Top 10 Movies That Lied About Being Based on a True Story
This is why we have trust issues. From The Wicker Man, to The Blair Witch Project, to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, these movies straight up pretended to be based on actual events. WatchMojo ranks the top movies that lied about being based on a true story.
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Script written by Nathan Sharp
#10: “The Wicker Man” (1973)
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“The Wicker Man” is a classic horror movie that sees a Christian police officer investigating a disappearance on the Pagan island of Summerisle. The opening credits to the director’s and theatrical versions read, “The producer would like to thank The Lord Summerisle and the people of his island off the west coast of Scotland for this privileged insight into their religious practices and for their generous co-operation in the making of this film.” It certainly gets us in the mood for the story, but it is a blatant fabrication. There is no island of Summerisle, and The Lord Summerisle is nothing but a fictional creation connivingly played by Christopher Lee.
#9: “The Devil Inside” (2012)
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“The Devil Inside” not only employs the documentary gimmick to make it appear more authentic, but it also spun the true story angle through its marketing too. For example, the trailer begins with the “official” phone call from Maria Rossi dated October 30, 1989. However, the biggest lie comes at the end, when viewers are told that the murder investigations are still unresolved and that they can visit a website if they want more information. Naturally, some curious moviegoers visited the site, only to find basic promotional materials. Despite its authentic tone, the final caption was nothing but a ploy to add last minute chills.
#8: “The Haunting in Connecticut” (2009)
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“The Haunting in Connecticut” is a lot like “Amityville Horror”, just… without the accolades. “The Haunting in Connecticut” is supposedly based on the real-life haunting of the Snedeker family and was based on Ray Garton’s book “In a Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting.” However, the book and movie are almost entirely fictional. Ray Garton has since disputed the accuracy of his own book and was allegedly told by Ed Warren (who “helped” the real Snedeker family) to make up the scary events of the story. While the family may be based on real people, the events of the movie are almost entirely fictional.
#7: “Wolf Creek” (2005)
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“Wolf Creek” is a terrifying movie about three backpackers who are hunted by a man named Mick Taylor in the Australian outback. While the movie claimed to be “based on a true story,” it was actually an amalgamation of two separate real-life events. The first were the backpacker murders, a series of seven killings committed by Ivan Milat in New South Wales. The other was the murder of Peter Falconio at the hands of Bradley Murdoch. While the character of Mick Taylor was modeled heavily after Ivan Milat, “Wolf Creek” is more of an amalgamation and a reflection on Australia’s violent past than a direct adaptation of specific real events.
#6: “Cannibal Holocaust” (1980)
While the genre may have been popularized by “The Blair Witch Project,” “Cannibal Holocaust” was an innovator in the found footage genre. The movie is about a documentary film crew who supposedly went missing after encountering a cannibalistic tribe in the Amazon. To further add to its supposed realism, the actors signed contracts stating that they wouldn’t appear in a public or promotional capacity for one year after the movie’s release. The movie was so convincing that officials believed the footage to be real and charged the director, Ruggero Deodato, with murder. To clear his name, Deodato was forced to bring the actors out of hiding to prove that the footage wasn’t real.
#5: “Hostel” (2005)
“Hostel” is certainly disturbing and revolting, but what it’s not... is inspired by real events, despite what the trailers may have you believe. Although, if “inspired by” means “Eli Roth was inspired to make the movie after hearing a silly internet rumor,” then sure, “Hostel” was inspired by true events. According to Roth, he thought of the story after stumbling across a website that offered psychotic thrill-seekers the chance to torture and kill someone for $10,000. The website also allegedly came with a video of a person shooting someone else in the head. However, these rumors are completely unsubstantiated, and even Eli Roth doubts the authenticity of the website.
#4: “The Blair Witch Project” (1999)
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“Cannibal Holocaust” may have pioneered the found footage genre, but “The Blair Witch Project” put it on the map. The movie’s website featured “real” police reports and interviews. Flyers of the “missing” students were distributed at film festivals. A fake documentary was made detailing the story and curse of the Blair Witch. The actors were even listed as “presumed dead” on their IMDb pages. All this led to heated discussions on the internet, as many people genuinely believed the footage to be real. Of course, it was all a marketing gimmick, and the movie helped usher in a new era of horror movies.
#3: “Nanook of the North” (1922)
This documentary, released in 1922, showed the lives of the Inuit of Quebec’s Ungava Peninsula. It was a monumental film that helped open new avenues of visual information. And a lot of it was total hooey. Nanook was not the man’s real name, nor was that his real family. Flaherty had the Inuit cast wear traditional clothing and use harpoons when they were well-accustomed to Western clothing and firearms. Fabricated igloos were built specifically for the camera. In one scene, Nanook humorously tries to eat a phonograph. As you can imagine, the real man knew exactly what a phonograph was. The director clearly had a vision of what he wanted to show people, real or not.
#2: “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (1974)
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This movie is scary enough as is - there’s no need to pretend it’s real! The movie was originally marketed as a true story, and even features an opening proclaiming, “The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five young youths.” However, the movie’s story is 100% fictional. While the character of Leatherface was influenced by real-life murderer and corpse exhumer Ed Gein, the way in which he appears in the movie, his family, and the teenagers he kills are all fictional creations made specifically to scare theater-goers. And damn did the movie ever do that.
#1: “Fargo” (1996)
“Fargo” opens with text claiming that the movie is based on a real event that occurred in Minnesota and that names have been changed. It’s typical text you would find in a movie actually based on a true story, but the film is entirely fictional. While the Coen brothers have spoken of various influences over the years, Joel Coen claimed in 2015 that the story was “completely made up.” This false proclamation led to an urban legend that claims that a woman named Takako Konishi died while trying to find the money Carl buried in the snow. However, her death was ruled a suicide, and the “Fargo” connection was considered a mere misunderstanding.
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