These horror movie plotlines were ripped from the pages of real life newspapers. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re taking a look at 10 scary movies that drew inspiration from real world killings and killers.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're taking a look at 10 scary movies that drew inspiration
00:12from real-world killings and killers.
00:16Why do you want to know my name?
00:17Because I want to know who I'm looking at.
00:21What did you say?
00:23Number 10.
00:24The Strangers.
00:26Director-screenwriter Brian Bertino drew on the crimes of the Manson family as well as
00:29personal experience for this home invasion horror film.
00:33Bertino stated he remembers a group of people knocking on the doors in his neighborhood
00:36asking if a made-up person was home.
00:38Is Tamara here?
00:41No.
00:42No, you got the wrong house.
00:44If no one answered the door, they would rob the house.
00:47His movie takes on a much more sinister approach, focusing instead on a group that wants to
00:51kill innocent people in their homes for no reason.
00:54Ahhhhhhhhhh!
00:59As with them, it's the randomness and senselessness of their acts that leaves you shivering.
01:05Why are you doing this to us?
01:10Because you're a home.
01:12Number 9.
01:13The Girl Next Door.
01:14Thanks, David.
01:15That was fun.
01:18Hey, Beck, where?
01:19We're staying with our cousins, the Chandlers.
01:22Based on John Ketchum's 1989 novel, this horror drama is such a harrowing watch, it
01:27will make you ache to learn that its based-on-true-events message wasn't only a marketing ploy.
01:32You understand how girls get squeamish, don't you?
01:37And Meg here's a lady.
01:39Why, sure she is.
01:41Unfortunately, this tale, about a victim who's tormented under the watchful eye of a supposed
01:46guardian, is based on the 1965 case of Sylvia Likens.
01:51The game is, she's gotta tell.
01:53Okay.
01:54Tell what?
01:55Something secret.
01:57Sounds right.
01:58Although a few things are changed from the real story, The Girl Next Door puts a lot
02:02of this crime's cruelty on full display.
02:05Stephen King described it as, quote, a long look into hell, suburban style.
02:09Tony told his mother that he'd seen several other boys from the neighborhood over here
02:13beating up on Meg.
02:15Oh, you know kids, Officer Jennings, they're always exaggerating.
02:18It was probably just a little roughhousing.
02:21Number 8.
02:22The Hills Have Eyes
02:23We're right here someplace, on this little blue road.
02:26Mother, this road is not a blue line.
02:30It's a dotted line if it's on the map at all.
02:32While in search of inspiration for his second film, the now legendary horror filmmaker Wes
02:37Craven stumbled upon the historic legend of Sawney Bean.
02:41Bean was a 16th century figure who led a clan of cannibals in Scotland.
02:46For a span of 25 years, Bean and his clan members are believed to have cannibalized
02:50over 1,000 people.
02:52This striking tale became the basis for Craven's horror classic The Hills Have Eyes, which
02:57was released in 1977.
02:59Although similar in many ways, the Savage family in Craven's film suffer a different
03:04fate from their real-life counterparts.
03:06Bean and his clan were hunted down by King James VI men and executed in a particularly
03:12macabre fashion.
03:13It's pretty quiet.
03:14Think they'll end for us?
03:17Wouldn't be surprised.
03:19Number 7.
03:20Ravenous
03:21Starvation and desperation can make people do strange things.
03:25When Diego eats, he must eat more, more.
03:29Never enough, he takes.
03:32Never, never gives.
03:35The western horror film Ravenous is not based on one specific historical incident, but it
03:40does take inspiration from different sources, primarily the life of Alfred Packer and the
03:44Donner Party.
03:45He killed everyone.
03:48Kahoo killed everyone!
03:51Along with some nods to these real incidents of humans eating their dead, Ravenous presents
03:55the idea that once someone tries it, nothing else will ever satisfy them again.
04:00Get away from me.
04:03Get away from me!
04:08Atmospheric, unsurprisingly gory, weirdly comedic, and featuring a mesmerizing performance
04:13by Robert Carlyle, Ravenous uses history and myth to craft a strange but captivating horror
04:18film.
04:19Captain Boyd.
04:20Captain.
04:23How's the leg?
04:30Number 6.
04:31Wolf Creek
04:32Rather than being based on one set of circumstances, this film is an amalgamation of various real-life
04:37events.
04:38These include the crimes of two Australian killers, Ivan Milat and Bradley John Murdoch.
04:43What do you actually do?
04:45Now?
04:50Oh, I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.
04:54Both preyed on tourists.
04:56Milat in the late 80s and early 90s, and Murdoch in 2001, when he attacked British traveler
05:01Peter Falconeo and his girlfriend Joanne Lees.
05:05Paralleling the events of the movie, the couple was driving through the Australian outback
05:09when their car was flagged down by a stranded motorist.
