This weekend's release of The Haunting in Connecticut is supposedly based on the story of a real-life family that moved into a home only to find that it was formerly a funeral parlor and is now haunted.
When horror flicks are advertised as fictionalizing "true events," it inevitably sends me to the Internet for some answers. A lot of the time it turns out to be a pretty nebulous claim like in the case of The Strangers, which was marketed as being "inspired by a true story" but that turned out to be only semi-accurate.
So what do you think? In the case of scary movies, is it all the more intriguing when it's supposedly based on a true story?
Photo courtesy of Lionsgate
Mantaray
Honestly, that makes me less likely to see it in the case of a horror movie, because I'm such a wimp!
1I never *really* believe them when they say that. Like you said, it's usually only semi-accurate and they always say "based" on a true story so you know they fabricated a lot of it to make it scarier. Either way, I don't think it really matters.
2sometimes yes and sometimes no. i think that there are times that it helps get me interested in a movie - but in general - i don't think that it's all that compelling
3I would rather watch scary movies that are based on true events, it makes it more thrilling...
4Changeling was one of the scariest most horrific movies I've ever watched. It was so real it was terrifying! It made me want to throw up. I cannot watch things like that. Please don't get me wrong, Angelina did a wonderful job!
5It freaks me out even more, if that's possible...I'm not a horror movie person at all.
6I used to love when a movie was based on true events. Until I started wikipedia-ing (yay for new words) the "true events" and finding out that the origins of most of those movies were highly suspect.
7i fell for blair witch. after that i said never again.
snopes.com is my first stop for any and all things "based on true events."
8in other news, blair witch was ten years ago? i knew it had been a long time since i read rolling stone, but i didn't know it had been THAT long...
9I saw "Haunting/Conn" last night and I was surprised at how scary it really was... though it wasn't nearly as "blood and gore" scary as I'd expected it to be. It was actually just incredibly suspenseful film. Everyone in the theatre was jumping and screaming/cursing/hiding under their seats eveytime there was a sudden loud sound or something/one appeared unexpectedly where a second ago there'd been empty space. Definately a psyche-out movie, the kind the audiences make "scary".
As for the "based on true events" ?... No, that doesn't make it "scarier". It doesn't do anything for me, honestly... but I'm a speculative person as it is so to me the phrase "based on whatever" sounds lame with just about anything you apply to it.
Haunting was a pretty decent flick with or without that tagline anyway- good story, good flow, the actors were well cast and played their roles well.
10I usually have to show people how the actually events are so different from the movie because my friends buy into it too much. Like this movie I heard the story on the discovery channel like three years ago and just looking at this movie it doesn't even sound like the same story. The general plot is there but it is so exaggerated it is almost comical that they are claiming that it is somehow rooted in fact.
11Jim Jones, the Austrian man who imprisoned his daughter, the DC woman who lived with her dead daughters... The movies are never as scary as real life. I don't care where the story comes from, real or fiction; it's the cast that draws me. So, I wasn't interested in seeing this until I saw that, along with Virginia Madsen, it has Kyle Gallner and Elias Koteas, wheeee!
12A scary movies can be lame when it isn't based on a true story- but when you throw that in it freaks me out even more to know that that crazy stuff actually happened.
13"Based on a true story" is generally just a ploy to get people to come see it. I love horror movies, don't get me wrong; but especially using "The Haunting in Connecticut" is a terrible example. Watch the Discovery channel documentary on the true events. Yeah, this supposedly happened, but Hollywood does what it always does: amps up the spooky to get more people in the seats.
14It doesn't change my opinion about "any" movie. It usually just means they took a real life story and ran with it.
15I saw the original Discovery Channel documentary on this that was made a few years ago. I was terrified. But it seems like they've Hollywood-ized the movie with alot of CGI, so I doubt I'll see it. I think the closer a scary film sticks to reality and the less it uses CGI, the scarier it is. I thought The Others was one of the scariest movies ever made.
16Yes, the organic feel makes it realistic for sure! I don't really like it when they promote it as a true story, but moreso when it's noted at the end of the film. It's more profound that way.
17No, but I'm a little skeptic. Whenever I see something based on anything (books, true stories, etc) it always seems different from the original.
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