From the genre-defining classics A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream to such transgressive works as The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes to cult favorites like The People Under the Stairs and The Serpent and the Rainbow, Wes Craven’s reign of terror spanned not only decades but generations.

But there’s much more to the man than just horror movies. In Harker Press’ The Soul of Wes Craven, author Joseph Maddrey allows readers to see the entire person rather than just a collection of his work.

The Soul of Wes Craven is not the first biography on the master of horror, but it is the definitive one. In addition to a profusion of thoroughly-researched sources, Maddrey interviewed over 80 people from Craven’s life — from professional collaborators like Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Alexandre Aja, and Patrick Lussier to family members, friends, and college classmates — for...