We love a bit of true crime, don’t we? The horror genre especially feels like it is built on a foundation of horrible history.
Serial killers like Ivan Milat & Bradley John Murdoch form the baseline of Wolf Creek‘s Mick Taylor, Ed Gein’s nightmarish crimes inspired villains from Leatherface to Norman Bates, and any killer clown in horror cinema has John Wayne Gacy in the back of their minds.
When you cross into supernatural films that are “based on a true story”, the meaning of that term stretches to its breaking point, but in true crime the influence is much clearer.
Not to mention the films that are straight adaptations of the historical events, Charlize Theron pulled a masterclass performance in Monster, Snowtown brought us an Australian nightmare that wasn’t just inspired by truth, and Heavenly Creatures was a breakthrough for not only the two stars but landed Peter Jackson his first Oscar nomination.
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