Random Terrifying Horror Movies And True Stories They're Based On (16 items)

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  (#1) The Amityville Horror

  • James Brolin, Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger, Murray Hamilton, Helen Shaver, Val Avery, Don Stroud, John Larch, Amy Wright, K. C. Martel, Meeno Peluce, Michael Sacks, Natasha Ryan

  The Movie

  The original and the remake essentially have the same plot. An unassuming family, John and Kathy Lutz and their three children, purchase a home in Long Island, New York that was previously the site of a mass murder one year earlier. While stating they don't believe in ghosts, the family has a priest attempt to bless the home, which is downright hypocritical. Families with wishy washy views on the supernatural always get targeted in these movies. Stick with your guns, everyone.

  So, the priest becomes strangely ill and blind soon after the exorcism. In just four weeks, the family is forced out of the house following a series of haunted happenings. In the later version, Ryan Reynolds goes out in the rain in a t-shirt: this made watching the movie worth it for everyone's girlfriend.

  The Reality

  George and Kathy Lutz (you see, they changed George's name to "John" in the movie to protect his anonymity) spent four weeks in the Amityville, New York, house in 1975, 13 months after Ronald DeFeo, Jr. murdered six people in the home. According to the couple, during their time in the house they heard voices throughout the day, there were various "cold spots" throughout the house, and they even witnessed green slime oozing from the walls.

  Most experts and investigators who visited the house to study the paranormal claims dispute the authenticity of the story. The happenings are widely believed to be a hoax concocted for the best-selling book by Jay Anson.

  So you decide.
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  (#2) The Exorcist

  • Max von Sydow, Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb, William Peter Blatty, Jason Miller, Mercedes McCambridge, Jack MacGowran, Barton Heyman, Peter Masterson, Titos Vandis, Donna Mitchell, William O'Malley, Eileen Dietz, Kitty Winn, Robert Symonds, Robert Gerringer, Mason Curry, Arthur Storch, Rudolf Schündler, John Mahon, Roy Cooper, Mary Boylan, Dick Callinan, Toni Darnay, Ron Faber, Wallace Rooney, Vasiliki Maliaros, Bernard Eismann, Joanne Dusseau, Gina Petrushka, Vincent Russell, Thomas Bermingham, Paul Bateson, Elinore Blair, John Nicola, Yvonne Jones, Don LaBonte, Beatrice Hunter

  The Movie

  Often touted as the scariest film of all time. The Exorcist was somehow based on a true story. The Academy Award-winning 1973 film The Exorcist followed the story of 13-year-old Regan who, after a seizure, begins to show signs of demonic possession.

  After medical testing fails (and results in the doctors being assaulted), Regan's family attempts to have the demon, who's apparently inside of her, forced out. Father Karras and Father Merrin attempt to exorcise the demon in an attempt to save the girl from the possession, with terrifying consequences.

  The little girl pleasures herself with a cross to the point of bleeding and mutilation, is capable of telekinesis, turns her head all the way around, and even levitates.

  These are some of the most messed up scenes in movie history.

  The Reality

  The story, which resulted in what has been called the scariest movie ever, is sketchy but believed to be inspired by the exorcism of Robbie Mannheim, also known as Roland Doe. A 12-year old boy. Not a girl.

  According to the attending priest, the boy attempted to contact his late aunt using an Ouija board, after which paranormal activity started in the home, including unexplained noises and an occurrence of a poltergeist-like event involving blankets flying around of their own accord. Robbie then began to show signs of possession, speaking in tongues and blisters and cuts appearing on his body. He was taken to a mental institute in St. Louis where he was treated both mentally and spiritually. It was here that a group of priests started to perform various exorcising rituals to try and extract the demon. After a staggering 30 attempts, the priests were satisfied that they had successfully banished the demon from Robbie's body.

  After the ceremony he went on to have a very normal life, including a successful career at NASA. If my mother only knew that demon possession could lead to working for NASA, I'm positive that she would have made me play with Oujia boards every night.

