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10 Horror Films Allegedly Based On Real Life

10 Horror Films Allegedly Based On Real Life

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These films are allegedly based on true stories. Some of them, like “Zodiac,” are almost biographical. Others are based on claims that have become the stuff of urban legend. Still others are interpretations of similar-seeming news events. All of them are deeply unsettling, but satisfy that horror-flick thing we all pretend to hate, but actually can’t turn away from. These are 10 horror films allegedly based on real life.

Sources:amityvillemurders.com, imdb.com, suntimes.com, dailymail.co.uk

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

Open Water (2003)

This low-budget film swept across American theater screens in 2003, terrorizing audiences with gritty depictions of a couple stranded afloat at sea, encountering sharks, heavy storms, and other horrifying elements of nature as they faced their final fate. In January 1998, Thomas and Eileen Lonergan were accidentally left behind by their scuba diving group after the boat drove away. It was two days before the couple were even reported missing, after their belongings were found on the boat. A massive search-and-rescue ensued. They were never found.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

The Amityville Horror (1979)

On Nov. 3, 1974, police found father, mother, and four children of the DeFeo family shot and killed execution style in their Amityville, New York home. As chronicled in the bestselling book by Jay Anson, George and Kathleen Lutz bought the DeFeo houe in 1975, and soon after experienced a series of demonic occurrences that forced them to move out. The 1979 film and the 2005 remake were genuine crowd pleasers, and although ghost-besieged houses are dismissed by most, the history of the murders and the reports of disturbances are worth taking note of.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

Monster (2003)

In what has been considered one of film history’s great performances, Charlize Theron won an Oscar for her performance as Aileen Wuornos, a real prostitute who went on a vicious killing spree in Florida between 1989 and 1990. She was executed by lethal injection in October, 2002. The movie explores the violence of not only the slayings, but of the horrendously abusive childhood Wuornos went through, and the relationship with a young woman named Selby she desperately tried to balance during her mass murdering. The film is terrifying on so many levels, but ultimately in its exploration of a lonely and wounded human psyche.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

Zodiac (2007)

A great non-fiction detective yarn awaits the viewer who hasn’t experienced David Fincher’s masterpiece, “Zodiac.” Jake Gyllenhaal plays Robert Graysmith, the San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist who teamed up with a homicide detective and journalist to find the identity of the self-titled “Zodiac Killer,” who went on a killing spree in the ’60s and ’70s. While never officially identified, the killer befuddled his pursuers with cryptic messages and archaic symbols, taunting and terrorizing the population of Northern California. It’s an insanely tense and well-crafted film about a dark and uncertain time for the Bay Area.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

The Mothman Prophecies (2002)

Based on actual events interlaced with testimonies of supernatural occurrences, the story behind this film starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney is creepy enough. The 1975 book by parapsychologist John Keel recounts his travels around Point Pleasant, West Virgina during the mid-1960s. The townsfolk had been plagued by eerie events, including the recurrent sighting of a red-eyed, winged beast known as the “Mothman.” Voices from drains, creepy prophetic phone calls, and the collapse of the Silver Bridge road crossing (it actually happened) are just some of the moments this remarkable story has to offer.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

There have been countless gory and sensationalized remakes, but Tobe Hooper’s original film is quite masterful for a low-budget cult classic–and certainly one of the most relentlessly terrifying stories ever put on screen. A group of daft hippies stumble into a rural Texas farmhouse and find some interesting usage of body parts for furniture pieces, as well as “Leatherface” and his violently inbred family. Inspired by the actual Wisconsin murders committed in the 1950s by Ed Gein, who decorated his house with the remains of his victims, this film is not for the faint of heart. A less bloody but more classic take on the Gein murders and Gein’s deranged psyche was been released 24 years earlier. Ever hear of “Psycho?”

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

Psycho (1960)

Ree! Ree! Ree! That’s my attempt to recreate Bernard Herrman’s shower scene score. There’s no film in history that made audiences gasp in shock more than Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece, “Psycho.” From the sudden demise of Janet Leigh to the revelation of Norman Bates’ mother to the chocolate syrup seeping down the drain, there’s no cinema experience to be matched. The novel’s author, Robert Bloch, also lifted from the Ed Gein serial murder case, especially employing elements from his known obsession with his dead mother. If you’ve seen this film five times, see it eight times–it’s Hitchcock’s magnum opus.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

Documentary filmmaker John MacNaughton made a film based on the story of Henry Lee Lucas, who was accused of killing 11 people, including his own mother. The film was made for barely $120,000, and upon its release caused a ruckus with audiences and critics, many deeming it way too brutal  of a viewing experience. Roger Ebert was one of the film’s supporters: “Some viewers feel it is evil incarnate; others say it is superb filmmaking.” (Chicago Sun-Times). Michael Rooker plays Henry, who drifts through a wintery Chicago landscape, killing without remorse. It’s not entertaining viewing, but perhaps an honest depiction of what drives someone to kill.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

This is a peer-through-the-hands kind of exorcism tale, but also quite a sophisticated courtroom drama about the legitimacy of the rarely-employed Catholic church practice of expelling demons from the body. It’s based on the documented story of Anneliese Michel, a German woman who died after intense rounds of exorcism in 1975. Her parents and two priests were charged with negligent homicide, although they claimed that the ritual was necessary, as Michel was possessed by a malevolent spirit. The film adaptation seems to justify the exorcism of the protagonist, whose demonic ordeal puts the audience through quite a shocking experience.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

Jaws (1975)

The “Jaws” film score alone — John Williams’ two-chord terror — may have persuaded a whole generation of beachgoers to steer clear of the water! Steven Spielberg’s suspenseful and swashbuckling classic has some truly horrifying moments, including the 25-foot murderous great white basically leaping onto the boat of the three men who are pursuing him. The civilian attacks and deaths depicted in the film are not so farfetched. The novel’s author, Peter Benchley, based his tale on real 1916 attacks off the coast of New Jersey, when over the course of 11 days a rogue shark killed five swimmers. Spielberg’s film captures perfectly the community hysteria that ensued on the Jersey shoreline during that tense time.