10 Horror Films You Won't Believe Were Based On True Stories

7. Them

The film: Home invasion thrillers are ten a penny - and especially ones that market themselves of true stories. This French production is a real doozy, though, going far and beyond your usual Strangers shtick (which, for the record, is supposedly a true story but is actually just based on the director's hazy recollection of something which didn't actually happen in his town as a kid). Directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud, Them sees a young teacher moving from France to a remote but idyllic country house near Bucharest, Romania with her lover Lucas. Everything's pretty perfect until they're awoken one morning to find their house surrounded by unknown hooded assailants who don't look like much of a welcoming committee. Vicious violence and unbearable tension abound as only the French can do in their nasty, bleak horror films. The true story: And to make it all the worse, the events really happened. Eep. This is another one which really does sound like an urban legend from the set-up; there are countless scary stories that involve horrible things happening to people in their own home, and they're unable to reach help for whatever reason - the call coming from inside the house and all that - which have gone on to inspire countless slasher flicks. Them is based on one story in particular, though, of an Austrian couple who were terrorised by three teenagers while on holiday in the Czech Republic, eventually being murdered in cold blood in the woods near their vacation home. It wasn't a huge story at the time and its veracity is somewhat disputed, but the film's terrifying enough for us to reconsider ever going on holiday anywhere we don't get phone signal.