  The exact details of the story, including what some believe to be only mild paranormal happenings, are highly disputed as the story has been passed down and retold in numerous versions.

  But still, "mild" paranormal happenings are still paranormal happenings.
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  (#3) The Hills Have Eyes

  • Dee Wallace, Michael Berryman, John Steadman, Virginia Vincent, Susan Lanier, Robert Houston, Russ Grieve, Cordy Clark, Peter Locke, Martin Speer, James Whitworth, Lance Gordon, Janus Blythe, Flora, Striker, Brenda Marinoff

  The Movie

  The Carter family, traveling through the desert in an RV on vacation, fall victim to a trap that causes their vehicle to crash. The father, Bob, heads to a nearby gas station in search of help where he learns of the deranged clan of cannibals living in the nearby hills.

  The hill people, led by Papa Jupiter, capture Bob, set fire to the camper, and take an infant hostage, among other violent acts, such as rape, torture, and pet-eating. The film is most notable for it being one of Wes Craven's first, as well as starring a young Dee Wallace, best known as Eliot's mom in the equally terrifying E.T.

  The Reality

  The film is reportedly inspired by the story of Sawney Bean, a Scotsman from the 15th or 16th century. The story goes that Bean was the son of ditch digger who did not want to follow in his father's foot steps. So, as most young men do, he ran away with a girl and holed up in a cave by the sea. Because neither of the cave dwellers worked, they had to make due with ambushing travelers on the road, stealing from them, killing them, and eating their bodies. Bean and his wife had many children and grand-children all through incest since they never left their cave except to go "shopping." 

  They reportedly murdered and ate more than 1000 people before they were finally caught by King James, who later went on to write a bible I think. Their punishment was almost as wicked as their crime as the men were sentenced to death by blood loss after having their hands, feet and genitals cut off. The women were forced to watch before they were all burned alive.

  It is disputed that this story might be false and only used as Anti-Scot propaganda as it all happened because Sawney Bean would rather kill and eat other people than put in an honest days' work.

   
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  (#4) Jaws

  • Steven Spielberg, Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, John Searle, Murray Hamilton, Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb, Lorraine Gary, Jeffrey Kramer, Susan Backlinie, Beverly Powers, Ayn Ruymen, Denise Cheshire, Ted Grossman, Rex Trailer, Craig Kingsbury, Allison Caine, Dorothy Fielding, Chris Rebello, David Engelbach, Belle McDonald, Christopher Sands, Fritzi Jane Courtney, Cyprian R. Dube, Duncan Inches, Jonathan Filley, Jay Mello, Robert Nevin, Robert Carroll, Alfred Wilde, Lee Fierro, Jeffrey Voorhees, Wally Hooper Jr., Jean Canha, Peggy Scott, Robert Chambers, Edward Chalmers Jr., Julie Taylor, Paul F. Tremblay, Gilbert Brand, Wayne Iacono, Janice T. Hull, Beardsley Graham, John Bahr, Jerome S. Tartar, Joy Stuart, Stephanie Hull, Alston Goff, William Lymon, Paul G. Thibodeau, Dick Young, Edwin C. Carlson, Carla Hogendyk, Henry Carreiro, Henry E. Scott III, Brendan Gallagher, Hershel West, Joseph G. Kraetzer, Gregory S. Dole, Steven Potter, Paul Goulart, Phil Murray, Philip Norton, Donald Poole, Richard P. Hewitt, Robert Whelden Jr., William O'Gorman, Francis A. Frank, Mike Haydn, William Pfluger, Elizabeth K. Gifford, Stephen Earle, Willis B. Gifford, Eleanor L. Harvey, Chris Anastasio, Joe La Creta

  The Movie

  As families vacation on the fictional Amity Island in New England, a gigantic 25-foot great white shark begins killing and eating tourists. Rather than losing out on the proceeds from the busy July 4th weekend of tourism, the mayor refuses to close the beach, and the attacks continue.

  Since someone has to be the hero, a group, including the town police chief, a marine biologist, and a shark hunter, spend night and day hunting this huge shark before it claims additional victims.

