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RIP Wes Craven and Dean Jones

9/3/2015

38 Comments

 
Lost two important figures of my childhood, both for completely different reasons obviously, although watching a Wes Craven and Dean Jones team up would probably be more out of left field and awesome than the Was Craven and Meryl Streep team up.  Perhaps there's an alternate universe where Dean Jones plays Nancy's dad in A Nightmare on Elm Street.  That would have taken away from the excellent John Saxon performance, but that's why alternate universes exist: to take a peak at what it would be like if this happened.  Yep, that's exactly why they exist.

Like many many people my age and older who grew up during the golden age of slasher films, Wes Craven may have been one of our earliest introductions to horror.  I remember being about 3 or 4 years old, and over at a family friend's house and playing the arcade game Defender.  Behind me, they were channel surfing, and one of them ended up on a channel showing one of the Elm Street movies.  Honestly, I can't remember which one it was, and it may have just been a promo, but I remember thinking, uh oh, I probably shouldn't watch this, this looks a bit too intense for me.  I'm going to continue shooting the citizens I'm supposed to be saving in Defender.

It wasn't until about 4th or 5th grade that I really really started getting into binge watching horror films.  That's right, going to the video store, renting a wagon full, taking them home, and spending a couple days watching through them, then returning and renting some more.  By the time Junior High started, I already had quite the collection that I had bought.  And yes, there were a lot of Wes Craven movies in there.  "Last House on the Left" is pretty much the definition of flawed masterpiece.  There's some really intense and well acted sequences in that film.  And then chicken trucks happen.  "The Hills Have Eyes" is fun and gritty looking as hell.  I love how it looks like it was filmed with cameras that were themselves left over at a nuclear test sight.  

It's hard to believe "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Hills Have Eyes Part 2" came out the same year.  Elm Street being a scary as hell movie, with one of the most memorable villains of any genre, and Hills Have Eyes Part 2 isn't that good, but watching Michael Berryman running around like madman and terrorizing a blind woman is worth atleast a rental I suppose.  "Deadly Friend" is worth it for the basketball scene, "The Serpent and the Rainbow" has gotten repeat viewing from me since I first saw it, and "Shocker" is corny as hell, but still kinda worth it.  

"The People Under the Stairs" is a bizarro freakshow masterpiece, and one of his most underrated movies.  It's like a kids movie that somehow wandered into an exploitation film, and it's brilliant.  Everett McGill running around in a leather outfit screaming like an insane demon from an S&M club is genius.  I watched "Nightmare Cafe" with my mom when it first aired on television.  I can still remember being freaked out by the dude who turned into a stone pillar at the end of an episode.  It was a great short lived series that should have gone on much longer than it did.  "New Nightmare" will hold a special place in my heart because it was the first Freddy movie that I saw in theaters.  I went by myself since none of my friends at school were allowed to go. I really did have the best parents.  "New Nightmare" I think is a really smart film, and a great way to make Freddy spooky again.  

I remember not liking "Vampire in Brooklyn" when it first came out, but Sarah has been wanting me to give it another chance for years.  I haven't been intentionally avoiding it, I just forget things sometimes.  Honestly, it may hold up better for me as an adult, I can think of a lot of movies that are like that.  "Scream" was an insanely popular franchise for him, and while it's a series I was never a fan of, it's definitely going to be mentioned in any write up of Wes Craven.  But I'm not here to talk on and on about what I disliked about some of the guys films; I'm not an asshole, I'm here to give the man credit where credit is due, and thank him for some movies that really did help shape my tastes since my childhood.  By the way, "Red Eye" is a really fun flick too and is totally worth a watch.
As for other people who shaped my tastes a childhood, sure I can talk on and on about the horror movies I grew up on and was allowed to watch, but horror movies weren't the only thing I watched as a kid.  Of course I watched what all the other kids were watching too, and part of that included the Disney flicks of the 60s and 70s.  Someone on twitter told me "if there were G-Rated shenanigans to be had, Dean Jones was there."  And this is totally true.  Dean Jones was charming as hell.  The dude just oozed likability, charisma, charm, and had a 1000 yard friendly smirk that made him perfect for these flicks.  Sure, I watched the Herbie movies as a kid, plus I always got enjoyment out of watching he and Suzanne Pleshette in The Ugly Dachshund, but my favorite Dean Jones movie, and one of my favorite comedies ever is the 1965 film That Darn Cat.

