The 18 best scary movies based on real events.

Horror movies whose protagonists really existed. To make you tremble...

Fear is not exactly a pleasant emotion.... However, many people enjoy watching films of this genre. And is that this type of feature films arouse great terror in the viewer, with shocking and tense scenes that often produce great anguish.

• Related articles: "The 20 types of movies and their characteristics".

Horror movies based on real events

Horror movies, despite the fact that they are usually fictional works, in some cases, are based on real cases.

Here we present you the best films of this genre that have their origin in true stories..

1. Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Freddy Krueger is one of the best known characters in horror movies.. His physical appearance: with his burned face, the green and red striped sweater, his hat and his knife gloves, make Freddy a truly terrifying monster. Although many find it hard to believe that this story is true, because Freddy appears in the nightmares of the children and teenagers of Elm Street to murder them, it was inspired by a real case.

As Wes Craven, the creator of this feature film, tells us, the origin of "Nightmare on Elm Street" is in a family that fled from the concentration camps in Cambodia to the United States. Most of the family members recovered from their dark past, but one of the sons, who suffered nightmares from the Cambodian genocide, died in his sleep.

2. The diabolical doll

Another of the myths of horror films is "Chucky", the diabolical doll.. This story, which seems untrue, was based on what happened to Robert Eugene Otto. Well, rather, 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 receiving 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 reported that the doll would appear at the window when no one was home.

The parents decided to lock the doll in the attic. Years went by and after Otto's parents died and because of the inheritance, Otto returned to his old home and met the doll again. At first he found it curious to meet the doll again and bonded with it, but supernatural things happened and he decided to lock it up again. But when Otto died, the house came into the hands of another family, and the daughter, by chance, met the doll Robert. The little girl did not seem to like the doll, who tried to murder 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 the lives of a series of bathers miserable.. 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 the rest were never heard from again. 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 best-remembered horror films of all time.. This Alfred Hitchcock film is based on the story of Ed Gein, one of the most infamous killers in American criminal history. The 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:

• Life and psychological portrait of Ed Gein, "the butcher of Plainfield" (1/2).
• Life and psychological portrait of Ed Gein, "the butcher of Plainfield" (2/2)

5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is another film inspired by the macabre story of Ed Gein.. This character, despite his numerous crimes, only killed two people. Ed Gein also inspired the movie "Silence of the Lambs".

6. Amityville Horror (1979)

This classic horror film was inspired by the events that took place in 1975 at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville.in Amityville. This was the new home of the Lutz family, who had to leave the house soon after. According to legend, it is a cursed house, because 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 girl who was given to a 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 obscurity due to its brutality until it was released.. Henry Lee Lucas, is the character and inspiration for the film, a psychopath who murdered eleven people.

9. Inseparable (1988)

This feature film tells the story of twin gynecologists who served upper-class New Yorkers .. They were inseparable, exchanging 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 of a book by the writer William Peter Blatty, which inspired the script of the movie.

11. Ente (1981)

Another one of those stories that are not quite credible but that attract the attention of film directors.. This film is about Doris Bither who, in 1974, claimed that she had been repeatedly raped 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 movie tells the story of the Zodiac killer.who was a psychopath who operated in California between December 1968 and October 1969 and allegedly murdered 37 people. The film tells how Robert Graysmith (in the movie Jake Gyllenhaal) becomes obsessed with the case and puts aside his private life to try to find the killer.

13. Borderland

This film tells the story of three college friends who stumble upon a cult that performs sacrifices on the border between Mexico and the United States. This film is based on real events that took place in 1989, in Matamoros (Mexico).. It is about the murderer Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo.

14. The Boston Strangler (1968)

The film is based on the life of Albert de Salvo, known as the Boston Strangler.known as the Boston Strangler, a murderer who terrorized the inhabitants of this American city in the early 1970s. It is a great film that makes the hair stand on end, in which the history of this criminal character is relived.

15. Citizen X (1994)

Andrei Chikatilo is one of the best known murderers of the former Soviet Union, and this film focuses on his macabre case. But it does not deal with the story from the criminal's character, but from the lives of the people who go in search of him. This murderer killed 53 people.

16. The Mud Child (2007)

A story based on the case of Cayetano Santos (better known as Petiso Orejudo).an Argentinean boy who committed several murders. However, the story deviates from the original content and esoteric scenes appear. A scary movie you can't miss.

16. From Hell

A fiction film inspired by the events surrounding the figure of Jack the Ripper.. During 1888, the inhabitants of the district of Whitechapel (London), experienced a crime wave. Five were the victims of this psychopath whose identity is still unknown today.

17. Gacy, the killer clown (2003)

The clown is a figure in charge of 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 and macabre story. and macabre story, as he committed several dozen crimes. This film is based on his case.

• You can learn more about this case in our article: "John Wayne Gacy, the gloomy case of the killer clown".

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 in his house a large number of corpses that belonged to the theft of bodies from several graves. This feature film, like many others, is inspired by his case..