  The Reality

  The movie was based on the book of the same name by Peter Benchley. He got the story idea from incidents that happened during the summer of 1916 along the Jersey Shore. It seems that before the area was consumed by drug addicts, it was still a dangerous place. During that summer, five people were attacked while swimming off the coast. Four of the five died from their injuries. No one is sure if it was a great white shark specifically, since before this point, sharks were not highly researched and considered nothing more than man-eating monsters.
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  (#5) The Haunting in Connecticut

  • Virginia Madsen, Amanda Crew, Elias Koteas, Kyle Gallner, Martin Donovan, Sarah Constible, John B. Lowe, Ty Wood, D.W. Brown, Will Woytowich, Darren Ross, Erik J. Berg, Nicholas Podbrey, James Durham, Jeny Cassady, Sophi Knight, Matt Kippen, Blake Taylor, Jessica Burleson, John Bluethner, Kelly Wolfman, Keith James

  The Movie

  In order to be closer to care for their cancer-stricken son, the Campbell family moves into a home in Connecticut. The son begins to experience terrifying hallucinations, as do the family members later on.

  Soon the family learns that the home was formerly used as a mortuary. The supernatural events continue in the home and intensify, turning violent.

  The Reality

  In the 1980s, the Parker family moved into a home in Southington, Connecticut in order to be close to the University of Connecticut where their son was undergoing cancer treatment. Unbeknownst to the family, the building was formerly a funeral home, something they discovered after finding embalming equipment in the basement.

  After the discovery, the family reported strange events in the home such as sights and sounds of ghosts. An investigation later revealed the former morticians were involved in necrophilia. The home was excised in 1988 to remove the lingering demons.
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  (#6) Audrey Rose

  • Anthony Hopkins, Marsha Mason, John Hillerman, John Beck, Norman Lloyd, Robert Walden, Philip Sterling, Stephen Pearlman, Susan Swift

  The Movie

  Audrey Rose, a little girl, dies in a tragic car crash. Two minutes later, Ivy Templeton is born. Fast forward 11 years and Elliot Hoover, father to Audrey, begins to stalk the Templeton family in New York after he becomes convinced that Audrey was reincarnated into Ivy.

  Ivy begins to have nightmares and strange events occur, many similar to the fiery car crash that killed Audrey. Elliot Hoover ends up kidnapping Ivy in an attempt to grant his daughter's spirit peace, a move that lands him in a highly publicized criminal trial.

  The Reality

  Frank De Felitta, author of the novel and the 1977 movie, was inspired to create the work by his son, Raymond. The boy suddenly began playing the piano like a pro despite no formal training or lessons. He claimed that his fingers were doing it by themselves.

  De Felitta sought to understand how Raymond could have gained such expertise on his own. He consulted an occultist who expressed that it was an "incarnation leak," as in a skill Raymond perfected in a previous lifetime and carried into the next.
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  (#7) The Exorcism of Emily Rose

  • Laura Linney, Jennifer Carpenter, Tom Wilkinson, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Colm Feore, Henry Czerny, Chelah Horsdal, Campbell Scott, Kenneth Welsh, Mary Beth Hurt, J. R. Bourne, Lorena Gale, Cory Lee, Terence Kelly, Aaron Douglas, Joshua Close, Ryan McDonald, Taylor Hill, Julian Christopher, Mary Black, Duncan Fraser, Iris Graham, Marsha Regis, Marilyn Norry, Katie Keating, Sara Niemietz, Michael Brynjolfson, Darrin Maharaj, Joanna Piros, Liduina Vanderspek, George Gordon, Clay St. Thomas, Andrew Wheeler, David Berner, Allison Warren, Steve Archer, Arlene Belcastro, John Innes, Jeff Johnson, Bobby L. Stewart

  The Movie

  Attorney Erin Bruner represents Father Richard Moore in court against homicide charges after his attempted exorcism of Emily Rose. Emily, as shown in flashbacks, was believed to be possessed by demons. Her parents call upon Father Moore to exorcise the demons.

