10 Horror Movie Villains You Didn't Know Were Based On Real-Life Monsters

After tourists Liz, Kristy, and Ben buy a truck while traversing the Great North Highway, the three backpackers get stranded in the Australian outback. After a brief pit stop, the car refuses to start. A pig hunter and helpful local, Mick Taylor, offers to repair the trio’s truck. You see where this is going.

Both Liz and Kristy meet a torturous demise at the hands of not-so-helpful murderer Mick Taylor, but not before being tortured, dismembered, and paralyzed. Ben manages to escape death, though not from lack of trying. After waking up nailed to a crucifix, trapped in a mine shaft, and uncomfortably close to two Rottweilers desperate to make him dinner, the last remaining backpacker crawls his way to help while Mick Taylor goes right on hunting humans. In a serial killer smoothie of sorts, Mick Taylor was inspired by three different killers.

Let’s start with the obvious: Ivan Milat AKA The Backpacker Killer. Over the course of four years, Milat hunted and killed seven backpackers using free lifts as a ruse and dumped the bodies in and around Belanglo State Forest in Australia. Bradley Murdoch, who's now serving life in prison for the murder of Peter Falconio, also served as inspiration for the sadistic killer. The notorious Snowtown Murders in Adelaide, where 11 bodies were found in acid barrels, also shaped the character of Mick Taylor.