Hell yes I still own That Darn Cat and watch it anytime I can.  I love That Darn Cat so much that I can go on and on about how the remmake with Christina Ricci and Doug E Doug is one of the worst movies remakes ever.  The physical comedy from Dean Jones in That Darn Cat is outstanding, and also his likable straightman capabilities at just getting laughs from a simple look of disbelief, especially in this movie where the plot has him as an FBI agent using a Siamese cat named DC as a tool for rescuing a kidnapped woman.  There's much added hilarity too in making him so allergic to cats, that even saying the word cat makes him sneeze.  Another thing I love about this movie is that while on the one hand we have this silly and very funny Disney comedy, the villains on the other hand are Neville Brand and Frank Gorshin, and while Frank Gorshin is playing his role for laughs, Neville Brand is playing it STRAIGHT.  I'm not sure if Neville Brand knows he's in a Disney movie.  I think he thinks he's in Stanley Kubrick's The Killing.  

Watching Neville Brand in this is like watching Seth Gecko pop up in The Parent Trap.  It's brilliant.  So much so that Brand even says to the kidnapped woman "I've got 6 little lead nozed friends, and they can all run faster than you can."  This is great stuff, and it all ends with a fist fight between Dean Jones and Brand which immediately makes your movie a mmasterpiece.  Long story short, you want to honor Dean Jones this weekend, or just watch a great comedy, watch That Darn Cat.  And I definitely can't end this without mentioning Dean Jones' against type performance as the veterinarian from hell in "Beethoven."  I remember seeing Beethoven in the theater and thinking, "um, that's not the Dean Jones I remember!"  It was a great role for him and totally showed that he could do villain just as well as hero, and honestly I would have loved to seem do a villainous role more, but if it's likable Disney hero you're looking for, it never got more likable than Dean Jones.
38 Comments
JayRam
9/3/2015 04:45:54 am

As a kid, other than Steven Spielberg, I think Wes Craven was the only other director I could name, until I really got into movies later on.

My mom was one of those types that thought horror movies would scar her children, so I never got the chance to watch them. I remember the first one I did see was From Dusk Till Dawn--about '96/'97--at 11 years old, and that's only because I got invited to a friend's birthday party/sleepover.

It's weird: just days before Craven died I was considering gonig through his filmography, watching the ones I'd missed or don't remember much about, like The Serpent and the Rainbow. Time to get on it.

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Scotty
9/3/2015 04:47:56 am

My first Wes Craven film was "Nightmare on Elm Street." Unsurprisingly, it gave me nightmares. Admittedly, that movie kind of messed with me and made it hard to watch horror movies for a long time, but as I got older, I became fond of them again. So, thanks, Wes, for scarring me like I imagine you had intended to. I can imagine no greater success for a horror director.

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Rebecca link
9/3/2015 05:11:37 am

Man, as a kid, I also loved, 'That Darn Cat,' 'The Ugly Dachshund' and all the Herbie movies. Dean had that Norman Bates-look that might have worked in a Wes Craven movie. Only people living in that alternate dimension will ever know.

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The Hand of Onan
9/3/2015 05:37:18 am

Like you I grew up watching Horror rentals by the truck load. Wes Craven was a big part of my childhood. probably more so than any stuff actually aimed a kids. RIP Wes Craven.

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Cecil Hester link
9/3/2015 06:08:17 am

Probably, The Serpent and The Rainbow, Swamp Thing and Scream are my favorite films by Wes Craven. RIP Wes.