  As the attorney attempts to prove that Emily was, in fact, possessed and not suffering from psychosis and epilepsy as the prosecution argues, the lawyer experiences strange happenings of her own.

  The Reality

  The story of Anneliese Michel, a German woman born in 1952, inspired the film. Anneliese suffered from depression and epilepsy and was given an anti-convulsant drug by psychotherapists. That drug, along with her other conditions, was believed to have caused her to hallucinate and hear voices.

  Anneliese's parents believed she was possessed and arranged for an exorcism to be performed. As Father Renz performed 67 exorcism sessions, Anneliese stopped eating. She died in her sleep in 1976 from malnutrition and dehydration, weighing only 68 pounds. Her parents and the priests involved in the exorcisms were prosecuted later that year for neglectful homicide. They even went as far as to have the remains of Michel exhumed, as a nun said that she had visions of the body not decomposing, and that it was a sign of demonic possession. When it was removed from it's coffin though, the body was found to have been decomposing as normal.
• 

  (#8) The Serpent and the Rainbow

  • Bill Pullman, Paul Winfield, Michael Gough, Diamanda Galás, Paul Guilfoyle, Theresa Merritt, Zakes Mokae, Cathy Tyson, Dey Young, Francis Guinan, Brent Jennings, Badja Djola, William Newman, Conrad Roberts, Kimberleigh Aarn, Aleta Mitchell, Michael Jackson, Sally-Anne Munn, Rosa Bautista, Otilio Nerius, Gerard Matonbe, Ana Rosa Smith Avila, Miguel Valdez, Betty García Rodríguez, Venat Ruis, Luis Telemako, Rosemary Sylvain, Jean Pierre, Marie Carmel Noel, Barbara Guillaume, Jean-Baptiste Rosvelt, Americo Jose, Luis Tavare Pesquera, Ana Ramirez, Jackson Delgado, Buche, Saveur D'Orlean, Philogen Thomas, Maurice Altenor, Evencio Mosquera Slaco, Robert De James, Harold Desire, Lucienne Charles, Frantz Thomas, Josiana Sant Louis, Maxo Fercilien, Juliana Jose, Jacques Achilles, Providenia Alcantara, Claudia Pimentel, Rosa Charles, Robert Regaldo, Federico Nunez, Dikatel Charles, Suzette Cajusle, Ti-Blanc, Elias Gastavo, Johnny Pephanon, Francesco Chavez, Jaime Pina Gautier, Iversose Beuville, Ramon Cherry

  The Movie

  Working for a pharmaceutical company, ethnobotanist Dennis Alan is sent to Haiti to research a drug used in Haitian vodou in order to determine if the drug can be used as anesthesia. Alan finds a local witch doctor, who claims he can make the drug, but Alan is arrested, tortured, and ordered to leave the country before receiving the drug.

  Alan flees the country but not before forcing the drug out of the witch doctor. He returns home to Boston to meet with his employer, where the wife of his boss tells him in a possessed state that his death is imminent.

  The Reality

  The book on which the film is based is believed to have been inspired by the events of Haitian man Clairvius Narcisse. Narcisse was declared dead in 1962 after receiving a cocktail of drugs to mimic a coma.

  He was buried, but exhumed a few days later and given another set of drugs which brought him back to life in a zombie state. Narcisse was forced to work on a sugar plantation for two years until his master died, and he was freed and returned to his family in 1980.
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  (#9) The Mothman Prophecies

  • Richard Gere, Debra Messing, Laura Linney, Alan Bates, Will Patton, David Eigenberg, Lucinda Jenney, Murphy Dunne, John W. Iwanonkiw, Mark Pellington, Nesbitt Blaisdell, Tony Amen, Dan Callahan, Rohn Thomas, Matt Miller, Bob Tracey, Jennifer Martin, Sam Nicotero, Ann McDonough, Dorothy Silver, Shane Callahan, Zachary Mott, Yvonne Brisendine, Tom Stoviak, Betsy Zajko, Hope Anne Nathan, Tom Tully, Dwayne Pintoff, Bill Laing, Dixie Tymitz, Harris Mackenzie, Jason Billy Simmons, Susan Nicholas, Ron Emanuel, Christin Frame, Pete Handelman, Elizabeth Cazenave, Josh Braun, Bettina Rousos, Eric Cazenave, Tim Hartman, Doug Korstanje, Scott Nunnally, Sara Brooks

