Horror Films Based on True Stories

A truly chilling creep fest of a movie. This one sends chills down my spine. Way more frightening then the original Amityville! Watch this one alone in the dark.

Highly Recommended!

The Haunting in Connecticut wasn't released yet but you can check out the actual documentary on youtube (it's in several parts). It's based on a true story, and I've actually been to the real house and got some footage. They use to play the documentary on The Discovery Channel all the time and I caught this on TV around the Halloween season. Scary stuff! Watch it at night when your alone and it might just have an effect on you, I know it did for me. The acting in the documentary was pretty bad, but the story alone and the way it was told is the frightening part. I wonder how much of the story was actually true, because I know lots of it seemed too far fetched (scary, but too far fetched). On Carmen Reed's website (the woman who really lived there), she says that most of it really happened and even the famous Warrens (the Amityville researches) investigated the house, saying it was one of the most evil houses that they've been in. Real or not, the documentary still tends to terrify and tells a very creepy story. The more I dig into what happened over the internet, the more I get creeped out. Judge for yourself, but try watching it alone late at night otherwise it may not have the same effect on you.

Plot -
"Ed and Karen Parker move their family into an old Connecticut home to be near the hospital where their teenaged son receives cancer treatment. Soon after learning that their residence was once a funeral home, son Paul begins seeing entities and his health worsens. With his behavior becoming increasingly erratic, his parents have him committed to a mental hospital. Once the son is gone, the evil forces inhabiting the house turn on the rest of the family. In desperation, the Parkers contact psychic investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren for help."


The Real House...

Try to see this movie if you can, it is so hard to find. It's not released on DVD yet but there are some copies floating around on the internet. I actually got a great copy of this movie that I bought at a convention a few years back. It's based on the true story of teenage Ricky Kasso aka The Acid King. He got that nick name because he use to drop several hits of acid everyday.

Here's the true story. I'll sum it up for you...

What happened was Ricky Kasso and a few of his friends, who were brainwashed by him, use to worship Satan and held seances at their friends houses. They also made animal sacrifices and they practiced the Satanic Bible. Actually, what's interesting also is that they use to hold seances in the back of the infamous "haunted" Amityville house. No shit.

Next comes the murder of one of Ricky Kasso's own friends. One night at a party when Ricky was passed out sleeping, his friend Gary Lauwers stole 10 bags of angel dust from Ricky's pocket. When Ricky found out what the kid had did, him and his other friends lured Gary into the woods with promises to give him drugs and have a party. After taking several hits of mescaline around the campfire things suddenly spun out of control. Ricky Kasso had threatened to kill Gary if he didn't say "I love Satan" and after Gary was being stabbed repeatedly all he could say was, "No, I love my mother". Ricky had stabbed Gary somewhere around 36 times, burned him on parts of his body and gouged out his eyeballs. After the murder Ricky Kasso and his other friends had bragged about it to people around the town. Eventually Ricky was caught by the police, and while waiting in his jail cell Ricky committed suicide by hanging himself.

One of his other friends also killed himself when he found out how much trouble he was actually in, and Ricky's other close friend was acquitted of second degree murder because of his mental state after doing so many drugs that night.

This movie was awesome. It's very creepy in the real life sense, being that this was all an actual true story. The acting was believable, especially Ricky Kasso played by Vincent Kartheiser, although in this movie the character's name was Ricky Cowen. There's really not that much violence here, but this movie really didn't need it. The subject matter alone was gruesome enough, especially at the end when the young kid gets murdered. I also liked how they showed a bit of a build up as to why Ricky Kasso turned out the way he did. It's like in the beginning you actually feel a little bad for Ricky, knowing that he could have gotten the help that he needed, but no one was really there for him. All that quickly changes a little later on in the film when you find yourself wanting to strangle the hell out of Vincent Kartheiser's character. Anyway, this movie is a must see! Try to find it, perhaps maybe on EBay or something.

Also, look up the real picture of Ricky Kasso. Talk about a creepy looking kid!

Excellent movie about the true story of one of the most notorious serial murderers in British history, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.

Superb performances, outstanding script, and greatly directed. An emotional, tragic, and depressing film.

Don't expect any gore, there is not a drop of blood here. This was a made for TV movie that is viewable for almost anyone(well not really for younger children though).


