During the last few years, many series, podcasts, documentaries and even movies have been strongly inspired by true stories, crimes of passion or infamous characters, so there are feature films based on stories so chilling that you will not believe they actually happened.
From titles inspired by serial killers, gangs to dramatic and controversial events, these 12 films were based on real events so surprising that you will want to see them to give you an idea of what happened at different times in human history.
1. My friend Dahmer
What is the movie about? A disturbing childhood, strange obsessions and a taste for alcohol are the hallmarks of Jeffrey Dahmer’s young life. However, as he grows, his personality becomes something sinister.
It is based on: Jeffrey Dahmer, known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or Monster, who was an infamous serial killer and abuser who killed 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. Many of his crimes involved necrophilia, cannibalism, and the permanent preservation of bodies o skeletons.
2. the Irish
What is the movie about? In the 1950s, trucker Frank Sheeran became involved with Russell Bufalino and his gang of criminals in Pennsylvania. As Frank progresses in his job and becomes a hit man, he also gets to work with Jimmy Hoffa, a powerful syndicate leader with friends in organized crime.
It is based on: The story of Frank Joseph Sheeran, also known as The Irishman, accused of being part of the criminal group Bufalino and infiltrating different unions during the 60s and 70s. In 2003, just before his death, he confessed to having murdered the leader of the American union Jimmy Hoffa and the infamous crime boss Joe Gallo.
3. Lost Girls
What is the movie about? Determined to find her missing daughter, a desperate woman begins an investigation to help police find those responsible for a series of murders of young sex workers.
It is based on: The Long Island serial killer, a yet unidentified criminal who has killed between 10 to 16 women in a 20-year period, leaving the bodies in different areas of the South Shore, in Long Island, New York. Most of his victims were sex workers who advertised themselves on the Craigslist page.
4. All Good Things
What is the movie about? David marries Kate and they move to Vermont, but at the insistence of his millionaire father, he decides to return to live in New York while Kate returns to college. As their relationship begins to grow apart, Katie ends up disappearing without a trace.
It is based on: Robert Alan Durst, the heir to one of New York’s oldest and largest real estate agencies. He is suspected of having murdered Kathleen McCormack Durst, his first wife, who disappeared in 1982, Susan Berman, his longtime friend, who died in Los Angeles in 2000, and his neighbor Morris Black, who died in 2001. The only murder Durst confessed to is Black’s, although he claimed to have done so in self-defense.
5. Can you forgive me?
What is the movie about? Lee Israel, a biographer who has managed to work with celebrities and prominent public figures, is on the brink of bankruptcy. Depressed and uninspired, she meets Jack, a man who will help her turn her talent into a form of fraud.
It is based on: Lee Israel, an infamous biographer and writer, who narrated her memoirs in a book, confessing that, for years, she decided to forge letters, about 400, from famous deceased authors and composers to revitalize her career and make money, selling the fakes at low prices. exorbitant to different libraries, collectors and renowned bookstores in New York.
6. Foxcatcher
What is the movie about? When a millionaire sponsor, John E. du Pont, invites Olympic wrestlers and estranged brothers, Mark and Dave, to join his team, called Foxcatcher, their lives take a turn from which there is no turning back.
It is based on: John Eleuthére du Pont, who was an activist, ornithologist, philatelist, heir to the du Pont fortune, and a sports enthusiast. In February 1997 he was convicted of the murder of Dave Schultz, an Olympic wrestling athlete who lived on his ranch. After the crime, du Pont locked himself in his mansion for two days while negotiating with the police over the phone. During the trial, du Pont was declared paranoid-schizophrenic and fervently believed that Schultz was plotting to kill him.
7. Zodiac
What is the movie about? Robert Graysmith, a cartoonist by profession who works for a local newspaper, finds himself obsessively thinking about the murderer named the Zodiac and begins to use his crossword and mystery solving skills in order to uncover the true identity of the infamous criminal.
It is based on: The Zodiac Killer. This is the pseudonym of a yet unidentified criminal who killed five people during 1968 and 1969 in the San Francisco Bay area. His victims were young couples and, although it is not known exactly, he is believed to be responsible for the murder of more than 37 people in different areas of Southern California. The investigation to catch him has been active since 1969.
8. Silent Hill
What is the movie about? Rose and her daughter Sharon leave their home to travel to Silent Hill. Along the way, Rose has a terrible accident, which leaves her unconscious for a long time. When she wakes up, Rose discovers that her little daughter has disappeared.
It is based on: The successful video games of Silent Hill are inspired by the small town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, a ghost town whose population of one thousand residents in 1980 dropped to just five in 2017 as a result of a terrible fire at one of its coal mines, which has been active since 1962 and has burned the region from underground for more than 50 years.
9. The Girl Next Door
What is the movie about? Meg, a beautiful teenager, suffers from terrible abuse at the hands of her legal guardian, Ruth Chandler, who also offers the opportunity to beat her, torment her and mistreat her to the neighborhood children in exchange for money.
It is based on: Sylvia Marie Likens, a teenager who was tortured and killed by her guardian, Gertrude Baniszewski, some of her children and several of the neighborhood children. His abuse increased during the last three months before his death on October 26, 1965. Baniszewski, his daughter Paula, his son John, and two young men, Coy Hubbard and Richard Hobbs, were sentenced in May 1966 for torturing and murdering Likens. .
10. The room
What is the movie about? After being held captive in an isolated shed collapsed by her abductor, Joy and her young son Jack attempt to escape confinement and gain their freedom to live outside of the room they have always been in.
It is based on: The Fritzl case. This reached the media in 2008 when a woman named Elisabeth Fritzl told police that she had been locked in the basement of her home for 24 years by her father, Josef Fritzl. Josef abused, mistreated and beat Elisabeth numerous times, resulting in the birth of seven children. Three of them were in captivity with their mother, another three lived in the main house to be raised by Josef and his wife, Rosemarie, who he believed were orphans.
11. Badlands
What is the movie about? Holly and Kit, a young couple, escape after killing Holly’s father. After being chased by two bounty hunters, the pair begin murdering different people while trying to reach Badlands, Montana.
It is based on: Charles Raymond Starkweather, who was a murderer who killed 11 people in the states of Nebraska and Wyoming, between December 1957 and January 1958 when he was only 19 years old. During this period, Starkweather was accompanied and assisted by his girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, a girl of only 14 years old. Fugate was locked up 17 years in prison and was released in 1976, while Starkweather was executed in the electric chair in 1959, this was the last execution of the state of Nebraska.
12. The Afflicted
What is the movie about? In a small town in South Carolina, horror lives inside an ordinary house. A disturbed mother justifies the abuse of her four children with interpretations of the Bible. Escaping its malevolent clutches seems to be impossible.
It is based on: Theresa Jimmie Francine Knorr, who is an American woman who was accused of torturing and murdering two of her six children while using the others to cover up her crimes. Knorr was physically, verbally, and psychologically abusive to her children. After her fourth divorce, her alcoholism and violence increased. Knorr believed that Chet Harris, her fourth husband, had turned her daughter, Suesan, into a witch. Suesan and Sheila were the two daughters whom he abused the most for years, ending with their lives.
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