You should always take a movie’s claims of being “based on a true story” with a grain of salt. Sure, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is technically inspired by the crimes of Ed Gein and the Conjuring franchise more or less follows the Warrens’ case notes, but the fact is that most horror flicks are more interested in providing audiences with a good scare than informing the public about real events.
Of course, that’s not always the case. Over the years, several genre filmmakers have tried their hand at adapting horrific True Crime stories to the big screen without messing too much with the facts. And in honor of these intrepid storytellers, we’ve decided to come up with a list celebrating six True Crime horror movies.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining True Crime Horror as any genre film that actively adapts a real case or tells a fictionalized story heavily inspired by real events. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own True Crime favorites if you think we missed a particularly spooky one.
And while we won’t be including it on this list due to the film having already shown up in our list of Serial Killer movies from the killer’s perspective, I’d highly recommend Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer to fans of haunting True Crime cinema.
With that out of the way, onto the list…
6. The Alphabet Killer (2008)
Directed by Wrong Turn‘s Rob Schmidt, The Alphabet Killer feels a lot like someone combined a low-rent version of Se7en with a schlocky exploitation flick, but this chilling retelling of New York’s infamous Alphabet Murders has a lot more up its moody sleeves than its low production value and poor critical reception might initially suggest.
In fact, the film’s screenwriter developed the script alongside a real homicide investigator who worked on the original case, changing details out of respect for the victim’s families while also discarding the procedural aspects in order to focus on the psychological toll of dedicating your professional life to studying the worst that humanity has to offer.
5. The Girl Next Door (2007)
Stephen King said it best when he described this fictionalized retelling of the Sylvia Likens case as a dark-side-of-the-moon version of Stand by Me. Based on Jack Ketchum’s disturbing novel of the same name, Gregory M. Wilson’s The Girl Next Door tells a tragically real story about the worst-case scenario when caretakers decide to abuse their power over vulnerable children.
Depressing, realistic and often hard to watch, this chilling film definitely isn’t for the faint of heart, but I still respect how its use of horrific violence is intended as a tool for raising awareness about an all-too common kind of crime rather than exploiting the real tragedy that inspired Ketchum’s book.
4. The Golden Glove (2019)
One of the most disturbing films on this list, Fatih Akin’s The Golden Glove is proof that even the most horrific stories can benefit from a pinch of humor. Inspired by the crimes of Fritz Honka in 1970s Germany, this exceedingly dark horror comedy follows a lonely alcoholic who begins to collect body parts in his Hamburg apartment.
Following the real case to a fault, Akin’s film is far from a pleasant experience, but there is a lot to be learned about the human condition here if you can stomach a monstrous protagonist and some gnarly depictions of violence. The flick also features a mesmerizing performance by a nearly unrecognizable Jonas Dassler.
3. Zero Day (2003)
Another fictionalized version of real events, Ben Coccio’s Zero Day is one of the most believable depictions of the days leading up to the Columbine massacre despite not actually being a retelling of that specific incident. Rather, Coccio’s film is more of a meditation on the concept of school shootings in general, with the director focusing more on the social and emotional issues that cause these crimes rather than the shooting itself.
Featuring appropriately lo-fi visuals inspired by the real video diaries that preceded Columbine, Zero Day isn’t just a thought-provoking thriller, it’s also definitive proof that Found Footage movies can be used to tell memorable stories that don’t rely on artificial glitches, jump-scares and invisible entities. In fact, the movie is so lifelike that clips of it are often confused with the genuine article online.
2. My Friend Dahmer (2017)
Based on John “Derf” Backderf’s award-winning graphic novel about growing up in 1970s Ohio while also being a close friend of future serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, Marc Meyers’s adaptation of My Friend Dahmer is a must-watch due to its singular perspective and amazing performances by both Ross Lynch (Dahmer) and Alex Wolff (Backderf).
While the film has its fair share of disturbing moments as it chronicles Dahmer’s downward spiral, it mostly trades in traditional scares for realistic drama, ultimately serving as a poignant reminder that, while Dahmer’s horrific actions were his responsibility, the young man was also failed by all the adults and institutions that could have intervened before it was too late.
1. Deranged (1974)
Releasing the same year as another, much more popular horror film inspired by the real crimes of the infamous Ed Gein, Deranged stands out among its true crime peers by adding a healthy amount of social commentary to its surprisingly sober fictionalization of real events. In fact, the film actually renames Gein to Ezra Cobb and even tones down many of his actions in order to focus on the environment that eventually caused his reign of terror.
Also known as Deranged: Confessions of a Necrophile, Alan Ormsby and Jeff Gillen’s underrated grindhouse flick also flirts with the Found Footage genre, injecting diegetic narration into the flick as an investigative journalist comments on these grisly events as if they were true-to-life reenactments.
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