For fans of Wes Craven, this is the worst news possible. The horror directing and producing legend has lost his battle with brain cancer and passed away at the age of 76.
He is most widely known for two horror franchises, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream, but had been producing horror classics for years before those two gave us the chills.
Craven first announced his presence with the 1972 classic The Last House on the Left and then scared us anew with The Hills Have Eyes in 1977. He also gave us Swamp Thing in the early 80s, but it was his creation of Freddy Kruger that truly put him into iconic status.
A Nightmare on Elm Street not only was a massive horror hit, it also introduced the world to a young Johnny Depp and launched a series that gave nightmares to movie fans the globe over.
In 1994 he brilliantly skewered the genre he loved with the uber smart Scream. It became a massive hit and spawned two sequels that also had fun with the idea of the horror sequel and the horror trilogy. Scream was probably one of the most brilliant, self-aware horror films of all-time.
In his later years, he tried to break out of the straight horror genre, most successfully with the thriller Red Eye, starring Rachel McAdams.
Craven may be gone, but his work will live on forever.