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Horror movies have been around for as long as film itself. The genre of horror is the spine chilling adrenalin rush that movie junkies crave. Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht made in 1979 was our first look at Dracula as a monster rather than man. It was also a movie that instilled fear throughout many a moviegoer when horror was in its baby stages. Movies like The Mummy, (1932) and The Wolfman, (1941) added to the list of classic horror films that set the stage for all modern day films of its kind.

It wasn't unil 1973 when The Exorcist was made that moviegoers got a full idea of what a sinister filmmaker and writer was like. Directed by William Friedkin and written by William Peter Blatty the movie used the undying faith of Catholics to stur up fear. They took the idealogical idea of a body being possessed by the Devil and used it to produce a blockbuster hit. With a cast consisting of Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, and Max Von Sydow each character exploded emotionally on the screen with a past that linked them all together in ways they could have never imagined. The Catholic church had always been very hush hush about exorcisms and made it very clear that the church did not support such acts unless found to be legitimate by a Priest. For Catholicism this movie was telling their secrets and it was holding nothing back. With scenes of the possessed child Regan's head spinning completely around and using the cross to sexually abuse herself it was shock value at its best. Most recently the Exorcism of Emily Rose hit theaters and gave us what The Exorcist could not, special effects. Part of The Exorcists charm was its innocence, its inability to show everything made it even scarier. What you couldn't see made you use your creativity to find the true picture and it made your skin crawl.

Wes Craven some would say is the Godfather of the horror genre. He practically created it and with very little interference was able to create figures, monsters that would forever haunt people throughout their lives. Whether it was his first movie The Last House on the Left which took real people and made them evil, showed us what could happen to good little girls if they don't play by the rules. It was disturbing, haunting and more evil than any other monster he could have created. Nightmare on Elm Street was his swan song, his first blockbuster hit that engraved the face of Freddy Krueger as a household name. Wes blended the human psyche with the classic tale of the Boogey

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