Films where a false "based on..." was a good thing

[Dr. Briggs]

I'll say it right now; I am definitely not a fan of "based on a true story" hype horror. To me it is not only 99% hype, but immediately takes me out of a film, prompting me to separate reality and obvious fantasy, and cheapens what little true events the films may actually have been based on. I personally advocate films like Maniac, which may be based on true events, but don't blatantly advertise it (which in the process gives them a lot more freedom, and credit to the artists).

However, I LOVED the "true events" gimmick to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and I LOVED the "true events" gimmick to The Blair Witch Project. To me, those were nigh-essential elements of the films' proceedings. The intro to TCM heightened the film's emotional factor, both by giving the audience the feel that they're not just there to have fun and watch annoying kids get offed, and by adding a sense of fatalistic "what happened has happened" into everything. As for Blair Witch, I think that so much of the film depended on realism and in fact crafting the meta-story around the film, that a "true events" disclaimer would be expected, even if the film's un-truth was known right off the bat.

Since it's so prominent and really has been for a while, anyone else have opinions on all the "based on" stuff?

[mrblue]

I barely even notice nowadays but the only based on a true story movies I fell for was the TCM remake (I was still a kid) and the Ammityville horror movies (once again, I was still a kid)

[mytee]

The Amityville Horror remake has NOTHING whatsoever to do with the actual events (hoax? truthfully Ive seen documentaries from both sides and I dont know what I believe)-there was no such person as "Jodie DeFeo" Jodie was the name of the imaginary playmate of the youngest Lutz child-sometimes described as a pig but never a child Also while George Lutz became convinced he was going to kill his family they fled before he did.