HORROR MOVIE NIGHT- Based on a true story collection
It is safe to say that most horror films that are marketed as "based on a true story" are very loosely based on actual fact. But true stories have inspired some great horror movies- and some pretty terrible movies.
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- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsAnthony PerkinsJanet LeighVera MilesA Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.Inspired by Ed Gein- man from Wisconsin who was arrested in 1957 for committing two murders and digging up the corpses of other women who reminded him of his dead mother- 'Psycho' started a revolutoin in the horror genre. Gein skinned the bodies to make lamp shades, clothes and the infamous "woman suit" that is so present in films inspired by the killer. Also inspired by Ed Gein was the movie 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' and the serial killer character in 'Silence of the Lambs.'
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsEllen BurstynMax von SydowLinda BlairWhen a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.William Peter Blatty- screenwriter and author of 'The Exorcist' was inspired by an article he read in about an exorcism performed on a 13-year-old boy in Mount Rainier, Maryland in 1949.
- DirectorTobe HooperStarsMarilyn BurnsEdwin NealAllen DanzigerFive friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.Loosely based on Ed Gein.
- DirectorJeff GillenAlan OrmsbyStarsRoberts BlossomCosette LeeLeslie CarlsonA deranged rural farmer becomes a grave robber and murderer after the death of his possessive mother, whose corpse he keeps, among others, as his companion in a decaying farmhouse.Based on Ed Gein.
- DirectorWes CravenStarsSusan LanierRobert HoustonJohn SteadmanOn the way to California, a family has the misfortune to have their car break down in an area closed to the public, and inhabited by violent savages ready to attack.Inspired by the legend of Alexander "Sawney" Bean, a the 16th century Scottish man who was the reported leader of a 40-person gang that killed and ate over 1,000 people. They allegedly lived in caves for 25 years before being caught and executed. Most historians today don't believe that Bean existed.
- DirectorStuart RosenbergStarsJames BrolinMargot KidderRod SteigerNewlyweds and their three children move into a large house where a mass murder was committed. They start to experience strange, inexplicable manifestations which have strong effects on everyone living in or visiting the house.George and Kathy Lutz move in to a nice new home only to have many paranormal experiences such as hearing disembodied voices, demonic imagery, inverted crucifixes and walls bleeding green slime. The previous owners of the home, the DeFeo family, met a tragic end when son Ronald shot and killed six members of the family. Although the DeFeo murders are true the Lutz's haunted experience is widely believed to be a hoax.
- DirectorSidney J. FurieStarsBarbara HersheyRon SilverDavid LabiosaA woman is tormented by an invisible being.Paranormal researchers Kerry Gaynor and Barry Taff investigated the case of a woman- believed to be named Doris Bither- in 1974 who lived in Culver City, California and claimed she had been sexually and physically assaulted by an unseen entity. Gaynor and Taff witnessed objects move in her house, but they never saw anything assault the woman.
- DirectorJohn McNaughtonStarsMichael RookerTracy ArnoldTom TowlesArriving in Chicago, Henry moves in with ex-con acquaintance Otis and starts schooling him in the ways of the serial killer.This film is based on the very real serial killer Henry Lee Lucas.
- DirectorJoseph RubenStarsTerry O'QuinnJill SchoelenShelley HackAfter murdering his entire family, a man marries a widow with a teenage daughter in another town and prepares to do it all over again.Based on John List.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJeremy IronsGeneviève BujoldHeidi von PalleskeTwin gynecologists take full advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them apart, until their relationship begins to deteriorate over a woman.On July 19, 1975, the decomposing bodies of 45-year-old twin gynecologists Stewart and Cyril Marcus were discovered in their apartment. Cause of death was withdrawal due to an addiction to barbiturates but no one will ever really know what really happened.
- DirectorSteven E. de SouzaStarsTimothy DaltonHenry CzernyJonathan MalenInspired by the true account of a 1949 Catholic Church exorcism performed in America. "Possessed", tells the story that was suppressed for nearly half a century.Based on the actual 1949 case of a Maryland boy which inspired "The Exorcist."
- DirectorPeter FilardiStarsVincent KartheiserChad ChristSabine SinghBased on the true story of drugs, satanism, and murder in the upper class town of Northport, Long Island in 1984.
- DirectorDavid JacobsonStarsJeremy RennerBruce DavisonArtel GreatBiopic about notorious American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, taking place in both the past and the present.Based on real life serial killer Jeffery Dahmer.
- DirectorMarcus NispelStarsJessica BielJonathan TuckerAndrew BryniarskiAfter picking up a traumatized young hitchhiker, five friends find themselves stalked and hunted by a deformed chainsaw-wielding loon and his family of equally psychopathic killers.Based on Ed Gein.
- DirectorAndrew DouglasStarsRyan ReynoldsMelissa GeorgeJimmy BennettNewlyweds are terrorized by demonic forces after moving into a large house that was the site of a grisly mass murder a year before.
- DirectorScott DerricksonStarsLaura LinneyTom WilkinsonShohreh AghdashlooA lawyer takes on a negligent homicide case involving a priest who performed an exorcism on a young girl.Annelise Michel, a German student, was exorcised in 1976. A lot of the facts in her story- eacting bugs, contorting, speaking with dual vocal cords and in different languages- are featured in the movie. Her parents, as well as the priest who performed the exorcism were in fact charged an account of neglect after the ordeal led to her death.
- DirectorGregory WilsonStarsWilliam AthertonBlythe AuffarthBlanche BakerFollows the unspeakable torture and abuses committed on a teenage girl in the care of her aunt and the boys who witness and fail to report the crime.Based on the torture and murder of Slyvia Likens by the woman she was rooming with, Gertrude Baniszewski and other children in the neighborhood. Most of what happens in the film is true and I'd go as far as saying that the real life story is far more brutal. See also 'An American Crime.'
- DirectorTommy O'HaverStarsElliot PageHayley McFarlandNick SearcyThe true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.
- DirectorBryan BertinoStarsScott SpeedmanLiv TylerGemma WardA young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants.Inspired by real events.
- DirectorPeter CornwellStarsVirginia MadsenMartin DonovanElias KoteasAfter a family is forced to relocate for their son's health, they begin experiencing supernatural behavior in their new home, and uncover a sinister history.1986 Allen and Carmen Snedeker rented an old house in Southington, Connecticut that had once been a mortuary. After many paranormal experiences that centered around her son- a cancer victim fighting for his life- they were forced to move from the home. The movie however is like most- extreemely exaggerated.
- DirectorJude Gerard PrestStarsYaz CanliKai CoferChristopher Karl JohnsonIn the tradition of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, found footage documents the real life exorcisms of Anneliese Michel, history's most notorious victim of demonic possession.Claims to be found footage of the exorcism of Annelise Michel but is just another hoax movie. I don't reccomend it at all.
- DirectorJames WanStarsPatrick WilsonVera FarmigaRon LivingstonParanormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse.
- DirectorJohn R. LeonettiStarsWard HortonAnnabelle WallisAlfre WoodardA couple begins to experience terrifying supernatural occurrences involving a vintage doll shortly after their home is invaded by satanic cultists.
- DirectorScott DerricksonStarsEric BanaEdgar RamírezOlivia MunnNew York police officer Ralph Sarchie investigates a series of crimes. He joins forces with an unconventional priest, schooled in the rites of exorcism, to combat the possessions that are terrorizing their city.