“Based on a true story” is a pretty old trick in Hollywood advertising, and horror movie fans know a lot of variations on this phrase.
Whether or not the film is truly scary, thanks to its “based off of a real story,” the film often makes a big box office.
If the plot line connects reality and fiction, it creates potential horror, but sometimes the real stories are much more terrifying.
From pathological to supernatural, here are some really scary stories that have inspired directors to create horror films.
Dracula and Vlad Tepes
The classic works of Bram Stoker were repeatedly filmed, which made this story the most popular and provided material for many films to come. Until there was a Francis Ford Coppola film titled Bram Stoker’s Dracula, there was still no connection between Dracula and the real-life historical character Vlad Tepes.
If you are sure that the immortal vampire sucking blood is terrible, then compare him with Vlad the Impaler.
It is known that during the reign of this Transylvanian prince more than 100,000 people were tortured and executed. Not recognizing commoners as people, he often executed them by impaling them.
The Exorcist and the Case of Rylands
The 1973 Oscar-winning film was called The Exorcist and was based on a true story that happened in 1949 with a Maryland boy named Roland Doe.
This boy was many times subjected to the rite of exorcism by Jesuit priests. Skeptics claim that the case was taken from biblical times, but there was no mention of levitations, bouncing beds, and speaking in unknown languages.
Director William Friedkin claims that his film’s sole purpose is to recount the events and circumstances surrounding Roland’s case, while filming the most terrifying horror film ever. This is the real story that inspired him to create the film.
Do you want to be surprised? It has been proven that the demand for such a ceremony has increased significantly in recent years: in 2015, the Catholic Church reported more than 100 requests for such a service.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Some of the most horrific characters known have been taken from the pages of serial killer Ed Gein. Gein’s grisly deeds have inspired Korefale from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Norman Bates from Psycho and Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs, to name a few.
Whether these characters were real is hard to imagine, but Gein’s crimes are so horrific that he has become the most monstrous figure in American history.
From the very beginning, the Hein family was not a role model. Gein lived alone on his farm in Wisconsin and did not attract attention for 12 years.
But when the owner of a nearby hardware store suddenly disappeared in 1957, Gein came under suspicion.
Many human remains were found in the house. Some of the evidence was so terrible that it is simply impossible to describe them, suffice it to say that Hein’s bedroom would have led any person to indescribable horror. Gein’s story without the chainsaw is enough material for a horror film.
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