Horror master Wes Craven died Sunday in Los Angeles after a battle with brain cancer. He was 76.
The news of his death was confirmed by a representative to USA TODAY. "It is with deep sadness we inform you that Wes Craven passed away at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 30, after battling brain cancer," his family said in a statement. "He was 76 years old. Craven was surrounded by love, in the presence of his family at home in Los Angeles."
The auteur filmmaker made his writing/directing debut with The Last House on the Leftin 1972, unnerving moviegoers five years later with X-rated road-trip slasher The Hills Have Eyes. Hills spawned four sequels, including two reboot installments in the mid-2000s (Craven co-wrote 2007's The Hills Have Eyes 2 with his son, Jonathan Craven).
But he made his most indelible mark with A Nightmare On Elm Street in 1984, introducing the fedora-wearing, metal-glove-clad serial killer Freddy Krueger into pop culture. Starring Johnny Depp in one of his earliest roles, the box-office triumph was continued by eight sequels (the most recent, a 2010 reboot of the same name).
His other notable credits include the tongue-in-cheek Scream horror franchise, revived this summer as a MTV series of the same name (on which he was a producer). He also directed Meryl Streep drama Music of the Heart, Rachel McAdams thriller Red Eye and Eddie Murphy comedy Vampire in Brooklyn.
Craven is survived by his wife, producer Iya Labunka; older sister, Carol Buhrow; son and daughter Jonathan and Jessica Craven and their families; and his stepdaughter, Nina Tarnawksy.