  The Movie

  John Klein and wife Mary are involved in a strange car crash. Treatment for Mary's injuries reveal a brain tumor, which later kills her. Before she dies, she drafts odd drawings of a winged creature.

  Years later, John is driving in Virginia and unintentionally arrives in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. After Point Pleasant residents begin reporting supernatural happenings, including the collapse of a bridge leading to dozens of deaths, which appear oddly similar to Mary's drawings, John becomes obsessed with finding this mythical creature known as the Mothman.

  The Reality

  According to the 1975 book of the same name by John Keel, Point Pleasant, West Virginia, residents reported seeing a large, winged creature, believed to possibly be an alien, in 1966 and 1967. The creature, believed to be the Mothman, was white, had red eyes and was described as a "flying man with ten-foot wings." In December 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed, killing 46 people.

  Investigators who attempted to verify these claims dispute the authenticity of the creature, stating that residents likely saw a large heron or sandhill crane. Additionally, the connection to the bridge collapse was later declared unfounded, as the collapse was ruled a result of a structural defect.
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  (#10) Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

  • Michael Rooker, Tom Towles, Tracy Arnold

  The Movie

  Sharing a home with Otis and Otis' sister, serial killer Henry mercilessly kills numerous women. On one occasion, Henry kills a pair of hookers picked up by him and Otis, with Otis witnessing the murders.

  As the killings continue, Otis becomes more and more involved in the murders. Henry kills hundreds, all without remorse, but also builds a relationship with Otis' sister as the two have similar backgrounds.

  The Reality

  The film was directly inspired by serial killer Henry Lee Lucas and his accomplice Ottis Toole. Though Henry was convicted of 11 murders, the film took license with the other killings for a dramatic effect.

  Henry allegedly confessed to as many as 600 murders; however, many believe he only did so for improved prison conditions, not because he actually committed the crimes. He is one of the only cases in Texas where his death sentence was commuted to life in prison. Lucas died in prison of heart failure in 2001.
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  (#11) The Entity

  • Barbara Hershey, Ron Silver, George Coe, Alex Rocco, Allan Rich, Margaret Blye, Jacqueline Brookes, Sully Boyar, David Labiosa, Raymond Singer, Tom Stern, Michael Alldredge, Melanie Gaffin, Natasha Ryan, Paula Victor, Richard Brestoff, Mark Weiner

  The Movie

  Single mother Carla Moran begins to experience paranormal happenings in her home and outside of the house, including violent rape, by a supposed poltergeist. She seeks help, enlisting the assistance of a therapist and friends. The friend witnesses an attack, which piques the friend's interest in the paranormal.

  Meanwhile, the therapist believes the happenings are in her mind as some sort of regression to sexual assault that actually occurred when she was a child. Carla turns to other parapsychologists at a nearby college to investigate the demons, which results in an elaborate setup at her home in hopes to trap the ghost.

  The Reality

  A Culver City, California woman, Doris Bither, reported being physically and sexually assaulted by a demon in her home. Two paranormal investigators were enlisted to study the happenings.

  The investigators experienced strange events, such as floating lights and objects moving on their own within the home, all of which was captured in photographs. However, they neer witnessed any attacks on the woman and were unable to prove her claims.
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  (#12) Dead Ringers

  • Jeremy Irons, Jill Hennessy, Geneviève Bujold, Shirley Douglas, Barbara Gordon, Stephen Lack, Jacqueline Hennessy, Damir Andrei, Heidi Von Paleske, Nick Nichols, Lynne Cormack, Miriam Newhouse, Jonathan Haley, Nicholas Haley

  The Movie

  Identical twins, Elliot and Beverly Mantle, work as successful gynecologists in their own clinic. They seduce their patients, having sexual relations with the same women and without the women knowing the difference.

