The Amityville Horror (1979)
The fiction: A young couple find their new home already inhabited by unfriendly spirits.
The fact: Based on Jay Anson's book of the same name, The Amityville Horror is a well known retelling of Ronald J. DeFeo Jr.'s real life murder of his parents and four siblings, and the subsequent events experienced by the house's later owners.
The Entity (1982)
The fiction: A woman is attacked by a paranormal, invisible attacker.
The fact: The Entity was adapted from the novel of the same name by Frank De Felitta (also the author of Audrey Rose). It was based on the story of a Culver City, Calif. woman who believed she was being raped by ghosts.
A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
The fiction: The infamous Freedy Krueger stalks and kills a group of teenagers in their dreams.
The fact: Wes Craven was inspired by reports of Asian men throughout the '70s and '80s dying in their sleep, a phenomenon that at the time was labeled "Asian Death Syndrome."
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
The fiction:The Walking Dead's Michael Rooker plays Henry, a serial killer on a crime spree.
The fact: The movie tells a fictionalized version of the real life of killer Henry Lee Lucas.
The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
The fiction: An ethnobotanist--a scientist who studies how native cultures use plants for medicine and other purposes--investigates a drug that allegedly creates Voodoo zombies.
The fact: It was based on the nonfiction book of the same name by real world ethnobotanist Wade Davis, who investigated the story of alleged zombie Clairvius Narcisse.
Child's Play (1988)
The fiction: A child's doll is possessed by the soul of a serial killer.
The fact: Chucky's story was inspired by Robert, a haunted doll that allegedly talked and inspired fits of rage in its young owner. Robert is still on display in the Florida Key West Martello Museum.
Fire in the Sky (1993)
The fiction: A group of men are investigated for murder after a friend was apparently abducted by aliens.
The fact: In 1975 Travis Walton claimed to have been abducted by a UFO, although he was never able to prove it.
The Dentist (1996)
The fiction: Amid various hallucinations, a sadistic dentist gets revenge on his cheating wife.
The fact: It's been speculated that The Dentist was based on the true story of Dr. Glennon Edward Engleman, a Missouri dentist who, over decades, convinced multiple women to marry other men, who he would then murder. They'd split the insurance checks.
Ravenous (1999)
The fiction: A US soldier during the Mexican-American War is assigned to a remote mountain fort, where he encounters a stranger who turns out to be a murderous cannibal.
The fact: Ravenous was inspired both by the Donner Party, the infamous group of pioneers who were forced to resort to cannibalism after becoming stranded in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and by Alfred Packer, who apparently ate his companions on a gold-prospecting expedition when they became stranded in the Rockies.
From Hell (2001)
The fiction: Scotland Yard investigates the murders committed by the infamous Jack the Ripper, uncovering conspiracies along the way.
The fact: From Hell, based on a graphic novel by Alan Moore, speculates on the real murderer Jack the Ripper, who was never definitively identified.
Done - Electric Blue
