While true stories are generally the realm of prestigious drama movies, some have also served as the inspiration for a surprising number of iconic horror movies. Cinema has been obsessed with dramatizations of real events since the earliest days of the medium. But in the cases of most, their real-life connections are made plain in the movies themselves.
With some, though, their inspiration is much less obvious, particularly when it comes to horror. Due to the subject material, which often involves ghost and demons, their historical connections are easy to miss, especially when they don't seem to be based in reality. It’s worth examining how a relationship to a real-life event colors a horror film and how it compares with the true story that inspired it.
10 Final Destination (2000)
Each Final Destination installment follows the similar premise of a group of people who, following a premonition, manage to escape death in a random disaster, only for death to come for them in gruesome and elaborate ways. While the plot device leads to some absurd deaths, franchise creator Jeffrey Reddick explains that the idea for the original film was based on a real news story. Reddick recalls (via Collider) reading about a woman who narrowly avoided a plane crash after a loved one called and encouraged her to switch flights. The concept of a premonition of a plane crash would end up being the basis for Final Destination.
9 Open Water (2003)
One of the simplest and most haunting horror concepts was inspired by a real case. The film Open Water, about a couple who find themselves stranded in the middle of the ocean after their scuba boat leaves without them, is based on the real story of married couple Tom and Eileen Lonergan, who went missing at sea after being stranded for 48 hours. While it’s impossible to know exactly what happened to the Lonergans in that time, the vivid, claustrophobic Open Water dramatizes the story of a fictional couple who struggle against sharks, dehydration, and the myriad horrors of the open sea.
8 The Conjuring (2013)
While many aspects of the plot are embellished for dramatic effect, the 2013 haunted house film The Conjuring is based on the (reportedly) true s of Ed and Lorraine Warren’s investigation of a haunted farmhouse in Rhode Island. The real Warrens’ s of levitating furniture, smells of rotting flesh, and attempts to communicate with the spirits are all represented in the film (via USA Today). Lorraine Warren even consulted on the production. However, many of the claims the Warrens made throughout their career are disputed, leaving it up to the viewer how much of The Conjuring’s haunting can be taken as fact.
7 Saw (2007)
Thankfully, the true story inspiration for Saw came when co-writer James Wan read about a man who would break into people’s houses, claiming he was under the instruction of another person, who would send him jigsaw pieces in the mail. The story went on to inspire the Saw character Zep, who carries out crimes for Jigsaw.
6 Scream (1996)
Considering Scream’s history of murderers inspired by film and TV, it seems fitting that screenwriter Kevin Williamson was moved to write the original film after watching a TV documentary about a serial killer. Daniel Rollings, AKA The Gainesville Ripper (via Collider), inflicted a four-day murder spree on several Florida college students in 1990. Williamson seems to have woven several elements of Rollings’ story into Scream; the murders were preceded by a seemingly unconnected killing the year prior, the carnage was mostly focused on a group of young people, and Rollings had a tendency to pose his victims in anticipation of their discovery, just like Casey Becker in Scream.
5 Poltergeist (1982)
Like The Conjuring, Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist is a horror movie inspired by a supposedly true of a haunted house. The Hermann house of Long Island, New York became a national sensation in 1958, when the Hermann family began to experience unexplained occurrences such as bottles being uncapped and spilled, furniture being moved, and unexplained noises (via Nerdist). Poltergeist ran with this story to tell the fictional tale of a suburban family whose house is plagued by spirits. While the film includes the details of moving furniture and bizarre noises, it takes things much further, with spectral hands, moving skeletons, and even child-swallowing portals coming into play.
4 A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
Much like Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street is a Wes Craven franchise that originated with a chilling true story. Craven reports (via Collider) reading a news article about a Cambodian refugee who died in the middle of the night after trying not to sleep for days. Apparently, the boy had told his parents that something was waiting to chase and kill him in his sleep. This article, and others like it, inspired Craven to make a film about a monster who kills people in their dreams.
3 Ravenous (1999)
The underrated 90s horror film Ravenous tells the story of a remote 19th century military outpost terrorized by an insane cannibal. The plot is inspired by numerous real stories of parties of settlers driven to cannibalism by the savage conditions of the untamed American wilds. Most prominently, the film is based on the notorious story of the Donner party, who turned to cannibalism after finding themselves trapped in the California mountains, and the of Alfred Packer, a prospector who likewise began to eat his fellow party after becoming lost in the Rockies.
2 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Also cited as the basis of killers like Psycho’s Norman Bates and The Silence of The Lambs’ Buffalo Bill, one of cinema’s most influential serial killers, Ed Gein, inspired The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Leatherface. The iconic chainsaw-wielding killer’s practice of decorating his home with human body parts and even wearing a mask of human skin is modeled after Ed Gein’s own notorious acts. The film also hints at Gein’s practices of cannibalism and body preservation. While Psycho and Silence of The Lambs both feature killers seemingly modeled after Gein’s mother obsession, Texas Chainsaw brazenly confronts his sick methods in full force.
1 The Strangers (2008)
The 2008 indie hit The Strangers was inspired by real crimes. The film, while light on plot, nonetheless succeeds at representing the primal fear of a seemingly motiveless home invasion. According to director and writer Bryan Bertino, the movie was inspired by three real home invasion stories. The first is the infamous Helter Skelter murders, wherein a cult, directed by Charles Manson, murdered actress Sharon Tate in her own home. The second is the 1981 Keddie Cabin murders, which saw a mother and three children murdered by an unknown killer. The third is Bertino’s own childhood memory of being home alone and narrowly avoiding a home invasion robbery.
