Top 20 Horror Movies Inspired by True Events

that the power of christ compels you the power of christ compels you welcome to watch mojo and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 horror movies inspired by true events i like to refer to this as a fixer-upper that can be fun i'm only trying to say that amity is a summer town we need summer dollars for this list we'll be looking at horror flicks that drew on real life events or people what horror movie based on true events was too scary for you to finish let us know in the comments number 20 the girl next door thanks david that was fun hey back where we're staying with our cousins the chandlers based on john ketchum's 1989 novel this horror drama is such a harrowing watch it will make you ache to learn that it's based on true events message wasn't only a marketing ploy you understand how girls get squeamish don't you and meg hears a lady why sure she is unfortunately this tale about a child who's tormented under the watchful eye of a supposed guardian is based on a 1965 case of sylvia lykins the game is she's gotta tell okay tell what something secret sounds right although a few things are changed from the real story the girl next door puts a lot of this crime's cruelty on full display stephen king described it as quote a long look into hell suburban style tony told his mother that he'd seen several other boys from the neighborhood over here beating up on meg you know kids officer jennings they're always exaggerating it's probably just a little roughhousing number 19 them aka il aloe this french romanian horror film was allegedly inspired by the story of an austrian couple that was killed while traveling in the czech republic the movie follows a french woman clementine who's moved into a house just outside of bucharest romania when strangers invade her home clementine and her boyfriend luca run out into the woods yeah that's not going to end well no evidence has surfaced to support this film's claim that was based on reality but the fact that it might have been makes it all the more scary playing on our fear of random senseless crimes nobody sees little gustav except those he means to kill man-eating animals are always terrifying but none more so than gustav a one-ton 25-foot long nile crocodile in burundi that's a wound of villagers i believe they kept them tight out there as an offering to the croc in real life it's alleged that this terrifying creature has killed upwards of 300 people though an exact number is hard to determine either way his reputation has reached legendary proportions primeval follows a group of american journalists who seek to study the monstrous croc at their peril needless to say their field trip does not go as planned maybe just leave the man-eating animal alone next time guys the crocodile rules the water number 17 the strangers director screenwriter brian bertino drew on the crimes of the manson family as well as personal experience for this home invasion horror film bertino stated he remembers a group of people knocking on the doors in his neighborhood asking if a made-up person was home tamara here no no you got the wrong house if no one answered the door they would rob the house his movie takes on a much more sinister approach focusing instead on a group that wants to kill innocent people in their homes for no reason as with them it's the randomness and senselessness of their axe that leaves you shivering why are you doing this to us because you were home number 16 on american haunting much like the blair witch project this movie draws inspiration from the bell witch legend of adams tennessee the story of the bell witch has always been considered to be a tall tale according to lore the family of john bell a farmer in the 1800s was targeted by a dead witch known as kate batts that's his poltergeist apparently harassed the family physically made them hear sounds and displaced objects in their house she mainly targeted the family's youngest betsy but poisoned john bell switching between the 19th and 21st centuries on american haunting brings this terrifying tale into the present day number 15 compliance the most chilling thing about this story has to be the cruelty that some are willing to afflict on the innocent kevin this is officer daniels on the lead officer in the case has your manager explain what's going on uh well she said that becky stole something and her brother's arrested starting in the early 90s various fast food restaurants in the united states began to complain about prank calls to their stores in which a supposed police officer would accuse an employee of a crime well i have a customer here with me that says her purse was taken well you know i was out there the whole time and you know i didn't see anyone the officer would then ask the manager to interrogate and harass the employee in various ways so i'm going to need you have her strip down now look through everything okay compliance focuses on an eerily similar 2004 incident that happened in mount washington kentucky who are you yes i'll have an original [ __ ] witch and i'll have one of those frost blenders i'm just kidding sandra's means officer daniels messing with you number 14 the haunting in connecticut in this supernatural horror flick the snedeker family moves to connecticut to be closer to their cancer-stricken son's doctor you're not going to be scared in here all alone i've got my toys they discovered that their new home used to be a funeral parlor even worse those who ran the mortuary had questionable practices including necromancy the movie is supposedly based on a true story fueled by carmen snedeker's claim that she was haunted by a quote evil entity supposedly they contacted the dead through jonah and people came to have chats with their dead hubby or wife or find out where aunty meme hit the family jewels he claims that he discovered how to amplify the seances the house was examined by ed and lorraine warren and exercised