Horror films are silly. They're just another way to rob you of your sleep, which is something my iPhone does very well already thank you very much.
So what's the deal with people creating horror films based on 'real life' events? Surely when super duper messed up things happen, the last thing we need to do is make a film about it. Nevertheless, it happens, a lot. Here's the true story behind some of the most famous...
Amityville Horror
Only start looking into this one if you've got a spare ten or so hours one weekend. And you want to be truly freaked out. Perhaps the most famous of the real-life movie stories, the house at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville is still there today (no really, check it out on Street View, it's now 108) and has spawned no less than 14 films and at least four books. The tale, in case you're unfamiliar, is that in 1974, 23-year-old Robert DeFeo Jr admitted to killing six of his family members in the house. In 1975, a family called The Lutz's moved in. Shit went down. To put it mildly. This included, but certainly wasn't limited to; the wife transforming into a 90-year-old woman in front of her husband's eyes, green slime coming out of the walls and the appearance of a pig creature with glowing eyes. There's plenty of skepticism about whether what the Lutzs claim is true. This article makes for an interesting read as does this documentary.
The Exorcism Of Emily Rose
A film you can probably go without watching if you're easily affected by stuff like this but The Exorcism of Emily Rose is based on the life of the tragic German girl Anneliese Michel who died in 1976 after being subject to a nearly year-long exorcism. Anneliese was epileptic and confined to a psychiatric hospital after she was diagnosed with depression. After being exorcised for demonic possession in secret for ten months, she died from malnutrition and dehydration. She had broken knees from repeated kneeling. Her parents and two priests were found guilty of 'negligent homocide' after her death.
The Haunting In Connecticut
Based on the events that supposedly happened to the Snedeker family after they moved into a house in the mid-80s which they later found out... used to be a funeral parlour. Yep. The Snedekers claimed to have been raped by people they couldn't see, their mop water was turned red as blood and the house smelled like rotting flesh. The family have spoken about their ordeal on TV, a lot. This story's linked to The Amityville Horror through the medium of The Warrens; a husband/wife ghost hunting team who are the subject of their *own *film The Conjuring. Ray Garton, who wrote a book about the Snedekers experiences that the film was based on (AND WHO ALSO WROTE THE SECRET WORLD OF ALEX MACK AND SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH BOOKS) has distanced himself from what he wrote saying the family gave him conflicted stories. There's a good article about that here.
Nightmare on Elm Street
Most of you know that this film is about Freddie Krueger, a knife-fingered man who murders teenagers in their dreams. While you probably won't be murdered in your dreams, recently deceased director Wes Craven did say that the film was based on a series of unexplained deaths amongst young South East Asian men who immigrated to the United States. 104 died altogether with 26 dying in 1981 alone. Nearly all the deaths were recorded to have happened from 10PM to 8AM at night. According to Wes Craven, one victim complained of nightmares, and stayed up for six or seven days. When he finally fell asleep, his family heard 'screams and crashing' and when they went into his room, he was dead. His death was never explained.
Ils & The Strangers
You may have seen the American remake (or not remake, depending on who you believe) of French film Them (Ils) - The Strangers which features Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman as a young couple who are held hostage overnight in their home by masked assailants. The French version is theoretically based on the murders of an Austrian family on holiday in the Czech Republic although, which family this was, hasn't been established. In the film, it's a French couple who've just moved to a massive house in the middle of nowhere in Romania and who are stalked and tortured overnight in their home by local home invaders. It is, and I do not say this lightly, FUCKING TERRIFYING. There's some speculation (according to this review) that the film is anti-Romanian propaganda; Romania joined the EU in the same year the film was released.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.