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watchit
9/3/2015 06:38:40 am

What, no love for the Scream series Brad? Remember, he directed all four of them, including your favorite, Scr-four-m! ;)

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Don't Mind Me Now
9/3/2015 03:17:29 pm

1. He does bring them up.
2. You don't memorialize someone by ranting about stuff they made that you didn't like. You do it by celebrating the things you did. It's called taste. That'd be like if Spielberg died and you went on a Crystal Skull rant instead of reflecting on the Spielberg films you like.

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get bent
9/3/2015 07:03:59 pm

I still think Scream was a good movie. The opening is one of the greatest scenes in horror. The rest of the movie isn't AS good but it's pretty solid overall. The other ones were mediocre, but they have their moments.

John McClane from Die Hard 5
9/3/2015 03:16:30 pm

I'm on fuckin vacation! My son is doin spy shit. I just got hit by a car and decked the guy who was driving it. He was yelling some Russian shit at me, I said "You think I know what you're fucking saying?!"

Also, you're a good man for doing this memorial for Wes Craven and Dean Jones. There's never enough time in life to show love for those you care about. I would hug my son but, we're not a hugging family.

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Jack McClane from Die Hard 5
9/5/2015 06:57:32 am

John! What the fuck?! You shouldn't be here!

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Matt McKinney link
9/3/2015 03:58:29 pm

If you want to see Dean Jones do something more dramatic, he did a one-man play as/about the Apostle John in "St. John in Exile" that I really loved:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6Lbx1Hj9CY

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T.hawks
9/3/2015 04:06:51 pm

I saw The People Under the Stairs and Shocker for the first time last years, great movies, I can't believe I miss those for so long. I barely remember Red Eye, I guess I will have to re-watch it now

While we're at it, RIP Roddy Piper too, hell come to frog town is such a fun movie.

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the Hand of Onan
9/3/2015 04:30:16 pm

RIP Roddy Piper.
He came here to chew bubble gum and kick ass.

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RandyPan
9/3/2015 05:18:51 pm

I also love The People Under The Stairs. You should do a Snob episode on it.

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LucasChad
9/3/2015 05:29:20 pm

Call me crazy, but I think Rachel McAdams should've got a Oscar nomination for Red Eye! However (more realistically), I believe Cillian Murphy should've got the Best Villain MTV Movie Award for that film's performance instead of Hayden Christensen in Revenge of the Sith!

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Andrew
9/3/2015 05:56:43 pm

I remember getting a compilation DVD set in a bargain bin that had The Serpent and the Rainbow on it. I bought it mainly for Phantasm II, but I watched The Serpent and the Rainbow and it amazing! Such a beautifully shot film, so frightening without being traditional horror. Honestly the only complaints I have about it is that when the movie introduces supernatural elements, it immediately takes you out of the film the regular human villains were so much more frightening.

I felt the same way about Freddy's Revenge as I did Halloween III. Really underrated film that I think is probably the 2nd best in their respective franchise.

I like New Nightmare a lot too. Although it probably paved the way for Scream, which I can't really appreciate as much as the other stuff. However it was a huge hit so I don't begrudge him for being successful.

Although I guess this means there's quite a bit of Craven stuff I haven't actually checked out. I think he may have struggled a bit to break the stereotype of being just a horror guy, when he was actually really versatile (to say nothing of being both a damn good writer and director).

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Eric Cartmenez
9/3/2015 05:59:10 pm

Nightmare on elm street scared the shit outta me growing up but Scream, it is in my top 3 favorite movies

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Barry The Master Of Sandwich
9/3/2015 07:26:00 pm

Nice tribute, Brad.

Man, I am going to be sad when George Romero dies.

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MTRodaba2468 link
9/3/2015 09:03:49 pm

It's a shame about Wes; the first Nightmare on Elm Street is one of my all-time favorite slashers, and like Brad, I also think The People Under The Stairs is crazy underrated.