in 1988. however many researchers believe that the story was a hoax with ed allegedly telling author ray garton to quote just make it up and make it scary [Music] number 13 ravenous starvation and desperation can make people do strange things when digo eats must eat more more never enough he he takes never never gives the western horror film ravenous is not based on one specific historical incident but it does take inspiration from different sources primarily the life of alfred packer and the donner party he killed everyone along with some nods to these real incidents of humans eating their dead ravenous presents the idea that once someone tries it nothing else will ever satisfy them again get away from me get away from me [Music] atmospheric unsurprisingly gory weirdly comedic and featuring a mesmerizing performance by robert carlisle ravenous uses history and myth to craft a strange but captivating horror film captain boyd captain how's the lag number 12 wolf creek rather than being based on one set of circumstances this film is an amalgamation of various real-life events these include the crimes of two australian killers ivan millat and bradley john murdock what do you actually do now oh i could tell ya but then i'd have to kill you both preyed on tourists millet in the late 80s and early 90s and murdock in 2001 when he attacked british traveler peter falconio and his girlfriend joanne lee's paralleling the events of the movie the couple was driving through the australian outback when their car was flagged down by a stranded motorist [Applause] lee's managed to escape but heard gunshots falconio was never seen again and his body hasn't been recovered like your little mate said before you know that's not a knife this is a knife number 11 the exorcism of emily rose i don't care about my reputation i'm not afraid of jail what i care about is telling emily rose's story this film is based on the life of german woman annelisa mikhail who experienced seizures and was diagnosed with epileptic psychosis emily don't touch me due to her aversion to religious objects her parents contacted the catholic church to request an exorcism two priests answered the call and performed a total of 67 exorcisms the results were disastrous with mikhail dying from malnutrition and dehydration this movie expands on that story by following the exorcist as he's tried for homicide after that night why do you think emily refused another exorcism i believe she she'd accepted her fate the incident also inspired two other films 2006's requiem and 2011's annalisa the exorcist tapes number 10 henry portrait of a serial killer henry lee lucas may seem like the stuff of nightmares but unfortunately he's based on a real life figure i'm not saying you can't use a gun just don't use the same gun twice active between the years 1960 and 83 lucas claimed to have committed hundreds of murders initially the police accepted his claims it turned out most of his confessions were false did you really kill your mama what did you really kill your mama i guess i did however he was convicted of 11 homicides three of which were confirmed the film states that it was inspired by his life and fantasies more than his actual murders but it did get many details right including his childhood maltreatment by his prostitute mother and his partnership with otis tool she's your sister okay i was only kidding around here tell her you're sorry number nine scream underneath scream satirical tone and marketable slasher villain lies a story about a small town driven to chaos by a string of violent murders that sydney prescott they took away not talking to you what happened to her none of your damn business the script behind wes craven's 90's horror flick was sparked into existence by the gainesville murders committed by daniel rowling in 1990. he called me again last night at tatum's house you see couldn't have been me i was in jail remember while there are a couple of similarities scream screenwriter was primarily inspired by the widespread fear caused by the killings it's the idea that there could be a faceless psychopath standing outside the window waiting for the opportunity to strike number eight poltergeist poltergeists are malicious spirits said to be fond of scaring the bejesus out of people through abrupt noises and movements and they are hardly a modern concept they're here the 1982 movie had plenty of tales and myths to fall back on and one particularly influential disturbance involved the prolonged haunting of the hermann family residence in 1958 [Music] over about a month the family was subjected to loud popping noises and unexplainable phenomena incidents that left police and scientists stumped poltergeists are usually associated with an individual hauntings seem to be connected with an area poltergeist naturally adds a bit of cinematic flair special effects skeletons and televisions to proceedings [Music] number seven the conjuring the premise of this film at least is true you say she's a conduit that's right what does that mean a very powerful demonic has latched itself onto her in 1971 paranormal investigators ed and lorraine warren really were asked to investigate the perrin family home which was reportedly being haunted by the less than hospitable bathsheba online along just like that does it come in threes yeah stops at dawn a masterfully directed horror film with a strong cast the conjuring brought renewed interest to this sensational case and undoubtedly inspired its fair share of nightmares along the way uh nancy the movie does change a few things to tell a more cinematic story including an ending that sees the warren successfully exorcise the house of its unwanted guests remember what you showed me remember that day that you said you would never forget number six a nightmare on elm street it's hard to believe there's even a grain of truth to this fantastical blockbuster story but truth is stranger than fiction [Music] wes craven loosely