Films frequently take the artistic licence of making things so fantastical that they get a long way from reality. The horror genre is no exception, and it certainly exaggerates the most, but many horrors and psychological thrillers are based on true stories.
And it’s an unspoken reality that horror films become scarier when the words “based on a true tale” or “inspired by genuine events” appear in the credits. In this video, we’ll introduce you to ten films based on true tales that are so terrifying and frightening that the people who worked on this project couldn’t sleep for days afterward.
The Amityville Horror (1979)
Mr. and Mrs. Lutz and their children move into 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, oblivious to the gruesome and cold-blooded murders that occurred a year prior.
They bought the gorgeous colonial mansion for a very low and joyful price, and they intended to live in peace. Things change dramatically, however, when they are forced to flee the house due to paranormal activity. The family that emerged from their 28-day stay at the house was drastically different from the one that had gone in.
It’s a harrowing account of real-life incidents portrayed in a 1977 book of the same name by Jay Anson. At 3:15 AM on the night of November 13th, 1974, a young man named Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his parents and 4 siblings while they were still asleep.
After putting the blame on a family enemy, he later confessed to his crimes but claimed that he heard voices telling him to kill and that he was also possessed by the devil. The court found him guilty, and on November 21st, 1975, he was sentenced to 150 years to life.
About a month later, the Lutz family moved in on December 19th, 1975. In the movie, the Lutz couple, George Lutz played by James Brolin, and Kathy Lutz played by Margot Kidder, experience the same incidents as accounted by the original couple in the book. George Lutz would wake up every night at 3:15 AM, which was around the same time that the murders were committed by Ronald DeFeo.
A spooky voice told the Lutz couple to “go out” after they summoned a priest to bless the residence. The family would see green slime oozing from the walls and pipes, as well as a foul odour that pervaded the space. They would also see a pig-like creature with glowing red eyes that tended to befriend one of their kids.
Surprisingly, Ronald DeFeo passed away a few days back on March 12th, 2021. Many sceptics believe that the Lutz family made up the entire narrative, and that the pair took a lie detector test and passed it to establish their innocence. The truth of the Lutz family, like the killings perpetrated by Ronald, is cloaked in mystery.
The Exorcism Of Emily Rose (2005)
Father Richard Moore is accused with the negligent homicide of a young child Emily Rose as she was being exorcised, and the church hires ambitious lawyer Erin Bruner to represent him. The story is portrayed in flashbacks and is a mix of courtroom drama, interviews, and interrogation of the many people involved with the exorcism.
Emily Rose began to have otherworldly experiences and eventually dropped out of college. Her parents turn to religion and exorcism after all medical and psychiatric aid fails to improve her condition. She succumbs to acute starvation and dehydration as a result of this procedure.
Emily Rose’s story is based on the true events from the life of Anneliese Michel, who died at the age of 23 on July 1st, 1976 in Bavaria, West Germany. The Psychiatric Clinic of Wurzburg diagnosed her with epilepsy and later, depression and suicidal thoughts began clouding her mind.
She would be administered various drugs for her seizures and deteriorating psychological state, but when all efforts seemed to go in vain, her parents resorted strictly to religion and exorcism by Father Arnold Renz and Pastor Ernst Alt.The two of them carried out 67 exorcisms over a period of 10 months, with a few lasting for over four hours. Tom Wilkinson’s character of Father Moore is based on two priests.
Gradually, Anneliese’s condition would worsen and she would see demons in the faces of people around her. The exorcism tapes reveal that she claimed to be possessed by several demons like Lucifer, Cain- the first murderer, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. Apart from these were damned souls like Hitler, the Roman Emperor Nero, and the fallen priest Fleischmann.
According to Anneliese’s mother, Anna Michel, continuing the exorcism was the right thing to do because she had seen the stigmata on her hand, which was a sign telling that Jesus wanted the same. Anneliese, on the other hand, had ceased eating and drinking because she believed that starvation would rid her body of the ills.
Her health deteriorated as a result of this, and she died weighing only 68 pounds. Anneliese’s parents, Father Arnold Renz and Pastor Ernst Alt, were found guilty of negligent homicide and condemned to 6 months in prison by the court.
Some argue that her condition was a case of paranoid schizophrenia, which led her to believe that she was possessed, and each repetitive exorcism reinforced her beliefs. Her determination to go without food for such a long time, on the other hand, raises doubts about the rational arguments. Anna Michel claims that her daughter made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of others. This is consistent with Emily Rose’s story.
Scream (1996)
The film begins in the fictional California hamlet of Woodsboro. Casey Becker gets a weird phone call from an anonymous caller who appears to be amusing and charming at first.
Things quickly turn sour as he tries to trade her boyfriend’s life for horror movie trivia. Casey quickly understands that the man on the other end of the line can see her. He murders her boyfriend before breaking into her home and killing her.
