This is a line that should be banned in those movies that aren’t really based in reality. The movies that want nothing more for the audience to believe that there is some truth to them. I know that many may think that this is a harmless practice, but I argue otherwise. Too often, people are fooled into believing that a movie they just watched was based on events that actually happened. Of course, no one is foolish to believe that a movie represents reality as it happened. Even the most devoted film takes liberty with reality in favor of entertainment value. Many believe that this is also a somewhat new practice. Starting with The Blair Witch Project and growing from there. Unfortunately, this practice started long before The Blair Witch Project.
No, unfortunately this practice started a long time ago with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Not only the original was guilty of this act. Even the remake tries to trick the audience into believing that these events actually happened. Most of the smart community would by no means buy into that pile of crap, but unfortunately there are some who maintain to this day that the leather face is still out there. Even when presented with the evidence, they point to the movies and all the fake crap written about them that try to convince people that the movies are based on true events. To make matters worse, believers write articles about how those events happened. And other believers use this as evidence to support their position. Anyone familiar with the movie may be surprised to find out that the main character, Leather Face, was loosely based on the notorious serial killer Ed Gein.
In the movies Leather Face kills a lot of people. In reality, Ed Gein only confessed to two murders and was only tried and convicted of one. It was the nature of the case that gave Gein the notoriety of him as a serial killer, even though he technically doesn’t fit the definition. All body parts found in his house were attributed to his grave robbing activities and not to the people he actually killed. He had heads, skulls, organs, and various other body parts. He made fur suits and covered his furniture in fur. All these gruesome details are what led to Gein’s fame.
Next we have the Amityville horror. This movie is claimed to be based on true events, and it may be. I have a slight suspicion that this is nothing more than a clever story created to help two people out of financial trouble. They bought a house that they couldn’t afford or had other debts, or they just created this story; because they wanted to be rich. A good enough story is worth a lot of money. There are still people today who believe that the events depicted in this movie are real.
Fast forward to the Blair Witch project. The shooting style of this movie is what leads the audience to believe that there is some truth to the movie. That there may be a small town out there with a local legend of a witch. Missing children without a good explanation as to why. Very few people would buy any part of this reality-based movie, but there are exceptions to the rule.
Another more recent movie that claims to be based on some kind of reality is Paranormal. When you see the preview, you think to yourself, “wow, that’s scary.” Unfortunately, then you watch the movie and find out that it’s nothing more than one long, boring piece of crap. Once again, the audience is led to believe that there is some kind of truth to the film. When in reality it is nothing more than a movie based on reality. The shooting style is meant to have a real life home movie feel. Do things like this happen? There is plenty of evidence out there to at least lead someone to believe in the paranormal. This movie does the testing a huge disservice. In my opinion, it’s a slap in the face for people who have dealt with real life situations involving the other side.
The most recent movie, which inspired this article, is called The Fourth Kind. The film opens with actress Mila Jovovich stating that the events in the film are real and it is up to us to decide. The film company, I believe Universal, created a fake website and articles to help create the illusion that these events actually happened. Interviews done in a home video style sprinkled throughout the film add to the reality of the film. It leads the audience to believe that the pictures are real and that they were taken by a real psychiatrist. This real life footage of the real life story is what inspired this movie. This is what we are supposed to believe.
Of course, when you do some digging, you find out there’s no psychiatrist, no hypnosis sessions revealing alien abductions in Nome, Alaska. The FBI was investigating a few cases that way, but they found nothing out of the ordinary. Now I know it could all be one big conspiracy. The government is covering things up, to make us believe that these things didn’t happen. The fact is that without proof I cannot believe it. The best I can do is probability. It may or may not have happened. I did my own research and found the fake websites, but I couldn’t find anything else about anything in this movie that seemed believable or real. This was a good movie, I really enjoyed it. I wish they didn’t try so hard to sell it as a true story.
What these movies should say is Based on themes that occur in reality or inspired by events that take place in the world. Too many people buy these movies, which doesn’t really hurt anyone. It just drives me crazy when I’m led to believe a thing and find out there’s no basis in reality at all. When I see a movie like this, I in no way believe that what I’m seeing is the whole truth. I hope that at least one or two of the characters in the film actually existed.
It would be nice to find any shred of evidence that could support any part of the movie. Honestly, the big problem for me is that I want a part of these movies to be true. I’m not talking about movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I’m talking about movies like Amityville, Paranormal, and The Fourth Kind. Amityville and Paranormal, for the prospect of there being evidence of something beyond this life. The Fourth Type, due to the possibility of having evidence that we are not alone in the Universe. Fire in the Sky was a good movie for that. At least when I looked up those characters, I found out that they existed and the story they claimed to have happened is what the movie is based on. I also like the fact that they all passed the lie detector test. So when I find out that these stories are false, it’s a huge disappointment. Based on a true story or inspired by true events should be left for movies like RUDY, WE ARE THE TITANS, MALCOM X, NIXON, ALI, etc.
