Warning: The following article contains content relating to kidnapping, torture, and assault.
True crime has been a source of fascination for at least 500 years but the recent podcast boom and an ever-increasing line-up of streaming documentaries mean it’s bigger now than ever. Movies have also satiated this need from the birth of the medium, with many teasing a chilling “based on a true story” before the opening scene.
Everyone knows bad guys such as Ted Bundy and Charles Manson, but many films explore lesser-known true crime stories that are just as disturbing. Whether fans realize it or not, many famous and not-so-famous films take their material from real-life subjects. A shocking number of films about kidnapping have been ripped from the headlines. From movies that merely take inspiration to straight biopics; here are some of the best (of the worst.)
1. An American Crime
In one of the most harrowing true crime events ever put to screen, viewers should tread carefully when watching An American Crime. Based on the shocking murder of Sylvia Likens in 1965, the film is not for the faint of heart. The 2007 film stars Elliot Page as Sylvia, who — along with her sister — is taken in by a family friend when her parents go out of town.
Very quickly, the home’s matriarch, Gertrude (Catherine Keener), dislikes Sylvia for no substantial reason. She imprisons her in the basement and encourages her six children to join in on the abuse. In real life, as in the film, Medium elaborated that Sylvia eventually dies from malnourishment and extensive injuries. One of the worst crimes ever committed in Indiana, An American Crime shows nuanced and captivating Keener, earning her several acting nominations for the role (via IMDb).
2. Alpha Dog
Nick Cassavetes’ 2006 feature starring Anton Yelchin and Justin Timberlake may have changed all the names, but the events of Alpha Dog are true to life. NBC News reported that the film was inspired by the kidnapping and murder of 15-year-old Nick Markowitz, and the film follows the tragic timeline that leads to the young man’s death. When mid-level drug dealer Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) can’t get Jake (Ben Foster) to pay him his drug debt, the former acts impulsively and grabs the latter’s younger brother off the street.
Despite Zack’s friendship with Frankie (Timberlake), he is a hostage, and things soon spiral out of control. Realizing that he could spend hard time on a kidnapping charge, Johnny decides getting rid of Zack is better. The rest of the film shares the story of the events of Markowitz’s murder.
3. Room
While the Academy Award-winning film isn’t the result of any case in particular, writer Emma Donoghue did admit that reading about the Josef Fritzl case started a path that led to her writing Room. The author of the book and the screenplay of the 2015 film, Donoghue, told The Guardian that the case took hold of her. Fritzl famously constructed a basement prison before kidnapping his daughter Elisabeth. He confined her there for years, during which time he assaulted her repeatedly, causing her to give birth to seven children.
The characters of Room live in similar circumstances. After five years of captivity, Jack’s (Jacob Tremblay) mother, Joy (Brie Larson), enacts a plan to free her son from their captor. Jack is thrust into the real world, which shocks the young boy who has never known anything else. Donoghue takes the concept of the case without sensationalizing it, focusing only on the enduring relationship between a mother and her son.
4. The Silence of the Lambs
It is difficult not to spot the real-life cases that inspired Thomas Harris’ landmark book, The Silence of the Lambs. In the movie, FBI trainee Clarice (Jodie Foster) gets recruited to work on the Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine) case and meets the iconic Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). Buffalo Bill kidnaps his victims and imprisons them long enough to skin them. There are elements of many well-known killers, but Collider reported that Gein had a monumental effect on the film and pop culture at large.
Gein was known as a grave robber who used human skin to make household objects and would also go on to kill two women. The Silence of the Lambs twists this real-life story in the film, serving as a race against the clock to find the latest kidnap victim, Catherine (Brooke Smith), before she becomes part of Buffalo Bill’s skin suit.
5. The Frozen Ground
Taking place in the remote location of Alaska, the 2013 film The Frozen Ground depicts the crimes of serial killer Robert Hansen. Starring Nicolas Cage as Jack Halcombe, the state trooper goes to any length to track down Hansen (John Cusack), who has been abducting, torturing, and killing women in the area. After his latest potential victim, Cindy (Vanessa Hudgens), escapes, Halcombe is further motivated to find the culprit.
The interestingly stacked cast adds credibility to the film and honors the victims of Hansen’s crimes. Halcombe catches Hansen after a cat-and-mouse chase, leading to as “uplifting” an ending as a film of this nature could get.
6. Wolf Creek
Arguably one of Australia’s best horror films, Wolf Creek remains a topic of conversation well over a decade after its release. When three backpackers venture into the Australian outback, helpful bushman Mick Taylor (John Jarratt) appears to rescue them but quickly reveals his true motives. He abducts the backpackers and subjects them to countless tortures. Mick Taylor is not real, but director Greg McLean told Starburst Magazine he was a combination of two real-life figures.
