I. The document is a speech about filmmaker Wes Craven given by student Bayley Young. It discusses Craven's background and some of his most famous and influential horror films, including The Last House on the Left, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream. II. Craven was born in 1939 in Ohio and received his master's degree from Johns Hopkins University. He began his career making low-budget horror films in the 1970s and is credited with pioneering the slasher film genre. III. Craven directed several hugely popular and iconic horror franchises over his 50-year career. Films like A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream reinvented the genre and have

1. Student's Name Bayley Young
R110 - Section No. 22336
Date 10/1/15
Instructor's Name Deason
Title of Speech Wes Craven
Thesis Statement: Wes Craven is the man
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Thesis
INTRODUCTION
I. The Last House on the Left in 1972. The Hills Have Eyes in
1977. A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984. Scream in 1996.
II. These movies and many more are the work of one Wes Craven,
a man that became synonymous with the horror genre in his
lifetime.
III. Since “Scream” is a personal favorite of mine, not because it
came out the year I was born, but because I love the trilogy (we
don’t mention Scream 4), I decided to make the man also
known as the “Sultan of Slash” my topic for this speech.
IV. The bottom line is, there is no one that parallels Wes Craven
when it comes to the legacy he left behind and the
advancements that he made for the horror genre.
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Main Point
Sub-point
Sub-sub-point
BODY
I. imdb.com
A. Wesley Earl Craven was born in 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio.
1. Paul and Caroline Craven
B. biography.com
1. He was raised in strict Baptist household.
2. He earned his Master’s degree from John Hopkins
University in 1964.
C. After finishing his degree, he worked for a time as an
English professor, also writing short stories and poetry
before making his way as a film maker.
II. cnn.com
A. Died at the age of 76 on August 30, 2015 after losing his
battle with brain cancer.
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Transition As a filmmaker, Wes Craven has been at the helm of some
incredible horror classics, like
Main Point
Sub-point
III. A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984
A. This summary is a mix of reading different plot summaries
on imdb.com
1. A psychopath named Freddy Krueger murdered several
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2. children. When a judge sets him free, he is killed in the
boiler room where he worked by an angry mob of the
parents of the children he harmed in his lifetime. Years
after his death, the children of the parents that were
responsible for Freddy’s death start to have dreams
where Freddy Krueger kills them. Once Nancy’s best
friend dies violently in her sleep after a confrontation
with Freddy Krueger, she and the others realize that if he
kills them in their sleep, they end up dying in real life, so
they have to stop him before it is too late.
B. What was interesting about this movie is that in a landscape
that was already filled with imitations of Halloween and
Friday the 13th
, this film was the first to introduce the idea of
a killer that invades your dreams instead of wielding a
weapon in the real world.
1. It also gave aspiring young actor Johnny Depp his first
on-screen role in a film.
Transition Wes Craven also directed one of the most popular horror franchises
of all time
Main Point
Sub-point
IV. Scream, 1996
A. Almost a year after her mother’s death, two students from
the same high school as Sidney Prescott turn up gutted. She
begins to link the separate events together, and soon she
becomes the target of the masked killer. The killer (or
killers) end up picking off one by one everyone that Sidney
loves dearly. Sidney’s boyfriend Billy Loomis becomes the
main suspect, but is released from police custody after they
look into his phone records. The killers try to pin all of the
murders that happen on Sidney’s father. Sidney eventually
finds out the identity of the killer(s), and gets justice in the
end.
B. This movie features a well-known cast, with Neve Campbell
as Sidney Prescott, David Arquette as Deputy Dwight, or
Dewey, Courtney Cox as Gale Weathers, and Matthew
Lillard as Stu, Billy’s best friend.
C. What I like about this movie and this series is that it is very
self-aware. The plot is a story within a story. Gale wrote a
book on the murder of Sidney’s mother, and in the three
sequels, there is a movie in the actual film that is based on
the events from the first movie. Horror has always been a
very self-conscious genre, and Scream really heightened that
awareness in audiences.
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3. Restate Thesis
(review of Main
Points)
Clincher/tag/exi
t line or Final
Appeal
CONCLUSION
I. In conclusion, Wes Craven is the man when it comes to the
horror genre in movies. When making movies he not only took
into account brutality and the graphics of horror, but there was a
thoughtfulness component to his movies that made them go
from just being scary to making us realize that sometimes the
scariest things are closest to home.
II. Adam Lowenstein, director of the film studies program and
associate professor of English and film studies at the University
of Pittsburgh, said it best in a phone interview with
thinkprogress.org, just after Wes Craven’s death. Lowenstein
said “…he was a gentle soul. But the films are not gentle. And I
think that gives you a sense of what he was trying to
accomplish. He was trying to get at us both through our hearts,
our minds, and our guts.”
III. With a career that spanned almost five decades, one only has to
look at the legacy he left behind in his film career to see the
impact and inspiration he provided for the modern horror genre
of today.
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