As far as Dean Jones goes, I never watched much of his work, but I enjoyed him in what I did watch.

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nancysnightmare
9/3/2015 09:55:37 pm

I think it definitely speaks for my age that my introduction to Wes Craven wasn't the Freddy Krueger but Ghostface. I walked in on my mom watching Scream 2, specifically the scene where Sarah Michelle Gellar is thrown off the balcony and it was embedded in my scared little brain. I was scared of everything as a kid but the Scream movies were, and still are in my opinion, a good introductory series to horror/slasher films. Watching Scream made me want to go watch all of these other movies they were talking about so that by the time I did watch A Nightmare on Elm Street, I was terrified and so excited to see it. And New Nightmare is just spectacular. Serpent in the Rainbow is a great movie and I highly highly recommend Red Eye as the perfect "Not Sure What I'm In The Mood For On Netflix" kind of movie. Hmm and to think the only two Wes Craven movies I saw in theaters were Cursed and Scream 4. What I would give to have been alive in the Freddy-hey-day.

The Ugly Daschund is one of my mom's favorite movies. It's just been a long tough week for seeing our heroes go.

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Joel Kazoo link
9/3/2015 10:29:06 pm

"But I'm not here to talk on and on about what I disliked about some of the guys films; I'm not an asshole." Thank you for that, Brad. Seems the internet likes to kick people when they're down/no longer able to defend themselves, and it almost seems like a contest to see how soon we can make a joke about dead people these days. Thanks for not joining that disgusting club.

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Kathy
9/4/2015 12:57:01 am

So, Lloyd being a siamese is no coincidence. :-)

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Blake
9/4/2015 04:20:10 am

The People Under The Stairs is probably my favorite Wes Craven movie. That movie just hits all the right notes for me. It's intense, it's creepy, at times its pretty funny and heartfelt, and it really has a sense of evil to it. When I first watched it, I remember Everett McGill and Wendy Robbie's performances having a huge impact on me. If Jack Nicholson in The Shining is the best crazy man performance, then theirs are in a close second. When you watch it, you just think "Man, these people are fucking evil, demented scumbags." Such a fucking great movie.

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Jake Westbrook
9/4/2015 07:14:01 pm

The only Wes Craven film I've seen to date is last house on the left, and that was earlier this year. and wow that was an amazing film- only this and texas chainsaw massacre are the only films I've seen where I felt the impact they had on me when I was done watching them. I actually think the comic scenes in last house work because they let you calm down after all the horrible violence that just happened. It's still sad to see him go.

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Jake S
9/5/2015 12:27:23 am

Good see this write up for the late Wes Craven. I've watched almost all of his films. I have to say my favorites were The People Under the Stairs and The Serpent And The Rainbow. I also love Deadly Blessing with Ernest Borgnine and Sharon Stone (because how often do we get demonic-Amish cult movies?). You mentioned that Nightmare and Hills 2 came out in the same year. During that same time, he directed those two crazy-ass made-for-tv flicks, Invitation to Hell and Chiller. Invitation is very nightmarish and pits the weirdest grudge match ever - Robert Urich vs. the devil in the form of Susan Lucci. Chiller is perhaps a definitive Craven style atmospheric thriller, dealing with Michael Beck coming out of cryo-freeze as a soulless killer. All great films.

Just recently, I rented Beethoven for my daughter to watch because she loves dog movies. I hadn't seen this film in over 20 years and I had forgotten that Dean Jones played the evil veterinarian, hellbent on using Beethoven for bullet testing. Such a versatile actor.

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Rex Dart: Eskimo Spy
9/5/2015 04:57:16 am

*sigh*
"The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, Christopher Lee, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper & now Wes Craven & Dean Jones (though I only know him as said evil vet from Beethoven), what a sad year thus far.

Anyway, Nightmare & Scream will probably be what he'll be best known for but Swamp Thing is also a favorite of mine. What's not to love? Terrific actors, crazy stunts for the time & beautiful atmosphere, such an underappreciated film.

