Horror film genius dies

[caption id="attachment_98288" align="alignright" width="276"] Wes Craven[/caption]

HORROR film creator Wes Craven, who directed A Nightmare on Elm Street, has died.

He was 76. Craven brought to life some of Hollywood’s most feared monsters, but also showed a deft touch in sending up the entire teen horror genre with the Scream horror series that packed cinemas.

He died at his Los Angeles home on Sunday, surrounded by friends and relatives after suffering from brain cancer, a statement said.

Craven was awarded lifetime achievement awards by the New York City Horror Film Festival and the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.

But he will be best remembered for A Nightmare on Elm Street and its central character, Freddy Krueger, whose badly burnt face populated the nightmares of a generation of cinemagoers. -Rob Crilly [The Telegraph]