Fear is not exactly a pleasant emotion However, many people enjoy watching movies of this film genre. And this type of feature film awakens great terror in the viewer, with shocking and tense scenes that often produce great anguish.
Horror films, although they are usually fictional works, in some cases, are based on real cases.
Below we present the best films of this genre that have their origin in true stories
1. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Freddy Krueger is one of the best-known characters in horror movies His physical appearance: with his burned face, green and red striped sweater, hat and knife gloves, make Freddy truly a terrifying monster. Although many find it difficult to believe that this story is true, because Freddy appears in the nightmares of the children and teenagers of Elm Street to kill them, he was inspired by a real case.
As Wes Craven, the creator of this feature film, tells it, the origin of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” lies in a family that fled the concentration camps in Cambodia to the United States. The vast majority of family members recovered from their dark past, but one of the children, who suffered nightmares due to the Cambodian genocide, died in his sleep.
2. The diabolical doll
Another of the myths of horror cinema is “Chucky”, the diabolical doll This story, which seems not very true, was based on what happened to Robert Eugene Otto. Well, more like it was based on a legend. It turns out that Otto received a gift from his maid. It was a doll he named Robert. Apparently, the maid was a practitioner of black magic. Since he received the gift, Otto talked to himself and strange things began to happen in the home he lived in. Otto claimed that the doll had a life of its own and some neighbors said that the doll would look out the window when no one was home.
The parents decided to lock the doll in the attic. Years passed and, after the death of Otto’s parents and due to his inheritance, he returned to his old home and was reunited with the doll. At first it seemed curious to him to meet this close bond with him again, but supernatural things were happening and he decided to lock him up again. But when Otto died, the house came into the hands of another family, and the daughter, by chance, came across the Robert doll. The little girl didn’t seem to like the doll, who tried to kill him. This story (or legend) inspired the story of Chucky, and Robert is currently in a museum.
3. Jaws (1975)
Few are unaware of the story of a gigantic white shark that makes life miserable for a series of bathers This story, inspired by a novel by Peter Benchley, is based on what happened in 1916, in New Jersey, when five bathers disappeared. The remains of three of them were found in the stomach of a large shark, and nothing was known about the rest. It seems clear that the big shark had something to do with it. “Jaws” is a true classic.
4. Psycho (1960)
Psycho is one of the most successful and remembered horror films This film by Alfred Hitchcock is based on the story of Ed Gein, one of the most infamous murderers in the criminal history of the United States. He also known as the “Butcher of Plainfield” (Wisconsin) committed several crimes and his case reached Hollywood. You can learn about his biography in our two articles:
5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is another of the films inspired by Ed Gein’s macabre story This character, despite his numerous crimes, only killed two people. Ed Gein also inspired the movie “The Silence of the Lambs.”
This horror film classic arises from the events that took place in 1975 at 112 Ocean Avenue, in Amityville. This was the new home of the Lutz family, who had to leave the house shortly after. According to legend, it is a cursed house, since previously, on November 13, 1974, the DeFeo family was murdered there.
7. The girl next door (2007)
The girl next door is one of those films in which real life surpasses fiction It is based on the story of Sylvia Likens, a young woman who was given to her family to take care of her. The family and some neighbors mistreated Sylvia until she died.
8. Henry: Portrait of a Murderer (1986)
A film by John McNaughton, which spent several years in anonymity due to its brutality until it was released Henry Lee Lucas is the character and inspiration of the film, a psychopath who murdered eleven people.
9. Inseparable (1988)
This feature film tells the story of two twin gynecologists who served the New York upper class They were inseparable, they exchanged each other at meetings and even women. But their life changed when they met a model and everything ended in tragedy.
10. The exorcist
We all know the movie “The Exorcist” It is based on the stories of Anneliese Michel and Ronald Doe, who underwent exorcism. This last case is also the inspiration for a book by writer William Peter Blatty, which inspired the film’s script.
11. Entity (1981)
Another of those stories that are not completely credible but that attract the attention of film directors This film is about Doris Bither who, in 1974, claimed that she had been raped repeatedly by a paranormal entity: a mysterious invisible creature. It is true that this is unlikely, but this curious story was the inspiration for this film.
12. Zodiac (2007)
This film reviews the story of the Zodiac Killer, who was a psychopath who acted in California between December 1968 and October 1969 and who, supposedly, murdered 37 people. The film tells how Robert Graysmith (in the film Jake Gyllenhaal) becomes obsessed with the case and puts aside his private life to try to find the murderer.
This film tells the story of three school friends who encounter a sect that performs sacrifices on the border between Mexico and the United States. This movie It is based on real events that happened in 1989, in Matamoros (Mexico) It is about the murderer Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo.
14. The Boston Strangler (1968)
The film is based on the life of Albert de Salvo known as the Boston Strangler, a murderer who terrorized the inhabitants of this North American city in the early 70s. It is a great film that makes your hair stand on end, in which the story of this criminal character is revived.
15. Citizen
Andrei Chikatilo is one of the most notorious murderers of the former Soviet Union, and this film focuses on his macabre case. But the story is not about the character of the criminal, but rather from the lives of the people who go in search of him. This murderer killed 53 people.
16. The Mud Boy (2007)
A story that is based on the case of Cayetano Santos (better known as Petiso Orejudo), an Argentine boy committed several murders. However, the story is distorted from the original content and esoteric scenes appear. A scary movie that you can’t miss.
16. From hell
A fiction that is inspired by the events that occurred around the figure of Jack the Ripper During 1888, the inhabitants of the Whitechapel district (London) experienced a crime wave. Five were the victims of this psychopath whose identity is still unknown.
17. Gacy, the killer clown (2003)
The clown is a figure who is responsible for making children’s parties fun and memorable. But a well-known case, that of the clown John Wayne Gacy, turned this adorable image of clowns into a terrifying one and macabre history, since he committed several dozen crimes. This film is based on his case.
18. Deranged (1974)
The case of Ed Gein, which has been discussed previously, was not only curious because of the murders he committed, but because the police found a large number of corpses in his house that belonged to the theft of bodies from several graves. This feature film, like many others, is inspired by his case