RIP Mr. Craven. We'll miss you, sir!

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Rex Dart: Eskimo Spy
9/5/2015 02:26:58 pm

I forgot the passing of Yvonne Craig, A.K.A Batgirl from the 60s Batman. Sorry, fellow Bat fans (however few of you there are) =(

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Rhody
9/5/2015 02:35:22 pm

I'm a huge fan of the Adam West Batman series.... I didn't know Batgirl was dead! That's so sad! ;-;

dswynne
9/5/2015 07:52:34 pm

Don't forget Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek), Rod Tayler (The Time Machine), Geoffrey Lewis (Salem's Lot), James Best (Dukes of Hazzard) and Anne Meara (the wife of Jerry Stiller, and the mother of Ben Stiller). They passed away this year, as well...

Rex Dart: Eskimo Spy
9/6/2015 05:00:01 am

@ dswynne

- Even though I'm not a fan of the Trek, there's no excuse for forgetting Mr. Nimoy, I'm sorry.
- Didn't know Rod Taylor & Geoffrey Lewis & Anne Meara passed, I'm sorry.
- Never watched Dukes therefor I wouldn't know who he is, nevertheless you & Mr. Best have my apologies.

George
9/5/2015 04:18:08 pm

I always loved Dean Jones' Disney movies and his performance in the musical Company. The Hills Have Eyes is one of my favorite horror films. It's been a tough week.

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Oliver Smith
9/6/2015 10:09:26 pm

When October arrives I will honor his work by watching all of his horror movies. From his best known films like Nightmare on Elm Street to even lesser films like Vampires of Brooklyn.

You have made horror films very enjoyable and I will always be great full for that.

RIP Mr. Craven. We will miss you dearly.

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Monty Moonlight link
9/7/2015 02:12:14 pm

Dean Jones defined my childhood. They used to run his movies all day and night on the Disney Channel back when it was awesome, and I watched them all! I still want to own and drive a real Herbie replica of my own, but I think my fave of his is The Shaggy D.A. He sings the opening song too, a campaign song, and it is fantastic! I haven't really seen his non Disney work besides beethoven, but there is only one Disney Jones film I still need to see in its entirety, Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit. This year, it's my mission to get and watch that one. I think I own all his others on DVD.

PS: There's an interesting video on YouTube, a TV special he did for Disney. I believe it's KRAFT Salutes Walt Disney World's 10th Anniversary, or something like that. It's a TV movie (a musical no less) that is simply about Jones taking his family (Michele Lee, Ricky Schroder, and a very datable Dana Plato) to Disney World. They constantly encounter a young Michael Keaton as a Disney employee who can't seem to find his niche. It's not a good special, but it's very entertaining, ha.

Wes is a great loss as well, and I truly loved many of his films, but I figured more people here would be commenting about him than Jones.

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MMBlaze
9/10/2015 04:47:45 am

Can't say I watch a lot of horror movies...and the Nightmare franchise is why. I don't know when, but sometime early in my life I saw Freddy for the first time and I've been scared shitless ever since. The original is golden of course, I've got a soft spot for the second when Freddy was still scary, and I thought there were a lot of good ideas in the third. To this day Freddy is one of the few things I can appreciate and find terrifying at the same time. Gonna miss you Mr. Craven, but you've left a long legacy that will never be forgotten.

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nroejb
9/13/2015 04:27:47 pm

Till today, the Love Bug stays my favourite disney movie, Dean Jones was one of the most important actors of my childhood and while he didn't die young, I'm saddened that a nasty disease such as parkinson had to be involved.

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anusree
8/5/2022 08:38:01 pm

Just as Scream's closing credits begin, fans are greeted with a touching title card that reads 'For Wes. ' The tribute is dedicated to Wes Craven, the legendary horror director who helmed the first four films in the Scream franchise.

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2/10/2023 11:16:47 am

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