Inspired Fiction

I get excited when I see a new movie released which was “inspired by true events” or “based on a true story.” Something about real life turned into a cinematic experience draws me to these movies. Watching a movie based upon or inspired by actual events allows for a certain amount of vicarious living through the events on screen. You can place yourself in their shoes and in their mind, and you can feel the pain, fear, horror, or sadness within by simply inserting yourself into the storyline. True events tug on your senses and feelings more than any complete work of fiction can ever hope to do. Sure, fiction can create instant impact and go straight for the heart strings or jugular in an attempt to scare or induce emotion, but nothing can compare to true events. Knowing that people actually lived through the storyline creates a sense fiction cannot replicate.

Recently, I decided to rent the movie “The Strangers.” One of its calling cards was the “inspired by true events” label. The Strangers is a suspense driven look into two people’s lives that were terrorized by three masked intruders and eventually murdered. The movie does a great job creating and stirring your fear by drawing you into the situation as if you were there with the innocent victims. At each turn, you are left with a question of “What would you do” or “How would you react?” “Knowing” the story was inspired by true events, you are connected with the victims. You are feeling their fear, their suspense, and their dread of the unknown outside the door. In a sense, you become the victim of the event.

Feeling impressed by the movie and sitting in wonderment about the true life event, I decided to hit the internet and do some research on the actual events the movie was based upon. I wanted to know more about the victims and find out if the murderers were ever identified or caught (the movie implied they were going to victimize other innocents in the future). Expecting to find some criminal reports or similarity to a crime report, what I found was completely unexpected.

While the movie was established as being “inspired by true events,” the true events were actually fiction. The entire movie was a farce, not a single moment of truth. It turned out to be a random work of fiction from a writer who was inspired by a childhood event which was in fact, nothing like the movie. While the movie focuses upon a completely random murder event involving a couple in a remote area, the true events came from the director’s childhood. As a child, someone came to his house asking for a person that did not live there. He later found out other houses in the neighborhood had been robbed. The people were checking for empty houses to rob…

No murders, no couple, no true event here. The directory has blatantly utilized the true event tagline to drive people to his movie. While being a great marketing tool, it left me feeling a backlash of resentment towards the director. Why resort to such deceitfulness over something so trivial? The movie was good without the moniker of “inspired by true events.” It was unnecessary to throw in the inspired statement. The movie would have worked with or without it.

But now, knowing that I’ve been “duped” by this movie maker, I feel a bit used by him. I know that Hollywood takes liberties when dealing with true story events and they often fictionalize them up in an effort to add entertainment value, but this was blatant disregard for the event in itself. There was zero true event reality with this story. It’s fine to make a movie, but to try and “Blair Witch” the public is a coward’s way out in an effort to make some money.

The Strangers was a very good movie, but know this, it’s a fiction story inspired by a screenwriter trying to make a buck.