TalkHorror - Horror Talk For All Horror Fans

About 99% of the time, "facts" put forth in "based on a true story" films are indeed faked. Sometimes the filmmakers are sly, however, and at least try taking pains to make things seem authentic... for a time.

I was watching "The Fourth Kind" not long back, and couldn't help but think to myself: "If this footage is genuine, it pretty much proves the existence of extraterrestrial encounters. So why the hell isn't it making real news?"

There is not one point in the film I specifically said "this is bologna," but throughout the film, I pretty much knew that some "footage" way too obviously supported the existence of aliens to be real... well, unless it ended up proving their existence. I point towards the ship's silhouette in the police-camera scene, the police cameras just happening to pick up the one dude's murder-suicide, and the whole triple-abduction business.

Likewise, there are some points in "The Town that Dreaded Sundown" based on the Phantom/Lover's Lane killings that are obviously pretty "Hollywood". The trombone murder was about 50/50 for me; it seemed strange enough to be true, although it was apparently false, and some of the police's "silly antics" in trying to catch the Phantom were... way too overdone.

Aside from Blair Witch Project and The Hunt, most of the time I know it's fake but I have to hand it to the makers for making it seem damn near real. It's funny that you brought up The Fourth Kind because I went on a long argument on how the footage seemed to perfect for being 'real.' You pretty much see levitation, a UFO and an alien so the idea that it was real quickly dissipated. I did hear that the Amityville Horror was greatly Hollywoodized.

Very agreed; way too obvious (otherwise they'd be afraid they wouldn't drum up an audience ), or else the "real footage" would be making one hell of a stir and wouldn't be relegated to a sleeper fizzle.

Blair Witch Project I agree is done pretty damn realistically (I haven't seen The Hunt), which is one reason why I personally consider it among my top 5 scariest. There are very few times you can really tell the cast are outright attempting to capture something "scary" on film.

When it first came out I didn't really pay too much attention to the marketing; all I knew was that these kids died making a movie about a supposed witch, so when I saw it... I thought it was the real thing. The Hunt is a very good movie. It's 1/3 found footage, 1/3 documentary and 1/3 actual movie and for the documentary/found footage portions, it's pretty damn good. I think Fourth Kind suffered from really bad marketers.

Poor Universal.

I always thought the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was real when I was in middle school. I was always looking stuff up on it and everything

This didn't happen to me but it happened to my grandpa, who at the time was 96 years old. (He died 3 years later).

You know that fake news report that's an extra on the Dawn of the Dead remake DVD? The one that reports on the zombie outbreak as it spreads through the U.S.? Well, I was watching that with my grandpa and since it looked and sounded real, he thought it was real. When he got out bed and asked me, "Is this happening?" I jokingly said, "Yes, it is. They are taking over New York and they're coming to Chicago!" He quickly bolted out of bed, went for his gun and started yelling to my grandma, "head for the basement!" I had to tell him it was a fake and that I was joking. His response:

"I feel so embarrassed."

FreddysFingers Wrote:This didn't happen to me but it happened to my grandpa, who at the time was 96 years old. (He died 3 years later).

You know that fake news report that's an extra on the Dawn of the Dead remake DVD? The one that reports on the zombie outbreak as it spreads through the U.S.? Well, I was watching that with my grandpa and since it looked and sounded real, he thought it was real. When he got out bed and asked me, "Is this happening?" I jokingly said, "Yes, it is. They are taking over New York and they're coming to Chicago!" He quickly bolted out of bed, went for his gun and started yelling to my grandma, "head for the basement!" I had to tell him it was a fake and that I was joking. His response:

"I feel so embarrassed."

I think thats charming. There was a generation who wasn't as jaded as us!

I loved him. Every time I watched a horror movie he'd wave his hand at me and say, "you and your monsters." I smiled every time.

It's essentially part of the gimmick. Last Exorcism was good but if you refuse to see it because it's fake, then you're not giving it a fighting chance. If you want to get real technical, ALL horror movies are based on true events.

That's why exorcism movies scare the living shit out of me. I believe in demons—and the possibility of possession, and therefor the need to exorcise them. (Yeah, that's right. I'm as Catholic as they come). So those movies have freaked me out since I was a kid. Not because I thought any one movie was showing me something real, but because I thought, "Oh shit! This is possible!"

When I was working for the LA Archdiocese ten years ago (ack, that makes me feel old), I met the diocese's exorcist—totally on accident—and let me tell you... he was one spooky dude.