We meet Sidney Prescott, whose mother was murdered a year ago and the police arrested a suspect who claimed he was innocent. The next phone call Sidney receives is from the same man. Meanwhile, kids around the city are being butchered by a psycho in a ghostmask.
Kevin Williamson wrote the story for Scream after coming across a newspaper article about a serial killer called the Gainesville Ripper, whose actual name was Daniel Harold Rolling. InAugust 1990, Gainesville’s small town was left petrified with scars etched in the memories of its residents.
Mr. Rolling had a history of assault and burglary charges before he chose to commit premeditated and gruesome murders of at least 8 people, including 5 students at the University of Florida.
He would break into the houses of students, wrap their mouths and limbs with duct tape and stab them multiple times with a knife. He also raped a few of his victims before killing them. To create an exaggerated shock value for the police and witnesses, he reposed his victims’ corpses in objectionable and sexual positions.
Inlight of the events, students living in Gainesville either left for their hometowns or started sleeping together in groups, and arms sales increased to their highest levels. The film closely follows the events of the Gainesville Ripper case and cinematizes them in Woodsboro.
Although the motive behind these killings differs, the modus operandi remains spookily familiar. The subplot of an innocent man being apprehended also follows the sequence of events in Gainesville. Rolling’s true identity came to life only after he was arrested by the police in an unrelated case of armed robbery.
Following that, he confessed to mutilating five students in Gainesville and performing a triple homicide in Shreveport, Louisiana, similar to how Sidney Prescott’s mother was murdered a year before the Woodsboro atrocities began. Wes Craven wonderfully brought to life a slasher picture that would go on to become a classic, and he did so with minimal gore and maximum scares.
The Possession (2012)
Clyde Brenek and his wife Stephanie are getting divorced, and their daughters Hannah and Emily are understandably upset Clyde and Emily go to a yard sale, where Emily finds a wooden box.
Clyde purchases the package for her, but no one is able to open it. Later that night, Emily hears something from the container and manages to open it, displaying strange artefacts such as a tooth and a dead moth.
Emily has actually opened an ancient demon called Dybbuk from Jewish folklore. The Dybbuk that is as powerful as the Devil himself, and will try to possess Emily while Clyde joins forces with a Rabbi to save his daughter from the evil.
In 2003, a wine box was auctioned on eBay with a story that the owner of the box would attract bad luck and a risk of physical and mortal danger because it contained an ancient possessing spirit of Jewish mythology called the Dybbuk.
A man called Kevin Mannis was the creator of the eBay post; its description had an elaborate story about the box being owned by a 103-year-old Polish woman whose entire family was killed in a Nazi Concentration Camp. Since then, many people who have owned the box have come forward to reveal their harrowing experiences with it.
They claimed to have experienced inexplicable things like bulbs breaking, doors getting locked on their own, foul smell of cat urine, and repetitive nightmares of them being beaten to death by a demonic entity—basically, the owners of the box experience outlandish events.
In this film by Ole Bornedal , Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Clyde and Natasha Calis Emily tells Clyde that someone within the box is speaking to her, which sets off a chain of strange and incomprehensible happenings in the Brenek household. In terms of the source material and cinematization of the Dybbuk, the film is honest, although the original eBay wine box has been met with scepticism.
Winchester (2018)
After her husband died, Sarah Lockwood Winchester inherited $20 million and half of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company’s stock. Her infant child had died, and her husband’s death had implanted in her a fear of the supernatural. Mrs. Winchester soon contacted a medium, who informed her that she is being haunted by the spirits of all those who died as a result of Winchester guns.
The only option to preserve herself is to construct a new home, and the work should not be halted. Mrs. Winchester naturally begins the never-ending construction of a house with dozens of rooms in which she hopes to catch or give a resting place to the spirits who torment her.
The film is based on the bizarre and spooky story of one Mrs. Sarah Winchester and remains grounded in reality and facts. When Mrs. Winchester lost her infant daughter Annie to malnutrition, it seemed like the beginning of the end for her. She soon tragically lost her father-in-law who was then followed by her husband.
Mrs. Winchester is known to speak to her late husband with the help of a medium. The medium informed her about the ghosts of people who died from the Winchester guns, and she was supposed to help them if she wanted to save herself.
In 1886, Mrs. Winchester bought a large plot of land in San Jose, California, and transformed it into a 7 storey house with more than 160 rooms, two ballrooms, 47 fireplaces, 17 chimneys and hundreds of windows with over ten thousand glass panes. Windows existed where they were not supposed to and staircases led nowhere.
This obsession with construction lasted till 1906 when an earthquake wreaked the upper portions of the house and Mrs. Winchester was trapped in one of the rooms. Until her death in 1922, she spent the rest of her days away from the house.