based his franchise on a series of articles he read in the los angeles times in the 70s they were about a group of southeast asian refugees who experienced horrific nightmares which led to insomnia and sleep deprivation it's too late kruger i know the secret now this is just a dream you're not alive worse yet a few died suddenly in their sleep despite having no other medical problems and that's how the nightmare figure of freddy krueger was born number five the texas chainsaw massacre hello is anybody home the notorious murderer ed gein has served as a loose inspiration for plenty of horror films with the texas chainsaw massacre being one of the most famous the similarities mostly come down to leatherface's mask as geen also fashioned such keepsakes although not in order to hide a physical deformity like the movie's killer the film's disturbing house also bears some resemblance to ed gein's grotesque flesh-themed home the texas chainsaw massacre is far from an edging biopic but the film's grisly aesthetic reflects the depraved nature of the murderer's crimes why don't you cry none grandpa's the best it won't hurt a bit number four the exorcist regarded as one of the greatest horror movies ever the exorcist depicts two priests struggle to liberate a girl possessed by the demon pizzuzu while exorcisms have been around for centuries a 1949 incident in saint louis was the primary inspiration behind the exorcist answer me now the exorcism of roland's dough lasted for weeks and saw the boy act in similar ways to reagan in the exorcist sons some of the film's more head-turning scenes the exorcist doesn't need a link to reality to be terrifying but this background adds a new dimension to the classic film that the power of christ compels you the power of christ compels you number three the amityville horror i like to refer to this as a fixer-upper it can be fun one of the most controversial horror movies inspired by true events the amityville horror chronicles the lutz family's stay in a house that had recently seen a gruesome tragedy and when he was at trial he testified that he heard voices in the house he heard voices in the house and the voices told him to do it with pig creatures walls spouting blood and ancient burial grounds the amityville horror presumably takes a few liberties with a story that has plenty of skeptics but the grim murders that started everything undoubtedly happened taken on its own the amityville horror is a quintessential haunted house movie a tale about a fractured family driven to the point of insanity by mind-breaking phenomena number two jaws i'm only trying to say that amity is a summer town we need summer dollars steven spielberg's legendary horror film has been striking fear into the hearts of viewers for decades [Music] although a fictional story jaws is partially inspired by the jersey shore shark attacks of 1916 which saw four victims fall prey to sharks in under two weeks along with any direct influence it might have had on the movie this tragedy also impacted the public perception of sharks arguably adding legitimacy to jaws's premise a shark is attracted to the exact kind of splashing and activity that occurs whenever human beings go in swimming you cannot avoid it if you open the beaches on the 4th of july it's like ringing the dinner bell for christmas a master class of suspense that demonstrates how less is sometimes more jaws taps into legitimate fear through its clever direction and tight script before we unveil our top pick here are a few honorable mentions borderland based on adolfo constanzo's narco satanist cult what do you want with me you're the man of the hour amigo you're going to get to meet papa real soon he's an amazing man the mothman prophecies plenty of point pleasant residents claimed to have seen a mothman in the late sixties the nocturnal butterfly in ancient cultures the mouth represents a form of a psyche or the soul immortally trapped in the hellish death realms black water a crocodile claimed one victim and stalked two others in two thousand [Music] three before we continue be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos you have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them if you're on your phone make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications number one psycho the psycho novel and hitchcock's adaptation were released only a few years following the capture and trial of ed gein are you sure you wouldn't like to stay just a little while longer just for talk i'd like to all right norman bates is a socially awkward but seemingly harmless outcast defined by his unhealthy relationship with his fanatical and harsh mother traits reminiscent of the real-life murderer although gein influenced the presentation of norman bates in various ways the character's crimes were wholly the invention of robert block the book's author a landmark release in the slasher genre psycho holds up as a stylish and frightful exploration of violence and madness hitchcock's the birds is also based on a real incident when birds around california's monterey bay suddenly started to dive into people's homes even if even if this is true even if don't you believe it's true no miss frankly i don't do you agree with our picks check out this other recent clip from watchmojo and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos [Music]

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Keywords: horror movies inspired by true events, horror movies inspired by real life, horror movies true events, true horror movies, true horror stories, horror villains based on real people, psycho, the exorcist, poltergeist, a nightmare on elm street, them, the girl next door, jaws, the amityville horror, ravenous, compliance, the texas chainsaw massacre, scream, the conjuring, Horror, Film, Movies, Zombie, watchmojo, watch mojo, top 10, list, mojo

Id: ENw4DbPGQd4

Length: 22min 27sec (1347 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 13 2021