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Wes Craven was responsible for some of the horror genre’s most significant works. In the 70s, he stomped on the face of polite society with his debut feature The Last House on the Left and his sophomore effort The Hills Have Eyes. During the slasher boom of the early-80s, he introduced the world to his most iconic and evil creation Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street and made audiences afraid to fall asleep. During the 90s, when everyone thought they were too cool for horror, he reminded them just how smart and powerful the genre can be by ripping away their cynicism and throwing it back at them with Scream. He is rightfully a legend thanks to his work on the big screen, but there is another side to his filmography that doesn’t get mentioned very often: the made-for-TV movie.
For a few decades, making movies specifically for television was a big deal. While it still exists today, these small-screen features are usually relegated to streaming services or channels like Lifetime and Hallmark. Back when Craven was still a young director trying to keep himself afloat between decade-defining films, he worked quite a bit for the small screen. With the success of Scream in early 2022 and news of another sequel, per Bloody Disgusting, it’s the perfect time to go back and honor the director who started it all by ranking his TV movies.
5 Chiller
The 1985 sci-fi thriller Chiller is easily one of Craven’s worst films. This is a real shame because the premise is pretty interesting: a man needing a liver transplant is cryogenically frozen. After ten years, the device keeping him alive malfunctions, and he is brought back to life. The only problem is: he doesn’t have a soul. Had this film been made in the 50s or 60s, it could have been a fun Vincent Price vehicle. Had it been made for theaters instead of network television, it might have been a neat take on the slasher genre. Since it was produced to air on CBS, however, this is a horror film with no teeth. It is a collection of slow scenes building up to little payoff. Also, many of the copies available online are borderline unwatchable with washed-out images and horrendous sound. Overall, this is a disappointing outing that had great potential.
4 Casebusters
From the magical world of Disney comes one of Craven’s only family-friendly outings, Casebusters. This story about a group of neighborhood kids solving a crime is fun, but a little lacking in energy. The cast is all really strong, but their characters aren’t very interesting and the case they’re working on isn’t all that compelling. Still, anyone who remembers this era of Disney TV movies (usually pilots for shows that never went anywhere) will likely get a delightful hit of nostalgia when watching, and anyone curious about what kind of career Craven could have had if he’s continued working with Disney may find this a curious experience.
3 Night Visions
Everything about the 1990 thriller Night Visions, about a cop who is forced to work with a psychic to solve a series of murders, feels like it wants to be a late-night erotic thriller, but is constrained by the fact that it aired on NBC and not Cinemax. From the killer’s obsession with selecting perfect women body parts, lingering sequences set in aerobic classes and sweaty nightclubs, to the rapid-fire dialogue begging to be laced with expletives, the movie never quite reaches the edgy sleaze it’s so obviously striving for. Then again, strip away the bland attempts at exploitation and this could make for an above-average Lifetime movie. Although the details of the plot and character motivations are a tad confusing, this is still an entertaining little movie that just barely misses the mark.
2 Invitation to Hell
Released the same year as A Nightmare on Elm Street and starring TV legends Susan Lucci and Robert Urich, Invitation to Hell is probably Craven’s most 80s movie. An obvious satire on the health craze sweeping the United States at the time, the story is about a young family moving to a wealthy suburb with a health club that serves as a portal to hell. From the very beginning, it establishes itself as totally bonkers and does not fail to deliver on that promise. There isn’t much in the way of gore or violence (aside from the very first kill of the movie), but that doesn’t stop it from being an absolute romp.
1 Summer of Fear
Based on the novel by writer Lois Duncan (I Know What You Did Last Summer), Summer of Fear (aka Stranger in Our House) was a 1978 supernatural thriller starring The Exorcist’s Linda Blair as a teenage girl sharing her home with a cousin who is more than meets the eye. This is something of a transitional film for Craven as it features many of the technically rough edges displayed in The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes, but there are flashes of the colorful, masterful exuberance we would come to see with A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream. Packed with strong performances (including a young Fran Drescher in an early role), suspense, and a really fun and kinetic ending reminiscent of Dario Argento, Summer of Fear isn’t only his best TV movie, it’s an underrated gem in Craven’s filmography that should be sought out by fans of the director and the horror genre alike.
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