Sometimes, reality can be far more terrifying than fiction. It's not hard to believe when you take a look at the worst crimes, scams, incidents, or any other horrifying events that have taken place throughout humanity's history. That's why some of the best horror movies have drawn their inspiration from real life. When movies confront you with that deep darkness dwelling inside twisted human minds, you find yourself afraid of your own shadow.
Here you'll find a list of 10 brilliant horror movies whose plots are based on real life events... Watch them if you dare.
Deranged (1974) by Alan Ormsby, Bob Clark, and Jeff Gillen
Ed Gein was a quiet and solitary man who lived in his farm in Plainfield, Wisconsin. He was a friendly person, and no one would have ever guessed that he had a particular obsession: desecrating graves. He kept a vast collection of human remains or items made out of them in his home. This included soup bowls made from skulls or a night lamp made out of a dorsal spine and skin. After Gein was caught, his case became widely known in his town and the entire nation. His farm was referred to as the "horror museum." Although Gein's case inspired several films, such as Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs, Derangedis a sinister and brilliant adaptation that captures the life of a man whose innocent façade concealed a deadly secret.
Related
10 Movies That Prove That Real Horror Is In The Human Mind
The Entity(1982) by Sidney J. Furie
Carla Moran lives a peaceful life until a strange event changes her life. A supernatural presence or entity starts to stalk her until she is sexually abused. A group of scientists from the University of California investigated the case and found that Carla did suffer physical violence from "something" immaterial. They found scratches, bruises, and harm on the genital area. The Entity, the film adaptation of Carla’s case, was a major fear-inducing success.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer(1986) by John McNaughton
The explicit and crude scenes in this low-budget film were source of controversy when it was first released in the United States. It is a gloomy and intimate portrayal of one of the most famous psychopaths of all times: Henry Lee Lucas, a man responsible for the murder of hundreds of people. This film depicts the criminal odyssey of Henry and his sidekick Otis. This movie is a cocktail of love, blood, and crime that produces the perfect portrayal of the psychopathic side of the human psyche.
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Fire in the Sky(1993) by Robert Lieberman
You'll never be the same person after watching this movie. This is a mysterious case of alien abduction. The event took place on November, 1975, when a lumberjack was kidnapped by a UFO in front of his co-workers. He was tortured and subjected to the most gruesome of experiments by the ruthless creatures. Meanwhile, the whole town blamed his workmates for his disappearance.
Helter Skelter(2004) by John Gray
The crimes of Charles Manson's "Family" have inspired many films. However, this one stands out for its complete accuracy in portraying the facts and events, not to mention for Jeremy Davis' depiction of Manson. This man is infamously known as the leader of a hippie commune that committed some of the most terrible crimes. Sharon Tate,
their most famous victim. She was murdered at her home in 1969, when she was eight-and-a-half months pregnant.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) by Scott Derrickson
Since
The Exorcist
, only few movies about diabolic possessions have caused genuine fear, and this movie is one of them. Perhaps the fact that it was not written to produce authentic fear, but to document a tragic real-life case, makes it more credible. The plot is based on the story of Anneliese Michel, a German girl born in a deeply religious family, who suddenly began to hear voices, suffer from convulsions, and experience depressive episodes. The worst part of it was that the diabolic beings appeared whenever she prayed. Anneliese stopped eating, since she claimed demons forbade her from doing so. She could only feed off spiders and some other insects, as well as her own urine. Her parents managed to convince two priests to take part in an exorcism to save their daughter, but the case had a fatal outcome instead.
The Girl Next Door(2007) by Gregory Wilson
At the age of 16, Sylvia Likens was tortured by Gertrude Baniszewski's family and other kids from her neighborhood, which led to her death. The case became one of the most famous crimes in the state of Indiana and revealed the level of cruelty humans are capable of. This case, which took place in 1958, was adapted into an extraordinary psychological horror film whose disturbing scenes faithfully reflect the pain of a girl who was a victim to alienation and negligence.
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Borderland(2007) by Zev Berman
This movie is based on one of the crimes of Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo —better known as the "Narcosatanist of Matamoros"—, who was a drug dealer and the leader of a Satanist cult. He believed in the magic of voodoo and rituals involving human sacrifice. The film focuses on two American college students who decide to make a journey across the border to Tecate, Baja California, for a cheap night of debauchery with alcohol, drugs, and women. That decision proves deadly. They end up in the clutches of a sinister cult that needs human sacrifices as a means to fulfill their dark ends.
The Haunting in Connecticut(2013) by Tom Elkins
Would you move to a colonial house that used to be a mortuary? Obviously not, and the protagonists of this movie would have done the same if they had known what they were stepping into. The Snedeker family provoked the fury of unearthly entities in 1986, when they decided to rent a home in Connecticut.
The house was visited by Ed and Lorraine Warren (yes, the paranormal investigator duo from
The Conjuring
).
Related
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The Silent House(2010) by Gustavo Hernández
This Uruguayan movie, shot in one single sequence, became renowned in fantasy cinema festivals around the world. The plot was inspired by a ghastly event that took place in 1940, in the village of Godoy. The corpses of two butchered bodies where found at an abandoned house along with some eerie photos next to them. This case remains unsolved.
In the movie a man and his daughter arrive at this country house to do some restorations before the owner sells it. There, they will have to stand agains a menacing presence that will turn their nights into a claustrophobic nightmare.
Ready to turn the lights off and enjoy these horror movies?
Sources:
[Scoop Woop
](https://www.scoopwhoop.com/inothernews/horror-movies-based-on-true-stories/#.ncl9rrhgc)
[Den of Geek
](http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/netflix/240576/best-horror-movies-on-netflix-right-now-scary-movies-to-watch)
Translated by Andrea Valle