05:12Run!
05:17Lees managed to escape, but heard gunshots.
05:20Falconeo was never seen again, and his body hasn't been recovered.
05:24Like your little mate said before, you know, that's not a knife.
05:29This is a knife.
05:32Number 5.
05:33Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer.
05:35Henry Lee Lucas may seem like the stuff of nightmares, but unfortunately, he's based
05:39on a real-life figure.
05:41I'm not saying you can't use a gun, just don't use the same gun twice.
05:45Active between the years 1960 and 83, Lucas claimed to have committed hundreds of murders.
05:51Initially, the police accepted his claims.
05:53Did you really kill your mama?
05:55What?
05:58Did you really kill your mama?
06:01I guess I did.
06:03However, it turned out that most of his confessions were false.
06:06Nevertheless, Lucas was convicted of 11 homicides, three of which were confirmed by authorities.
06:12The film states that it was inspired by his life and fantasies more than his actual murders.
06:17But it did get many details right, including being maltreated as a child by his mother
06:23and his partnership with Otis Toole.
06:26Don't do that, Otis.
06:28She's your sister.
06:29Okay, I was only kidding around, Henry.
06:31Tell her you're sorry.
06:34Underneath Scream's satirical tone and marketable slasher villain lies a story about a small
06:39town driven to chaos by a string of violent murders.
06:42Is that Sidney Prescott they took away?
06:44I'm not talking to you.
06:45What happened to her?
06:46None of your damn business.
06:47The script behind Wes Craven's 90s horror flick was sparked into existence by the Gainesville
06:51murders committed by Daniel Rowling in 1990.
06:55He called me again last night at Tatum's house.
06:57You see?
06:58Couldn't have been me.
06:59I was in jail.
07:00Remember?
07:02While there are a couple of similarities, Scream's screenwriter was primarily inspired
07:06by the widespread fear caused by the killings.
07:09It's the idea that there could be a faceless psychopath standing outside the window waiting
07:13for the opportunity to strike.
07:16Number three, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
07:18Hello?
07:19Is anybody home?
07:23The notorious murderer Ed Gein has served as a loose inspiration for plenty of horror
07:27films, with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre being one of the most famous.
07:31The similarities mostly come down to Leatherface's mask, as well as the fact that it's a
07:35real mask.
07:36The mask is a fake.
07:37It's a fake.
07:38It's a fake.
07:39It's a fake.
07:40It's a fake.
07:41It's a fake.
07:42It's a fake.
07:43It's a fake.
07:45Leatherface's mask, as Gein, also fashions such keepsakes,
07:48although not in order to hide a physical deformity like the movie's killer.
07:58The film's disturbing house also bears some resemblance to Ed Gein's grotesque
08:02flesh-themed home.
08:04The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is far from an Ed Gein biopic, but the film's grisly
08:09aesthetic reflects the depraved nature of the murderer's crimes.
08:13Now, now, don't you cry, now.
08:15Grandpa's the best. It won't hurt a bit.
08:19Number two, Psycho.
08:21The Psycho novel and Hitchcock's adaptation were released only a few years
08:25following the capture and trial of Ed Gein.
08:28Are you sure you wouldn't like to stay just a little while longer?
08:31Just for talk?
08:33I'd like to, but...
08:35Alright.
08:36Norman Bates is a socially awkward but seemingly harmless outcast
08:40defined by his unhealthy relationship with his fanatical and harsh mother,
08:44traits reminiscent of the real-life murderer.
08:46Although Gein influenced the presentation of Norman Bates in various ways,
08:50the character's crimes were wholly the invention of Robert Block, the book's author.
08:58A landmark release in the slasher genre,
09:00Psycho holds up as a stylish and frightful exploration of violence and madness.
09:06And in the end, he intended to tell them I killed those girls and that man,
09:11as if I could do anything except just sit and stare like one of his stuffed birds.
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09:31Number 1. The Amityville Horror
09:34I like to refer to this as a fixer-upper that can be fun.
09:38One of the most controversial horror movies inspired by true events,
09:42The Amityville Horror chronicles the Lutz family's stay in a house
09:45that had recently seen a gruesome tragedy.
09:47And when he was at trial, he testified that he heard voices in the house.
09:51He heard voices in the house and the voices told him to do it!
09:55With pig creatures, walls spouting blood and ancient burial grounds,
09:59The Amityville Horror presumably takes a few liberties with a story that has plenty of skeptics.
10:04But the grim murders that started everything undoubtedly happened.
10:08Taken on its own, The Amityville Horror is a quintessential haunted house movie,
10:12a tale about a fractured family driven to the point of insanity by mind-breaking phenomena.
10:30Don't hurt my baby!
10:33Kathy?
10:35Which of these real-life crimes keeps you up at night?
10:38Let us know in the comments below.
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