But that's why those movies scare me and monster movies don't. The mere idea of "possibility" gets me every time.

Regale us with stories of the exorcist. This is really the only part of Christianity that I can tolerate. However, my priest, who has since passed on, was a super cool guy. Not a pedo but really laid back and never forced his religion on any of us who wanted to leave.

I think that the tag line, "Based on a true story" isn't entirely without merit. Take The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for example: It was certainly inspired in part by Ed Gein. The events in the film are fictitious, but are in fact inspired by actual events. Ed Gein was notorious for snatching bodies, mutilating them and taking skin and body parts as keepsakes. So, it's not necessarily all bullshit, especially since the tag line fails to specify which particular story that the film is inspired by. Wolf Creek is another example, but then again, Wolf Creek was also inspired by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, just set in the Australian Outback. Granted, you still want to take it with a grain of salt, but don't dismiss that tag line entirely.

FreddysFingers Wrote:Regale us with stories of the exorcist. This is really the only part of Christianity that I can tolerate. However, my priest, who has since passed on, was a super cool guy. Not a pedo but really laid back and never forced his religion on any of us who wanted to leave.

It cracks me up that exorcism is what you can "tolerate" about Christianity. You're too funny, Freddy. I can just picture it: "You know... those Christians are a real pain in the ass, but man, they sure will fuck a demon up for you if they have to!" LOL

The exorcist was not what I would have expected... mostly. He was a lot younger than I would have thought. Couldn't have been more than 35. And he was in street clothes when I met him, so when I first saw him I wasn't even sure he was a priest. The priest I was with is who pointed him out and introduced us—he was actually really funny about it, all "shhh... see that guy... don't say anything, but...." Which is pretty much how we treat members of the CIA. A lot of *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*

But what was spooky about him, was he just looked right frickin' through you. I swear I felt like, "Oh God, this guy knows everything I've ever done. EVER!"
And he just looked tired as fuck. And not I-didn't-sleep-last-night tired, but I-just-got-back-from-war-and-we-lost tired.

It was a weird experience.

I was always interested in demonology. When I asked my Father about exorcisms he denied it. When I was about 16 or so, he finally gave me the titles of a few books that I should check out. I don't think he realized that trip to the library actually made me turn against Christianity but I thought it was cool for him to give me a few books to look into. I wish we had a creepy, baggy-eyed exorcist at our church.

That's lame that he denied it, but most will at least shrug off questions about it. Like I said, it's one of those things no one likes to talk about, and as a matter of fact, while each archdiocese has an exorcist, his identity as such is kept from general knowledge. And the Catholic Church has an almost immense process that has to be gone through before they'll even consider assigning an exorcism. Literally every other possibility has to be exhausted first.
It's interesting that books on demonology turned you against Christianity. It makes me wonder if you were reading stuff from the Dark Ages.
What's interesting is the Church had a complete revamping of the ritual of exorcism after/during the Second Vatican Council in the early '60's. Apparently, until then they had still been using a ritual developed in the seventeenth century. I'd be cool to get my hands on both for a comparison. exdev:
But yeah... seeing creepy exorcists at all the parishes would be awesome. They used to be their own order within the Church (and may still be, though not openly). But dude, Pope John Paul II is said to have performed at least three exorcisms... while he was the Pope. That had to have been hard core. I mean, how fucked up does your situation have to be to necessitate calling in the Pope?!

I can honestly say that The Fourth Kind creeped me the fuck out. It was incredibly effective and it's extremely difficult to even bother me slightly. I never doubted it was mostly if not all fake, just based on true events or whatever... but it was doody all in all.

I think it could have been better if it wasn't so willing to show you everything. Mood and creepiness could be achieved just by the actors talking.

I never believed in The Blair With film.... It was stupid and it was crappy.... :reddisgust:

I never bought the Blair Witch either. Just thought it was quite innovative at the time. The Fourth Kind I think just said it was supposed to be based on the doctor, who I also read if you try and investigate doesn't exist... but don't hold me to that.

Like some of you guys earlier in the thread I come from a deeply entrenched Catholic background with my family being Italian (I'm sure others will know what I'm on about!) and sometimes find that hard to dismiss with regards to the possibility of demons or possession. Without a doubt films covering these themes I am fascinated by. Equally though I can also find them intensely disappointing if they don't fit the vision I expect to see. lol - but thats my prejudice.

Thanks for sharing your experiences though guys. I found that really interesting.