The beautiful and talented English actress Helen Mirren was signed to play Sarah Winchester by Australian directors Michael and Peter Spierig Mirren has undeniably heightened the mysterious rich woman’s spooky side.
The film was primarily a genuine portrayal of the dark secrets, mysteries, and paranormal themes that the home gave residence to, earning nearly ten times its production cost.
A Queen Anne-styled Victorian now sits calmly in San Jose, California, and is placed on the National Register of Historic Places as a piece of California history.
The Exorcist (1973)
Chris MacNeil has divorced her husband and is now living with her preteen daughter, Regan. Regan, who is otherwise a joyful and energetic child, is gradually getting more violent and profane by the day.
Chris initially believes Regan has a psychiatric problem, but when all medical treatments fail, one of the psychologists, Dr. Barringer, adds, “There is one outside chance of a cure.” Chris seeks the help of a Greek American Catholic priest, Father Damien Karras, and an experienced but life-weary exorcist, Father LankesterMerrin. Will they succeed?
There’s not a horror fan in the world who hasn’t seen The Exorcist, and if by any chance you haven’t, then we strongly advise that you do. While the film is possibly the scariest horror movie ever, it becomes scarier upon knowing that it was based on the true story of Roland Doe, a 13-year-old boy who was possessed in the summer of 1948. The boy was possessed after he came in contact with an Ouija board.
He would experience scratching noises from walls and floor, the foul smell of excretory waste throughout the house, and the vigorous shaking of his bed. Things went worse and Roland’s desk at school would shake along with other things, and he was soon taken away from the institution.
In the days to come, Roland would speak fine Latin and got abusive towards his family and priests. Soon, the boy was transferred to a Catholic-run psychological hospital where Father William S. Bowdern officiated the exorcism with another priest.
The youngster had escaped his handcuffs and harmed the exorcists, it was later revealed. If you think the director took artistic licence with the slimy slime and the violent heaving of the bed into the air, you’re partially correct. The film was derived from William Peter Blatty’s novel of the same name, published in 1971, which was based on a diary kept by the Fathers.
It detailed reports of the terrifying events that occurred during the rite. Blatty also contacted the boy’s family and friends for more material for his novel, and they requested that Blatty change the character’s gender to a girl so that their son’s identity would not be revealed.
The next time you are in the mood to scare yourself with this marvelous film, watch it from the perspective of true events.
The Entity (1982)
A hard-working single mother named Carla Moran’s life changes after she is violently raped by an invisible entity. After this incident, she takes her children and goes to stay with her friend Cindy, who convinces Carla to see a psychiatrist named Dr. Phil Sneiderman.
Carla insists that a supernatural presence assaulted her, but when she tells him about her history of being a victim of pedophilia and other mental traumas as a child, he concludes that Carla’s case is that of manifestation of childhood sexual trauma and dismisses her claims about a paranormal force.The assaults on Carla and her family continue till she takes help from two parapsychologists who agree to investigate her case.
In 1974 in Culver City, California, a woman named Doris Bither was allegedly raped by the ghosts of three men. The case drew strong public attention in all of California as it was an intriguing subject for the locals. Mrs. Bither’s claims were that the poltergeist ghosts not just assaulted her but also harmed her four sons.
What we are dealing with here are succubi, who are basically age-old mythological legends known to seduce women. The female counterpart is called an incubi and has been the source material for many horror films. However, The Entity was one of the first movies to have been picturized on a true story about such demons.
Carla’s portrayal was filmed in a way that was true to Doris’s life. Doris had an expensive lifestyle and a rebellious nature as a child, and her family soon abandoned her. She afterwards became interested in occult rituals and began playing with Ouija boards.
She didn’t take long to become addicted to drink and drugs. Her sons, on the other hand, backed up her statements, saying in interviews that the assaults went on for years and that they could hear her screaming.
She would be mercilessly slapped, beaten, and raped. Whatever the truth is, being sexually attacked by a ghost or a demon that they can’t see is everyone’s worst nightmare.
The Conjuring (2013)
Carolyn and Roger Perron relocated to a new suburban Rhode Island home in 1971. Everything appeared to be well until the family began to experience a series of omens and unexplained events. Their dog died, and the youngest daughter became friends with a ghost of a child.
When the Perrons discovered a basement packed with all kinds of items, though, things went beyond normal. Carolyn requested that Lorraine and Ed Warren, paranormal detectives, come to their residence and investigate for the demonic presence after recognising the gravity of the problem.
This film’s success led to the creation of a Conjuring Universe in itself. The greatness of the film comes from the excellent acting of Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, and all the girls who played the characters of the Perron daughters. It also gave the real-life paranormal investigators a reputation and legacy that will stay with them forever.
