the comedic aspects of Freddy and focuses on the sinister and terrifying aspects to display him as the evil figure he truly is. Also, the new design for Freddy Krueger is darker, making him reminiscent of a demon.
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3 ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ (1977)
Starring Susan Lanier, Michael Berryman and Dee Wallace
The Hills Have Eyes follows the Carter family who are going on vacation in Los Angeles towing a trailer. En route, the family skids off the road and crashes. Stranded in a desolate desert area, the family is stalked and attacked by a brutal, cannibalistic family living in the hills. The Carters are forced into a terrifying fight for survival as the attackers ambush them. As the violence escalates, the surviving family members must confront their own primal instincts to protect each other and escape.
The most terrifying part of The Hills Have Eyes is that it is based on a historical account of a cannibalistic family who had almost 1000 victims, which means that the horror in the movie could have happened to multiple people. The cannibalistic family has no moral code or limits and is ready to do whatever it takes to achieve its goals. Increasing the scare factor is the fact that the Carters are isolated in the vast desert with nobody around to help them and no way out, only a group of cannibals waiting to attack them.
2 ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ (1984)
Starring Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Robert Englund
A Nightmare on Elm Street follows a group of teenagers who are haunted down by Freddy Krueger (Englund) in their dreams. Freddy Kruger is an undead man who can kill people in their dreams where every injury and kill he causes is translated to real life. He stalks this group of teenagers in retaliation for being burned alive by vengeful parents after he gets away from being sentenced for killing children on a technicality.
Sleep is one of the safest states for humans, especially when it is done inside their safe homes, which makes the idea of a demon who can kill you in your sleep terrifying. It is even scarier that nobody can prevent themselves from falling asleep, no matter how much they try, it is part of the human daily cycle. The character design of Freddy Kruger makes the whole ordeal more terrifying, with his melted skin and knife fingers. Additionally, he is an undead man, even death itself cannot stop him. However, the scariest part of A Nightmare on Elm Street is the fact it is based on a real life story.
1 ‘The Last House on the Left’ (1972)
Starring Sandra Peabody, Lucy Grantham, David Hess
The Last House on the Left is Craven’s debut directorial movie. The story follows Marie (Sandra Peabody) and Phyllis (Lucy Grantham), who are getting ready to go to a concert to celebrate Marie’s 17th birthday. The teenagers make it to the city and on their pursuit to buy marijuana, they are led to an apartment where a gang of escaped criminals trap them. Through the night, the girls are subjected to torture and rape.
The Last House on the Left was Craven’s first movie and his scariest movie by far. In The Last House on the Left, there are no monsters with supernatural abilities, but instead there is real life horror that any woman or girl can be subjected to. Like any Craven movie, the violence of all kinds in this movie is visceral and even repulsive at some times. The realness of the horror in The Last House on the Left makes it the scariest Craven movie and one of the most disturbing ever in the genre.