  Beverly falls in love with a troubled actress and seeks to distance himself from Elliot. After the actress finds out about the women-sharing practice, she distances herself from the doctors, which leads Beverly into a downward spiral, involving drugs and depression.

  The Reality

  Stewart and Cyril Marcus served as identical twin gynecologists in New York City. In 1975, their bodies were found, already partially decayed, in their shared apartment, having died from barbiturate withdrawals.

  Their lives and eventual deaths were chronicled in a series of essays and in a novel, all of which was inspiration for the film.
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  (#13) Psycho

  • Alfred Hitchcock, Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Martin Balsam, John Gavin, Ted Knight, John McIntire, John Anderson, Lurene Tuttle, Simon Oakland, Jeanette Nolan, Frank Albertson, Pat Hitchcock, Virginia Gregg, Vaughn Taylor, Sam Flint, Mort Mills, Fred Scheiwiller, George Eldredge, Francis De Sales, Kit Carson, George Dockstader, Pat McCaffrie, Frank Killmond, Fletcher Allen, Paul Jasmin, Helen Wallace, Harper Flaherty, Lillian O'Malley, Lee Kass, Prudence Beers

  The Movie

  In the 1960 Psycho, Marion Crane checks in at the Bates Motel to hide away after embezzling money from her employer. Little did she know that once you check in, you never check out. Disturbed hotel owner Norman Bates is a huge mamma's boy with lots of issues and a big knife. After Crane goes missing, her boss hires a private detective to find out what happened to her and his money. When he tracks Crane to the motel, he discovers more than ever imagined.

  The Reality

  Alfred Hitchcock based his movie on the Robert Bloch novel of the same name. Bloch claims that the story is based loosely on his neighbor, infamous killer and grave robber Ed Gein.

  Much like fictional character Bates, Gains was inexplicably obsessed with his dead mother. Although controlling, Gain's loved the woman. And after her death, the serial killer spiraled. Gain began brutally murdering victims in Wisconsin, just like Alfred Hitchcock's deranged star. The similarities are haunting and numerous.
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  (#14) The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

  • Gunnar Hansen, Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, John Henry Faulk, Jim Siedow, Teri McMinn, Paul A. Partain, William Vail, Allen Danziger, John Dugan, Robert Courtin, Ed Guinn, William Creamer, Jerry Green, Joe Bill Hogan

  The Movie

  In 2003's version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a group of young adults pick up a traumatized hitchhiker. Instead of being rewarded for their good deed, though, they become prey for deranged killer Leatherface. In fact, Leatherface's entire family is sociopathic, brutally harming or murdering anyone that gets in their way. Only one young person from the original group of five escapes harm. All of the others die, further contributing to the monster's collection of human flesh.

  The Reality

  Serial killer Ed Gein was also the inspiration for Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Gein infamously robbed graves for trophies and corpses' body parts. He kept the mementos around his house like decoration. After police found the human remains in his house, Gein confessed to murdering two women; their heads were found in his possession.

  While his actions don't exactly mirror those of the fictional serial killer, Gein's murderous and necrophilic tendencies shocked the entire world, thereby inspiring film producers to imagine horror movie villains that were deranged instead of supernatural. 
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  (#15) The Girl Next Door