The Perron Family moved into said house in 1970. As soon as the Perrons moved in, paranormal activity started taking effect in the form of a young boy moving toys and brooms. The girls started noticing a man with a crooked smile who would peek at them while they played.
Roger and Carolyn didn’t take these stories seriously until the ghosts made their presence known to them. So, Mr. and Mrs. Perron started looking into the history of the house and found that 8 generations of the previous Arnold Family had lived there, and the house was witness to some of the most horrific events.
In the early 1800s, one Mrs. John Arnold committed suicide in the property barn; an 11-old-child named Prudence Arnold was raped and mutilated, and the nearby waterbody was the spot of two drownings. The Perrons were petrified upon learning these things and soon, the spirits became more violent.
Furniture would fly across the room and the girls would be dragged out of their beds while asleep. Perrons would talk about these spirits but would maintain silence but Andrea Perron’s book House of Darkness House of Light would reveal Bethsheba, who was the most evil of all entities.
In the mid-nineteenth century, Bethsheba Thayer married Judson Sherman. The kid they had out of wedlock was shortly discovered slain, its head shattered, and the locals assumed she was a Satanist who had sacrificed her child to him. She later hanged herself from a tree limb in front of the house to commit suicide.
The Conjuring incorporates the majority of the facts provided by Ed and Lorraine Warren, with a few exceptions for cinematic purposes.
Jaws (1975)
A man-eating great white shark began biting beachgoers in a tourist town in the film. The town’s mayor and wealthy businesspeople, however, refuse to block the beaches to tourists because they are the town’s main source of revenue.
When a small boy is mutilated by a shark, his mother places a bounty on the shark’s head. As a result, many villagers become shark hunters and head out to the ocean. Quint, Brody, and Matt, three young men, are followed as they encounter the great white shark.
Steven Spielberg directed and adapted this film from Peter Benchley’s novel. Benchley got the inspiration for his book from a 1964 newspaper article that said that a 4500-pound shark was caught off the Long Island coast.
Although it was majorly a work of fiction, there are some true and horrific events from 1916 that follow the story of Jaws. A young businessman named Charles Vansant was struck and mutilated by a great white shark in Jersey Shore; five days later and 45 miles away, Charles Bruder was attacked.
The attacks became more horrific and scary when the shark swam 16 miles inland through a small creek that joined into the ocean. It was becoming a public nuisance, and no water body connected to the ocean was safe. The public was in a panic, and the authorities were on high alert. The hunt for the shark was being carried out like any other criminal investigation.
Many of the then specialists like John Treadwell Nichols and Charles Haskins, the director of New York Aquarium, were consulted on the subject. Naturally, shark fishing became a sport for all people alike. And, allegedly, a shark was caught that had human remains in its stomach and intestine.
Spielberg followed this event from 1916 very closely while making the film that became a terrifying and terrific thriller. Many directors have tried to replicate the magic, but none seem to come even close to the thrills that Spielberg generated. We guess the first is the best.
The Girl Next Door (2007)
Meg and her crippled sister Susan are placed in the care of their mentally disturbed and neurotic aunt Ruth after their parents die. Ruth subjected both of the girls, particularly Meg, to unfathomable abuse in an attempt to discipline them. She tortures, burns, beats, and sexually violates Meg with the help of her three sons and their male friends.
The Girl Next Door draws its inspiration from what is called ‘the most terrible crime ever committed in Indiana.’ On October 26th, 1965, police found the body of Sylvia Likens, who, along with his sister, was given to the care of Gertrude Baniszewski. She was a mother of seven kids and the perpetrator of the crime that involved unspeakable torments on the young girl.
Gertrude was dubbed as ‘The Mom’ by locals as she didn’t just participate in the tortures but clearly dictated her children and their friends about the ways and methods. This sadistic and, might we say, literally evil woman supervised everything, from starving little Sylvia to having her body carved with the words ‘I am a prostitute and proud of it.’ She was given 20 years of prison time, and she died a hopefully painful death from lung cancer.
Equally evil was her oldest child Paula Baniszewski who was 17 at the time and was sentenced to 7 years in prison. Paula would take over the torturing when her asthmatic mother would get tired. Gertrude allowed her children as young as 10 to be a part of the so-called disciplining.
Sylvia’s body, when found, had shocked the police officers and the medical staff who performed the autopsy. The actions and tortures depicted in the video are very similar to what occurred to Sylvia over the course of two terrible months of misery and suffering that ended in her death. One can only image the horrible pain that the girl must have through.
We’d like to take a moment to remind you that, while we strive to provide you with educational content about movies and the real-life events that inspire them, we also ask that you keep an eye out for oddities. If we notice something that doesn’t fit, we should take action as responsible citizens. It could be as small as alerting the police or anyone that you might think can make a difference.