- Ian Brady and Myra Hindley

The True Story:

"Ian Brady & Myra Hindley met while working for a chemical company in Hyde, Greater Manchester, England. She thought he was quite an intellectual as he sat in the lunch room reading Mein Kampf in German. As their love blossomed they became more obsessed with Nazi paraphernalia, pornography and sadism. At first they enjoyed shooting pictures of themselves in the buff and in S & M drag. They thought they could crack the local porn market with their pictures but failed. Soon they proved to be more successful in child abduction and murder.

Most of their victims were children whom they sexually molested before killing. These sadist lovebirds liked to document their murderous deeds. They kept an extensive collection of photographs of their victims as well as a recording of the screams of one girl's torturous end. In 1966 they were arrested after Ian bragged about his killings to Myra's brother-in-law. When the brother-in-law doubted his ability to kill, Ian smoked a young man right in front of him. The brother-in-law did not react appropriately. Instead of showing admiration, he went to the cops. Twenty years after their arrest, Ian confessed to four new murders the police had never linked to them.

In December 1995, Hindley, who is in the same jail in northern England as fellow serial killer Rosemary West, gave her first public account of her crime spree, admitting she had been wicked and corrupt but claiming she was now a changed woman. Hindley described herself as a political prisoner who was being used as a scapegoat by politicians and the media. The formerly monstrous killer said: "The majority of people don't want to accept that people like myself can change, They prefer to keep me frozen in time together with that awful mugshot so that their attitudes, beliefs and perceptions can remain intact. On February, 1997, her lawyers made a plea to win her release. However, a London Superior Court decreed that Myra will spend the rest of her life behind bars with no possibility of parole."


I highly recommend this movie!

Horrifying movie. Scared the hell out of me.

If anyone's interested here's a link dedicated to the true story that inspired the "The Strangers".

This is some creepy ass shit, I am not kidding you...

http://www.cabin28.com/

This isn't one of the best horror movies out there, but it sure is an extremely entertaining well made for television film. I first saw this movie when they premiered it on Showtime around the Halloween season back in 2000. I had heard of this film months before they aired it, which got me even more psyched to see it, and I even did a little research on it. From what I've heard this movie was based on the actual 1949 case of a Maryland boy which inspired "The Exorcist", and everything that I read on the computer showed that this was indeed
true. So for anyone out there who wants to get an idea of what really happened on the actual case, I suggest you go and see this movie.

The True Story:

"It began in Maryland on the evening of January 15, 1949, when 14-year-old "John Hoffman" and his grandmother heard strange scratching and dripping noises in their house. No explanation could be found for the noises, which stopped after ten days, only to be replaced by mysterious footsteps and drumbeats. After John's Aunt Dorothy suddenly died, the poltergeist-like phenomena increased - with John's mattress shaking violently, food flying through the air and furniture falling over. John and his parents tried to communicate with the poltergeist, which at the time claimed to be the spirit of Aunt Dorothy.

Then, in late February, livid red marks emerged on John's skin, taking the shape of actual words. After neither physicians nor psychiatrists could find anything wrong with John, his parents, although Lutheran, consulted a Roman Catholic priest. His recommendations of prayers and holy water only seemed to aggravate John's condition. John's mother took him to St. Louis, hoping things would calm down. But the manifestations intensified. "Father Lawrence," a Jesuit priest, came to visit John in St. Louis, saying prayers over him and pinning two crucifixes under his pillow. After he left, one crucifix propelled itself across the room and the other moved to the foot of the bed as the bed shook violently.

On March 16, the Archbishop of St. Louis gave Father Lawrence permission to begin the formal rite of exorcism. During the first night of the ritual, marks appeared on John's skin 30 times -- including the word "Hell" and a portrait of a Satanic visage. The 45-minute ritual was performed several times a night over the next week. John's responses became increasingly rabid, including screaming torrents of profanity and foreign words, violent seizures and uncontrolled urinating. With the parents' permission, John was converted to Catholicism. But his responses to the rituals only became worse. The disturbances suddenly stopped on March 26. Father Lawrence believed John's possession was over.

