Horror movies based on true stories: ‘The Conjuring’ and more

The only thing more dreadful than horror movie Is real life, so what happens when the screens are inspired by true events?

Since horror became a genre, Authors and directors have been claiming that their works “Based on a true story” To add a little extra color, but those allegations are usually not supported by a ton of facts.

For example, when Massacre saw Texas chain In 1974, producers tried to market it as a fabricated repetition of something that actually happened. The villain, Leatherface, was very loosely inspired by the real -life serial killer Ed Gein, but the story was otherwise complete. (Giving, one of the most famous criminals of the 20th century, gave inspiration for characters in The silence of the lambs. Psycho and American horror story: shelter.)

Having said that, there are A handful of horror movies That goes beyond the superficial details and depicts things that actually happened – or at least did it if you ask some people.

The whole Terrible universe draws inspiration from Ed and Lorraine Warren’s lives, Two Paranormal Connecticut researchers who died in 2006 and 2019, respectively. The couple first rose to prominence in 1975, when they looked into a case in Amityville, New York, including the Lutz family.

“Amityville was horrific, honey,” Lorraine said Yahoo In 2013. “It was absolutely horrific. He followed us right straight across the country. I don’t even like to talk about it. I will never go in Amityville’s house ever again. You don’t know how long my career is; that’s the only one.”

According to Lore Amityville, the lutzes claimed to be tormented by some form of paranormal entity in their New Island Long home, which they bought at a low suspicious price. During their time there, they said they saw furniture moving alone and the red eyes looking out at them from corners, among other things. They moved out of the house after just 28 days.

Although there were later arguments on their claims, there was at least one part of the story: the previous resident Ronald Defeo Jr. After murdering six members of his family in the house in 1974. He was convicted of six counts of second degree murder and was sentenced to a prison of 25 years to a lifetime in December 1975-the same month the Lutzes moved.

The story of the Lutzes inspired the first novel by Jay Anson Amityville horrorwhich became a film of the same name in 1979. It was followed by AmityVille II: The possession In 1982, AmityVille 3-D In 1983, AmityVille 4: The evil escapes In 1989 etc, all the way through 2021, released the direct-to-video movie Poltergeist Amityville – and that does not even include the Terrible Movies, which also refer to Amityville.

Keep scrolling to find out which other horror classics are based on true events: