Inspired By A True Story

August 28,1955. Young Emmett Till is kidnapped in the middle of the night. His eventual death will change the course of events in civil rights for decades to come. In 2022, Danielle Deadwyler portrays the mother of this young boy, Mamie Till-Mobley, in one of the most powerfully underrated films of this decade. 70 years was not so long ago, and Till was sadly inspired by a...

November 13, 2000. A polish man leaves work for a meeting with a client, and is never seen alive again. How his murderer is caught is nothing short of fascinating. In 2016, Jim Carrey portrays a version of the detective who eventually brought this killer to justice in a completely different way. Always remember that print and the internet are forever, because Dark Crimes was indeed inspired by a true story.

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March 1, 1949. Police are notified by surrounding neighbors that a local woman and her two-year-old daughter are missing, which leads to a basement full of horrors and the arrests of two despicable people. The couple at the heart of these horrors, who came to be known as the Lonely Hearts Killers, are later revisited in not one but TWO movie interpretations of these events. 

Love is not always exciting and new, sometimes it’s monst...

January 6, 1994. Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is viciously attacked on the eve of her Olympic qualifying competition at the 1994 US figure skating championships. In 2017, director Craig Gillespie showcases Margot Robbie as the alleged conspirator of this attack, Tonya Harding. Lace up before hitting this ice, because I, Tonya was Inspired By A True Story. 

Listen to this episode of the Inspired By A True Story podcast at any of the...

December 26, 1996. John and Patsy Ramsey wake to find their daughter, JonBenét Ramsey, missing, and a ransom note on the stairs. Hours later, JonBenét's body would be found INSIDE the house. To this day, no murderer has been named. In 2016, Lifetime attempted to tell this story with conflicting information, and in 2024, Netflix released a dive into the case from the family's perspective. Always check every room in your house, becau...

December 7, 2003. A beloved young boy sets off to take a bus ride on a journey to buy his parents Christmas presents and is never seen alive again. In 2022, Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris starred in a film that focuses on the police investigation that led to the perpetrator’s eventual arrest, which left the family of the victim in complete disdain. An incredible tale that seems almost impossible, yet The Stranger was indeed inspired...

September 13, 1978. Cheryl Bradshaw, a drama teacher, takes a trip to The Dating Game, where she asks potential suitors random questions that lead to an eventual date. One of those contestants, is a serial killer. In 2024, Anna Kendrick renames the film's lead Sheryl and offers up her directorial debut with Woman of the Hour, recapturing these same events in creatively intense ways with a uniquely distinct approach. 

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September 1975. Suffering from either psychosis or demonic possession, a young woman begins undergoing an exorcism that will lead to her eventual death. In 2005, director Scott Derrickson delivers a film based off of these true events that posits the question of what is good and what is evil? It’s time to put everlasting battle between God and the Devil on trial, this is the story behind The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

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October - 1973. The Perron Family have moved into a dream of a home. Unfortunately, it allegedly harbored a dark, evil secret and for the next decade. This family claimed to be tortured by a malevolent spirt, and they were begging for help, and Ed and Lorraine Warren, a pair of paranormal investigators, were more than happy to oblige. In 2013, renowned horror director James Wan reinvents history in The Conjuring, as Ed and Lorraine...

May 1, 1990. Greggory Smart is found murdered in his own home, the victim of an apparent burglary gone wrong. Shortly after, his wife, Pamela Smart, is charged with his murder, committed by the 15 year old boy she was having a sexual affair with. In 1995, Nicole Kidman’s stars in Gus Van Sant’s To Die For, a wild retelling of these same events, complete with a much darker outcome.

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October 26, 1881. Four men, armed with guns, long coats, and badges, rolled up to a lot near the OK Corral to disarm several miscreants looking for trouble. What happened next became the most infamous gunfight in American history.

November, 1986. A young woman, beaten and disheveled, has run from lawn to lawn screaming she has been raped, and for anyone to call the police. This woman, this hero, finds herself ultimately responsible for bringing down two of Australia’s most notorious serial killers.

In 2016, writer and director Ben Young creates a film frighteningly close to the real story of Kate Moir's tragic encounter with David and Catherine Birnie, despi...

June, 1983. A young woman gets into a car expecting a simple exchange of sex for money. Instead, her horrific ordeal and fight for survival leads to the capture of Alaska’s most notorious serial killer, Robert Hansen, known as the Butcher Baker, a man believed to have murdered at least 17 women.

In 2013, Nicolas Cage and John Cusack reunite determined to take on this tale and pay respect to the victims.  

Turns out nowhere is safe ...

July 1, 1981. A brutal attack at 8763 Wonderland Avenue in Los Angeles leads to the bodies of 4 people, and one clinging to life. At the center of the investigation is a coked out porn star.

In 2003, director James Cox recounts these events with Val Kilmer taking on the role of porn legend John Holmes. We are about to go down the rabbit hole known as the Wonderland murders.

Be careful where you swing that thing, because Wonderland ...

June, 1964. Three young men took part in Freedom Summer, a 3 month initiative to register black people in the South to vote. Then suddenly, they went missing.

In 1988, director Alan Parker recreated these events in a phenomenal film that became nominated for Best Picture, and starred the talents of Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand, and Gene Hackman.

It’s hard to believe, but this was only 60 ye...

In 1990, a widow meets a kindly young man at her husband’s funeral, and the two immediately kick up an engrossing friendship. This man eventually takes on the widow’s entire multimillion dollar estate, up and 6 years later, when a body is found in a deep freezer. 

In 2011, director Richard Linklater takes on the task of painting Bernie Tiede in the most positive of lights, under the darkest of circumstances, complete with talents s...

February 22, 1946. A young couple in Texarkana, Texas pull over for a little loving, and  are forced out of their car by a man wearing a hood with two slits for eyes. The carnage that followed terrified an entire community for months, and eventually became known as the Moonlight Murders.  

In 1976, Director Charles B Pierce recreates these crimes in a quasi documentary style. Be mindful where you park your car for necking, because ...

The Sound of Freedom was based on events in 2014, when a former Department of Homeland Security agent partners with Columbian authorities for an undercover sting targeting traffickers of children sold into sex slavery.

In 2023, Jim Caviezel stars as this man, Tim Ballard, in a dramatic reenactment of this operation, which brought with it millions in box office success, and plenty of controversy.

Keep an eye on your children, becaus...

November 13, 1974. Amityville, Long Island. A man, Ronald DeFeo Jr., bursts into a bar screaming that his parents have been shot. What the police later find in this man’s home will terrify and haunt an entire community.

One year later, George and Kathleen "Kathy" Lutz move their family into that same home, and almost immediately begin to notice strange occurrences throughout the property, including a voice telling them to GET OUT. ...