  • Catherine Mary Stewart, William Atherton, Mark Margolis, Jack Ketchum, Michael Zegen, Grant Show, Kevin Chamberlin, Graham Patrick Martin, Daniel Farrands, Blanche Baker, Peter Stickles, Austin Williams, Andrew van den Houten, Madeline Taylor, Daniel Manche, Blythe Auffarth, Krista Gall, Benjamin Ross Kaplan, Jennifer Alexander, Spenser Leigh, Gabrielle Howarth, Jocelyn Kuritsky, Dean Faulkenberry, Gary Patent, Eric Toth, Robert Tonino, Carlin Rizzo, Wynn Van Dusen, Lluis Fe Perez, Jason Rigsby, Alana Rader, Vivian Hernandez, Michael Nardella, Gerard Houarner, Dan Abram, J.M. Parkhurst, Christine Choo, Rory Douglas, Santo Silvestro, Leon Blot, Greg Northrop, Linda Addison, Monica O'Rourke, Kevin Carroll, Ashley Musteric, Andy Bennett, Nick Kelios, Lily Cohen, George Kloak, Dagmara Jankowska, Jeffrey Wolpert, David Auffarth, Janet Hefferan, Chris Steinacker, Nick Purritano, Anthony Stone, David Hefferan, Malgorzata Staniszewska, Beth Gittleman, Rhodi Hawk, Irene Katehis, Benjamin Laddin

  The Movie

  Gregory Wilson's The Girl Next Door is, perhaps, one of the most depraved horror films ever made. Released in 2007, the movie is chilling not because of a chainsaw-wielding serial killer or a twisted poltergeist. The true villain is both more human and more horrifying than any scary movie lover could imagine. A young teen girl, Meg, is the title character and the most sympathetic. After her parents die in a car accident, she and her younger sister are fostered by a mom in the neighborhood. 

  Nothing goes well for the orphaned girls, and Ruth, the woman who takes them in, is evil unadulterated. She beats Meg, burns her, and taunts her ceaselessly. Few adults believe the victim's claims, though. In fact, when the young teen tries to seek help, she is brutalized further. Ruth allows her biological sons to rape and assault Meg. Eventually, the innocent girl dies from neglect and abuse. Her sister barely makes it out of the toxic house alive.

  The Reality

  Unfortunately, Wilson's film is based on true events and a book written by Jack Ketchum. Sylvia Likens and her sister Jenny were the true victims in this Indiana crime. The girls' parents, Lester and Betty Likens, boarded the girls in Gertrude Baniszewski's house for $20 a week. When Baniszewski received payment late, she began to brutalize the children; Sylvia was her main target. She beat the young teen, sexually assaulted her, and encouraged neighborhood children to join the depravity. On October 26, 1965, police found Sylvia's fatally mangled body with over 150 wounds and bruises. Shockingly, Baniszewski was released from a life prison sentence on parole. She died a free woman.
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  (#16) The Rite

  • Anthony Hopkins, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Rutger Hauer, Ciarán Hinds, Alice Braga, Colin O'Donoghue, Toby Jones, Torrey DeVitto, Chris Marquette, Don Kress, Marija Karan, Nico Toffoli, Cecilia Dazzi, Marta Gastini, Peter Arpesella, Attila Bardóczy, Rosa Pianeta, Giampiero Ingrassia, Adriano Aragon, Jasper Jacob, Arianna Veronesi, Ben Cheetham, Nadia Kibout, Anita Pititto, Fabiola Balestriere, Anikó Vincze, Sandor Baranyai, Rosario Tedesco, Andrea Calligari

  The Movie

  The Rite is a 2011 movie based on Matt Baglio's book, The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist. Directed by Mikael Håfström, the horror film documents the life of a young man who only enters the seminary to receive a free college education. Michael, the main character, does well in the religious environment, though. One particular priest notices and insists that the young man venture to Rome to receive exorcism training. 

  Michael goes, still skeptical, until he meets a young girl that seems quite possessed. Michael's tutor, Father Lucas, fails to exorcise the girl. When she dies, the demon, Baal, inhabits the priest and Michael has no choice but to perform an exorcism of his own.

  The Reality

  The supernatural scary movie was based on the experiences of Father Gary Thomas. An American priest, Thomas ventured to Rome in 2005 and took exorcism classes. He apprenticed with Capuchin Father Carmine De Filippis, the inspiration for Father Lucas. Thomas even teamed up with a reporter, much like the fictional Michael did in the movie. The real priest never saw a death caused by possession, but he did attend approximately 80 exorcisms.

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