Summary

• Horror movies based on urban legends have an extra layer of scare because they feel real and tap into viewers' deepest fears.
• Some horror movies, like The Blair Witch Project, created their own urban legends through clever marketing techniques.
• Movies like Butterfly Kisses and Midsommar took familiar urban legends and turned them on their heads with terrifying results.

Some of the scariest horror movies ever made were based on urban legends, the feeling that aspects of the movie could have been real only added to the tension and the terrifying nature of it all. Horror movies based on urban legend have an inbuilt sense of realism to them, these were stories that have been told and retold and when viewers see them depicted on the big screen, they can have an extra frightening layer of scariness to them. The best urban legends play with humans’ deepest fears and explore the darkest realms of the collective unconscious.

There were some horror movies based on decades-old urban legends, stories that have become so entrenched in popular culture that audiences felt like they already knew the characters before the movie was even made. Other horror movies propagated their own urban legends, such as The Blair Witch Project, and used clever marketing techniques to build up a film’s spooky reputation before it was even released. The scariest horror movies based on urban legends made viewers feel like the story was real and gave credence to the most outrageous of claims.

10 Butterfly Kisses (2018)

Butterfly Kisses explored the horrific urban legend of Peeping Tom

As a deconstruction of the found-footage horror genre, Butterfly Kisses took the idea of an urban legend movie and turned it completely on its head with terrifying results. Butterfly Kisses told the story of a filmmaker who found a box video tapes that depicted a cursed video project surrounding the horror legend of Peeping Tom. Butterfly Kisses was so successful in spreading its own local legend that author Shelly Davies Wygant included it in her book Haunted Ellicott City (via Baltimore Sun.)

9 The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Blair Witch Project was based on an urban legend spread by its filmmakers

An incredible example of guerilla marketing, The Blair Witch Project was a found-footage horror that found incredible success at the box office as some audience believed it to be real. By combining the aesthetic of a paranormal documentary with traditional horror movies, The Blair Witch Project utilized detailed mythology and innovative marketing techniques to trick audiences into believing it was a true story. Before the release of The Blair Witch Project, the creators made a website that featured fake police reports that made it look like the events of the film were true which added to its terrifying reputation.

8 Midsommar (2019)

Midsommar was based on urban legends of ritualistic societies

Director Ari Aster proved he was capable of keeping the scares coming when he followed up his directional debut Hereditary with the equally terrifying Midsommar. What started as a relatively tame Nordic holiday soon devolved into a bizarre mid-summer festival that saw Florence Pugh’s character Dani Ardor at the receiving end of a bizarre and violent human sacrifice. What made Midsommar all the more fear-inducing was its roots in Swedish, German, and English folklore, as it brought urban legends about contemporary human sacrifice ceremonies to life.

7 I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

I Know What You Did Last Summer was based on the Hook Hand Killer urban legend

I Know What You Did Last Summer was one of the most popular horror movies of the 1990s and acted as the first instalment in a franchise that still continues to this day. It centered on four friends stalked by a hook-wielding killer and the story became even scarier upon learning that it was based on an urban legend of the Hook Hand Killer. This legend dates back as far as the 1950s (via Snopes) and gained traction when it was printed in the American advice column Dear Abbey in 1960.

6 When A Stranger Calls (1979)

When a Stranger Calls was based on the urban legend of the babysitter and the man upstairs

The cult favorite When a Stranger Calls was the frightening story of a babysitter being terrorized by a psychopathic killer over the phone whose opening scene was considered one of the best in all horror. Based on the urban legend of the babysitting and the man upstairs, a 1960s legend about a phone call killer it turned out to be inside the phone of their victim. In the legend and When a Stranger Calls, the killer repeatedly tells the babysitter to “check the children” in a series of events that get progressively more spooky.

5 Slender Man (2018)

Slender Man was based on the urban legend and internet memes about the Slender Man

The supernatural creature the Slender Man was an interesting urban legend as it originated in the modern internet era as a creepypasta meme that was widely shared online. Taking on a life of its own, the Slender Man actually led to some real-life killings which only added to the scary reputation of the 2018 movie Slender Man. While Slender Man received bad reviews upon release that does not stop its intriguing and eerie history from conjuring up fear for viewers.

4 The Mothman Prophecies (2002)

The Mothman Prophecies was based on a West Virginia urban legend from the 1960s

The Mothman Prophecies claimed to be about real events that took place between November 1966 and December 1967 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and while some aspects were taken from real life it was largely inspired by urban legends. A creepy supernatural alien story, The Mothman Prophecies starred Richard Gere and brought the legend of “a man with wings” to life in a highly atmospheric and eerie film. While The Mothman Prophecies failed to have a major impact when it was first release, its legend has spread, and it has now developed somewhat of a cult following.

3 Candyman (1992)

Candyman was based on the urban legend of the Candyman

The Candyman was an urban legend whose origins dates back generations and related to the murderous soul with a hook for a hand who appeared after “you said his name three times in the mirror.” A spooky legend that school kids have shared with one for years, Candyman took an already entrenched legend and made it feel frightening and real with its 1992 film adaptation. The myth of the Candyman has many versions, including “Bloody Mary”, and the film was followed up with three sequels.

2 Black Christmas (1974)

Black Christmas was inspired by the urban legend of the babysitter and the man upstairs

Black Christmas took inspiration from the urban legend of the babysitting and the man upstairs as well as a series of real murders that took place in the Westmount neighborhood of Montreal. A spooky slasher spin on the festive season, Black Christmas frightened viewers with its plausible concept and tension-filled twists. As one of the first slasher films ever made, Black Christmas helped to define the slasher genre and was a major influence on later movies like John Carpenter’s Halloween.

1 The Wicker Man (1973)

The Wicker Man was based on urban legends about ritualistic pagan communities

The Wicker Man was a folk horror movie that centered on a police officer visiting an isolated Scottish island only to discover the residents have abandoned monotheistic religion in favor of Celtic paganism with eerie terror-inducing consequences. One thing viewers’ likely did not know about The Wicker Man was the inspiration it took a 1676 engraving called “The Wicker Image” by the artist Aylett Sammes and its plot of a deranged ceremonial community brings to mind urban legends of isolated societies evolving into barbarianism. The Wicker Man inspired everything from a remake starring Nicolas Cage to Ari Aster’s Midsommar.

Sources: Baltimore Sun, Snopes