However, they began again on March 31, with John's behavior during the rituals getting even more violent. "I am always in him," the demon said through John's lips. After more days of no progress, Father Lawrence read about an 1870 case of possession that provided a key to exorcising the demon. On the night of April 18, he forced John to wear a chain of religious medals and hold a crucifix in his hand during the exorcism ritual. When Father Lawrence commanded the demon to declare itself, John exploded in a violent spasm of amazing strength, needing five men to hold him down. At 11 p.m., John suddenly interrupted the ritual by shouting, "Satan! I am St. Michael. I command you, Satan, to leave his body now!" After then enduring the most violent spasms yet, John uttered, "He is gone" and suddenly returned to normal, breaking into a smile."

William Peter Blatty, then a student at Georgetown University, read about John's story in the newspapers. The story stuck with him and 20 years later he fictionalized it to create "The Exorcist."

The acting in this isn't all that great and this movie doesn't come close to being as good as The Exorcist, but trust me, this is a very entertaining and edifying movie. This film has R rated material but mainly for subject matter alone, don't expect any gore or anything like that. Also, don't watch this and expect anything like The Exorcist either because you will be disappointed if you do. Understand that this was made for television and it does have the occasional made for TV cheese, but it's always fun to watch and yes, there are some truly creepy ass moments as well. You should definitely see this movie, it's very well made and plus it's very interesting to see what actually happened to the real boy. I recommend it.

This film is actually based on the true story of mass murderer John List...

The Real Crime:

"List killed his family - his wife, Helen, 45; his children, Patricia, 16, John, Jr., 15, and Frederick, 13, as well as his 84-year-old mother, Alma. He first shot his wife in the back of the head and his mother once in the left eye that morning while the children were at school. When Patricia and Frederick came back home, they were each murdered in the same way. John Jr., the only remaining son, was at his soccer game that afternoon. List casually made himself lunch and then drove to watch John Jr. at his soccer game. He brought his son home and then shot John Jr. once in the back of the head. John List saw John, Jr. twitch as if he was having a seizure, and shot his son again. It was later determined that John had shot his older son ten times. List dragged the bodies of his wife and children on sleeping bags into the ballroom of the house. He left his mother's body in her apartment in the attic and stated in a postscript in the letter to his pastor that "Mother is in the attic. She was too heavy to move." In the letter, List claimed he prayed over them before going on the run. The bodies were not discovered for a month, due to the Lists keeping to themselves; List had also left notes for the children's schools and part-time jobs stating that the family would be in North Carolina for several weeks, and had gone to the post office to stop the family's incoming mail.

The case quickly became the second most infamous crime in New Jersey history, surpassed only by the legendary kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh Baby. A nationwide manhunt was launched. The police checked out hundreds of leads without results."


John List


John List and his family

Hard to find DVD. Not officially released as of yet, but you can still find all region copies many places online, or even just the VHS. Try to get your hands on this movie, it's good stuff.

An excellent thriller/horror from the 80's that relies mostly on character development and storyline to creep us out, other then just violence and gore. This one's another hidden gem from the 80's that definitely needs to be seen, especially if you're a true horror fan. Terry O'Quinn truly displays a horror show of creepy proportions through his demented character. Very well done and superbly acted.

"Jerry Blake is a severely mentally disturbed man whose entire adult life revolves around his quest to have the perfect family. As a child, he was traumatized by being constantly exposed to idealized versions of the American family, while at the same time being forced to cope with his own, unsavory family. One day, when he realizes that his own family is turning into the family in which he grew up, and he faces becoming his own father, he murders his entire family, moves to another state, and marries a widow whose daughter distrusts Blake from the beginning and slowly begins to learn the truth about her stepfather's past."

Typical 80's horror cheese in some parts, but never gets dull for a single moment, and not as cheesy as most horror films of it's time. Extremely entertaining movie and a must see!

Highly recommended!


Other Reviews:

"This is a classic late 80's slasher/thriller and features many truly excellent things."
- Slasherpool

"Tight tight tight. This movie is a great nail biter and an interesting character study."
- Arrow in the Head

"An engrossing suspense thriller that refreshingly doesn't cheat the audience in terms of valid clues and plot twists."
- Variety

"It was perhaps the most scintillating of the new breed of psycho films to emerge during this time and one of the finest psycho-thrillers to emerge since indeed Alfred Hitchcock turned showering into a blood sport."
- The SF, Horror and Fantasy Film Review

"...[Terry O'Quinn's character] is so complete, absolute, and convincing that is causes shivers to course down the audience's spine."
- The Horror Review

""The Stepfather" is very effective in presenting that character."
- Roger Ebert