Movies based on urban legends you might have missed Bashny.Net

The phrase “urban legend” is associated in the minds of most people with the concept of “false belief”. However, in fact, this term refers to a more complex social phenomenon associated with the origin and transmission of folk traditions, which are often fiction, but still in rare cases turn out to be true.

Urban folklore often forms the basis of plots of films of a variety of genres. With the most interesting of them we hasten to introduce our readers:

1. Tales by the Fire (1997)



This film is a treasure trove of all classical urban legends.

A group of teenagers after a car accident finds themselves in a remote, dark forest. To somehow pass the time, they make a fire and begin to tell each other chilling “horror stories”. But according to the law of the genre, fictitious ghosts, monsters and psychopaths are already somewhere behind the main characters.

2. When a Stranger Calls (2006)

The film is based on the urban legend “The Nanny and the Stranger on the Second Floor”, which has been passed on by word of mouth in many countries (with minor changes) and has been translated into 150 languages.

Sending the children to bed, the nurse remains in a huge mansion all alone. Her loneliness is interrupted by phone calls, and in the tube, an unfamiliar sinister voice asks if the nanny has been checking on her children for a long time. Then the frightened girl calls the police, where she is informed that the calls come directly from the house in which she is located.

3. Bloody Mary (2006)

The plot of the film is based on one of the most famous urban tales in the world – the legend of “Bloody Mary”, which frightened more than one generation of children who wondered what would happen if they dared to look in the mirror in a dark room, saying the name “Bloody Mary” three times. If you believe the legend, it is not good to see her ghost in the mirror.

4. Traveller (1986)

The plot of the film is based on an urban legend about a bloodthirsty maniac pretending to be a “good guy” and voting on the road in search of his new victim.

The psycho-killer begins to start his “mad game” with the young man, at the same time leaving behind the corpses of more and more victims.

The moral of the film is very simple: do not take strangers as companions.

5. Alligator (1980)

The legend of “crocodiles in the sewers” is successfully played out in this horror film with elements of mysticism. The legend originated in the late 50s of the 20th century, when the writer Robert Daley in his book described the case of a man colliding with small crocodiles living in sewer tunnels, which were subsequently destroyed by rat poison.

There are other versions of this legend, where instead of crocodiles in the toilet flushed pythons. The director of the film decided to use a whole alligator, which as a cub was sent to the sewer, and, as an adult, began to take revenge on all residents of the city of Chicago.

6. Candyman (1992)

This urban legend is so closely related to modern culture that at first glance it is difficult to determine whether it spread after Clive Barker wrote the novel The Forbidden (which was later filmed) or whether the novel itself was based on a city bike.

There's no single Candyman story. According to one version, it was an ordinary beekeeper, who was robbed, beaten and left on the apiary to die, previously smeared with honey. On the other hand, he was a talented African-American artist who was brutally murdered for his love for the customer’s daughter. Before throwing him on the apiary, the poor man's hand was cut off. And now, if you call him from a parallel world, he will come to the brave man and kill him with a hook instead of a severed hand.

7. Burning (1981)

The script was based on stories told by children in suburban New Jersey and New York state camps. The story tells of a summer camp counselor who was horribly disfigured as a result of an unfortunate joke by teenagers. A couple of years later, he returns to camp, armed with garden scissors, to take revenge on the unsuspecting, carefree holidaymakers.

8. Christina (1983)

John Carpenter’s film shocked the audience and critics, and the director made the first attempt to apply visual special effects.

Christina is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Stephen King. The basis of the story of a killer car was taken by a popular American urban legend of the 50s, telling about a car named Christina, who has a mind and turns into a “serial maniac”.

9. The Creature (1981)

What happens when the truth of history cannot be proved by logical reasoning and scientific evidence? Sure, urban legend.

In the mid-70s, an American woman named Doris Beezer, who lives with her four children in California, complained about the presence of evil spirits in her home that tortured and physically abused her. No one took Doris’ complaints seriously, and everyone took her for mentally deranged, as she was domestically abused as a child and later endured beatings and humiliations from men. It was reported that paranormal specialists spotted a strange flicker of light and blurred human-like silhouettes in her house.

This story inspired Frank De Fellitta to write a book that was later filmed by director Cindy J. Fury. Martin Scorsese included “The Creature” in the list of 11 most terrible horror films of all time.

10. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

You may be wondering why this movie was included in our list. But Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction film is surrounded by urban legends and conspiracy theories. Some claimed that the film was secret evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations; others believed that in 1969, the Americans never landed on the moon, and all the filming of the flight and landings was done in a studio in Nevada by Kubrick himself.

True or fiction, we will probably never know, but the space saga is definitely worth watching more than once, because as Arthur C. Clarke, whose story formed the basis of this film, said: “If you understand the film after the first viewing, then our plan and Kubrick failed.”

source:mixstuff.ru

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