Ivan Milat is perhaps the closest comparison to the Wolf Creek character. Also known as The Backpack Killer, he murdered several tourists in the ‘80s and ‘90s. The film was so popular in Australia that it continued to spawn sequels about the sadistic killer inspired by actual events.
7. Hard Candy
In the heyday of danger lurking in every corner of the internet, Hard Candy was a controversial exploration of something real. Young Hayley (Elliot Page) baits 30-something photographer Jeff (Patrick Wilson) into inviting her to his place, only to reveal that she has tracked him because of his supposed involvement in the disappearance of a teenage girl. The thought-provoking film may seem like a simple revenge plot, but it has a basis in reality. Producer David Higgins told The New York Post that the film drew inspiration from real life.
“These underage Japanese girls were going online and luring older men out – and then there would be five or six of them, and they would beat the crap out of the guy.”
Hard Candy is certainly a more dramatized version of events but confronts the viewer with mature themes rarely explored in entertainment. And themes that are all too prevalent in real life.
8. Hounds of Love
Hounds of Love writer and director Ben Young claims he took inspiration from many real-life killers, but the most evident comparison in true crime has to be that of David and Catherine Birnie. The Guardian reported that in 1986, a teenage girl escaped the home of an Australian couple after they had abducted and tortured her.
This is reminiscent of Young’s film, which depicts a sadistic couple, Evelyn (Emma Booth) and John White (Stephen Curry), who kidnap young Vickie Maloney (Ashleigh Cummings). Hounds of Love takes place in Perth in the late ‘80s and focuses on Vickie’s attempts to escape her torment. With too many similarities to ignore, the film is yet another depiction of true Australian horror.
9. My Friend Dahmer
Though My Friend Dahmer takes place before the titular serial killer started his crimes in earnest and before finally being caught, the film is a blazingly honest portrayal of Jeffrey Dahmer (Ross Lynch). Adapted from the graphic novel of one of his high school acquaintances, the film contextualizes Dahmer’s crimes later in life.
He kidnapped and cannibalized men in the Milwaukee area between the late ‘70s and early ‘90s before he was eventually caught. My Friend Dahmer shows his early years and the beginnings of obsessive behavior that would become infamous. The film does not lean into gratuitous subjects, instead offering a side of a well-known story that has not been shown before.
10. From Hell
Everyone knows the story of Jack the Ripper, but From Hell takes some liberties with the familiar story. Based on the Alan Moore graphic novel, Johnny Depp stars as Frederick Abberline, an inspector with clairvoyant ability intent on solving the murders.
Of course, the mystery of Jack the Ripper still plagues true crime fanatics to this day, but From Hell incorporates accurate figures like Mary Kelly (Heather Graham), who became one of the serial killer’s victims. After Mary’s friend Ann (Joanna Page) gets kidnapped, she enlists the help of Frederick to stop the killings once and for all. An inventive film revolving around an unsolvable mystery, it only further adds mystique to Jack the Ripper’s crimes.
That said, the original graphic novel is a million times better, so if you’re really interested read that instead.
11. Hostel
The mid-aughts were the Wild Wild West as far as horror was concerned. James Wan and Leigh Whannel’s iconic film, Saw, opened the door for what an audience could handle on screen. It wasn’t long before Eli Roth came out with Hostel, a social commentary about ignorant, privileged young adults vacationing in European countries. However unbelievable it is that these kids would vacation at hostels only to be kidnapped and tortured, there is a grain of truth to it. Roth told Dread Central that he was inspired by a story he read online.
“[Ain’t It Cool News’ Harry Knowles] sent me a link to a site where you could go to Thailand and for ten thousand dollars, walk into a room and shoot somebody in the head. The site claimed that the person you were killing had signed up for it and that part of the money would go to their family because they were so broke and were gonna die anyways. It was to give you the thrill of taking another human life.”
Roth was less interested in depicting a true-to-life story but was fascinated that the was desire prevalent enough that people would pay to kill someone for entertainment.
12. Changeling
Often, the strangest stories are not works of fiction, and the same can be said for the Angelina Jolie vehicle, Changeling. Based on the true story of Christine Collins and her missing son, Walter, the Clint Eastwood film has many moving parts. In the late ’20s, the LAPD returns a runaway to Christine, stating that he is her missing son. Screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski was fascinated by this story and told NPR that Christine was later committed to an insane asylum.
“Because the police … refused to admit they’d made a mistake. They had to somehow say this woman is nuts — and their best way to reinforce that was to literally incarcerate her.”
Currently, it is understood that Walter was most likely abducted as a victim of the Wineville Chicken Coop murders. Gordon Stewart Northcott was a rapist and serial killer of the time, known for abducting and murdering young boys. Depicted from Christine’s perspective, Changeling tells the story of what happened to her son in the film that haunts audiences.
