Prolific horror filmmaker Wes Craven dead at 76

[SAN FRANCISCO] Prolific horror filmmaker Wes Craven, who directed the slasher classic A Nightmare On Elm Street, died on Sunday afternoon, his family said in a statement. He was 76.

Craven, who was also behind the 1990s horror hit Scream, died surrounded by his loved ones at his Los Angeles home after suffering from brain cancer, the statement said. "It is with deep sadness we inform you that Wes Craven passed away," the family said. "Our hearts are broken."

Craven suffered from ailing health over the past three years, but continued to work on projects including several television shows, a graphic novel and a new film, The Girl In The Photographs, which is set to premiere at the 2015 Toronto Film Festival next month.

He was awarded lifetime achievement awards by the New York City Horror Film Festival and the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, according to the Internet Movie Database.

REUTERS