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May 19, 2008 - Thrilling movies are fun to watch, especially with the comfort of knowing they’re works of fiction. But when something is based on events that have occurred off-screen, in the real world, suddenly it becomes even scarier. Inspired by true events, The Strangers – starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman – is a terrifying suspense thriller about a couple whose remote getaway becomes a place of terror when masked strangers invade. To coincide with its upcoming release, we highlight some other films based on all too true events.
Originally a best-selling novel, the story of The Exorcist finds its origins in the demonic possession of a little boy in Cottage Town, Maryland. While many of the elements were embellished in the translation to film, the core of the story – that a young child was freed of demonic possession by a Catholic priest through the ancient ritual of exorcism – was a real event. It wasn’t until the story was detailed in newspapers nationwide that William Blatty was inspired to write a fictionalized account of the story.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Coming out shortly after The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre quickly took the title of “most terrifying movie ever”. But was it as grounded in supposed fact as The Exorcist was? Surely a chainsaw-wielding psychopath didn’t actually hunt down and cannibalize a group of youth in Texas. In reality, the story was made up, but it and the character Leatherface, were both based on the real cannibalistic farmer Ed Gein, who robbed graves, engaged in necrophilia, and killed two women in the 1950s. A chainsaw, however, was never involved in his crimes.
Though the film never claimed to be based on real-events, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller Psycho does indeed borrow real-life elements. In particular, the main villain Norman Bates is based on the same killer, Ed Gein, who was also the inspiration for Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The similarities, however, are subtle: both men bore feminine features and an unnatural attachment to their mothers.

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