It is with great sadness that we report that Wes Craven has passed away aged 76. Deadline broke the news just moments ago and according to them Wes Craven had been battling brain cancer.

Wes Craven is best known for his array of provocative horror movies, his directorial debut with The Last House on the Left was latter followed by The Hills Have Eyes and 80s cult classic Swamp Thing. However, it was his low budget 1984 supernatural slasher flick A Nightmare on Elm Street that saw Craven become a household name. He also gave Johnny Depp his first taste of the big screen. Craven gave birth to one of the biggest horror franchises of its time, he even returned to write the part three and forged a sequel worthy of the original.

Proving he was no one trick wonder, Craven continued to push boundaries with unnerving thrillers The People Under The Stairs before reinventing the Elm Street franchise with New Nightmare. It was the self-referential nature of New Nightmare that led to Craven’s hugely successful Scream movies.

The original Scream trilogy revived the slasher genre for a new generation and managed to be a neat satire of horror franchises in general. The belated fourth entry might have been below par, but Craven showed he was still a relevant voice in horror.

Throughout his prolific career, Craven ventured into other genres with the Meryl Streep drama Music of the Heart, Cillian Murphy thriller Red Eye as well as a segment in Paris Je T’aime.

Here’s both parts of an interview Wes Craven gave last year, I can only apologies for the unfortunately named videos. Rest in peace Wes, you will be sorely missed.