Indeed, there is nothing scarier than the line “based on a true story” in horror movies. The macabre Hollywood situations that used to scare audiences are now even more haunting because they’ve happened in the past. Especially when witnessing a murder without an answer, or a series of mysterious murders that have not been brought to light. For example, the following 6 movie titles. All of them are scenarios based on real “sick” events, making viewers panic because anything the hell can happen!
1. The horror toy that started the ghost doll series
In Child’s Play (1988), the character Chucky is an evil spirit residing in the form of a doll, based on a true story in the 1900s.
The character Chucky is based on a real toy named Robert. In the early 1900s, a child in Florida received Robert as a gift, about the same size as a 5-year-old child. Like many ghost doll cases in the movies, Robert has also been recognized by experts for a series of spooky actions. For example: changing the sitting position, hiding from time to time, or the most terrible thing is to bring bad luck to the owner…
Currently, Robert is sitting at the East Martello Museum (USA). The famous doll is placed in a locked glass cabinet, warning no one to touch or look at for too long.
2. From cannibal doctor to Hollywood’s greatest villain
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) tells the story of Hannibal Lecter – a talented doctor with a passion for cannibalism, inspired by Mexico’s most famous psychotic killer.
After The Silence of the Lambs came out, the original novelist revealed more about Alfredo Ballí Treviño – the direct prototype for the character Hannibal Lecter. In the 1960s, this Mexican doctor murdered his lover and friends and then mutilated many body parts. Therefore, he immediately got the nickname “Werewolf of Nuevo León”, once a terror to the entire South American people.
3. The Zodiac killer shocked people with a strange way of killing people, but he didn’t come back negative even though he had revealed his traces many times.
Zodiac (2007) revolves around the Zodiac killer – a notorious criminal living in Northern California in the late 1960s, his identity has not been identified until now.
The Zodiac murder case is considered the most mysterious murder case in US history. It was so popular that it became a part of popular culture and inspired many Hollywood productions.
From 1968 on, the Zodiac murdered five victims in San Francisco and other rural areas. His targets are young couples or lonely people. In the letter challenging the police, Zodiac claimed that he killed 37 victims, then repeatedly sent codes to reveal their identities. Unfortunately, until now, only 2/4 of the code has been decoded and no one has found the truth of the Zodiac.
4. The accident behind the blockbuster Jaws, how “virtual” is that no one believes it’s real?
A lot of people mistook Jaws (1975) for a science fiction movie until they learned the true story in 1916
In the summer of 1916, a great white shark attacked many tourists off the coast of Jersey Bay. As a result, four people died and one person was seriously injured. From there, the accident immediately entered popular culture, turning sharks into representations of danger, often emphasized from cartoons to live-action.
5. Shivering with the quiet madman’s hobby of skinning, he created a series of “flesh-and-bones” works by his own hands.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) is a horror film based on the case of Ed Gein – the “butcher” skinned people to satisfy his beast.
The classic Leatherface character is an adaptation of serial killer Ed Gein. In the 1950s, Ed Gein was one of the most notorious names in America, known for his ruthless skinning methods. At his home, the police discovered a series of objects made from dead bodies.
Later, the sentence of Ed Gein also caused outrage with the “exemption from metal death” of mental illness. Thanks to that, instead of going to prison, he spent the rest of his life in a mental institution until his death at the age of 77.
6. Another barbaric case in a lonely residential area, a brutal brutal crime scene based on a notorious murder
The Strangers (2008) is inspired by two true events: the murder of the “Manson family” star Sharon Tate, and the 1981 Keddie chalet murder in California.
According to writer/director Bryan Bertino, The Strangers is also a series of stories based on childhood experiences. As a child, Bertino was often alone at home and was afraid of strangers knocking on the door. Since then, the fear of bad guys breaking in has impressed him, gradually becoming an endless source of inspiration to make horror movies about uninvited killers.
Image source: Synthesis
