TOP FIVE HORROR MOVIES…BASED ON TRUE STORIES

In the spirit of the upcoming release of Annabelle next week I have chosen my top 5 horror movies based on true stories.

5. The Conjuring  (2013) – In 1971, the Perron family moved into an 18th century farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island. Shortly thereafter they began to experience disturbances. Doors slammed shut, spirits attacked the family and Carolyn Perron, the mother, became possessed. Eventually, the family became so desperate that they called in paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.  In the film, the Warrens perform an exorcism on Mrs. Perron which seems to cure her of her possession which was driving her to try and kill her own  children. In interviews with Carolyn Perron, she indicated that she was indeed possessed but that the haunting which the Warrens concluded was by an evil witch Bathsheba did not end after the exorcism. Carolyn has said the hauntings by nine additional spirits continued for several more years. When I reviewed this for my blog months ago I was skeptical any of this was real based on the information I found online. Now I am not so sure. I certainly hope it is!

Check out this article about the haunting.

4. Wolf Creek (2005) – Three young people go backpacking in the Australian Outback. They become stranded when they experience car trouble.  A kindly stranger shows up to help get you back on the road. There’s just the one problem — he is actually a serial killer who spends the rest of the movie hunting down and subsequently torturing and murdering these poor fools. The script was written as fiction by Greg McLean. However at some point in the writing process he found out about two real life murderers and decided to make changes to incorporate these cases. Bradley Murdoch killed a British tourist and attempted to abduct another.  Even more terrifying is the case of Ivan Milat who picked up hitchhikers took them into the woods to torture and kill them in the 1990s. I personally think Ivan’s case is most similar to the film and infinitely more scary as he was operating for quite some time and was convicted of seven murders. I’ve said this before kids leave the Outback to the kangaroos! (Ed Note: You’ve actually never said that)

3. The Exorcist (1973) – A little girl becomes possessed by the devil. She slowly deteriorates before our eyes. Eventually she is restrained to a bed, a shell of her former self. I find this film both creepy and subtlety terrifying.  Possession is a difficult thing to prove. There were certainly people who may have had a physical or mental disease that was treated as a possession but the devil is real. True evil does exist. It could be standing next to you at the store or sleeping next to you (Ed Note: Or podcasting with you from Philadelphia). What the Catholic Church doesn’t want people to know is that exorcisms are performed to this day by the church.

The Exorcist was based loosely on the 1949 case of a 13-year-old Maryland boy. Apparently the boy’s behavior is exaggerated a great deal for the film. No surprise there. Regardless this film and just the idea of being possessed by the devil are very scary to me. I was raised Catholic and it is hard to to ever really escape the Church’s teachings.

2. The Amityville Horror (1979) – Kathy and George Lutz and their three kids move into 112 Ocean Ave in Long Island, New York approximately 13 months after Ronnie Defeo murdered his entire family in the house. The Lutzes lasted 28 days before they fled the home due the fact that it was “haunted”. The film is based on the book by Jay Anson. Anson wrote his book using 45 hours of the Lutz’s taped recollections. If there were ever a haunting case to be believed, it would be this one. The setup is already there. Six people were murdered in cold blood in this house just a year before the Lutz family moved in. Surely, there is possibility that something could be going on in there of the paranormal sort. That is also the problem since George and Kathy knew this ahead of time, may have had financial issues and nothing was ever reported again by future owners. I would love for this to be a true story but based on what I know I doubt it. (Ed Note: It is interesting that the kids involved in the case are now making their stories known and seem to corroborate the story when they have nothing to gain.  They also mention that George was performing strange rituals and calling demons)

1. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990) – I chose this film as my number one because it is proven that these two men were serial killers. While they may not have killed as many as they claim, they killed enough and they killed women and children.

Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole are the real life serial killers that this film is based on. This film is so unbelievably violent and disturbing that I only viewed it once. The film’s plot is based largely on Henry’s confession to over 600 murders most of which were disproved. In reality, he was convicted of murdering 11 people and sentenced to death for one unidentified victim.

His accomplice and traveling companion, Ottis Toole, was also not likely guilty of many of the murders he confessed to.  Howeve,r Ottis was originally considered a viable suspect back in the 80s of the murder of Adam Walsh. Adam was the son of John Walsh of America’s Most Wanted. He was abducted from a Sears in Hollywood, Florida in 1981. Ottis confessed to Adam’s brutal murder but was never convicted due to loss of evidence and a recanted confession. He died in prison in the 90s. In 2008, the police announced that the case was closed and they were satisfied Ottis was guilty.  The statistic from the Justice Department last I checked was at any given time there are 300 serial killers currently operating in the United States. That sends chills down my spine.