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The 5 scenes that show Wes Craven will always be the Master of Horror

The director is best known for Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street, but he will be remembered for many other horror films

Daisy Wyatt
Monday 31 August 2015 12:29 BST
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Heather Langenkamp in Wes Craven's iconic Nightmare on Elm Street scene
Heather Langenkamp in Wes Craven's iconic Nightmare on Elm Street scene (Rex Features)

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Director Wes Craven, the “Master of Horror”, has died at the age of 76, leaving behind a legacy of genre-defining films that have shaped and satirised the horror movie.

The prolific filmmaker wrote and directed over 25 movies after rising to fame in 1977 with his first major feature film The Hills Have Eyes, which went on to earn cult classic status.

Craven is best known for A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984, which spawned eight sequels as well as a TV series, and iconic Nineties horror film Scream, whose fourth sequel he directed in 2011.

Take a look at the scenes he will be remembered for:

A Nightmare on Elm Street – 1984

Johnny Depp made his feature film debut in Craven’s slasher movie following a group of high school teenagers who become terrorised by a vengeful ghost called Freddy Krueger. The film was made on just under $2m, earning back its budget during the first week at the box office.

Scream – 1996

The Serpent and the Rainbow – 1988

The People Under the Stairs – 1991

A young boy called Fool breaks into the home of his family’s greedy landlord, where he discovers a disturbing scenario involving incestuous adult siblings who have mutilated a number of boys and kept them imprisoned under the stairs.

The Hills Have Eyes – 1977

Craven’s first major feature film saw a family take a road trip to California, where their car breaks down in an area closed to the public and it soon becomes inhabited by violent savages.

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