10 Horror Movies Inspired By Creepy Urban Legends

Fiction, meet reality.

The Red Spot Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Lionsgate

Really, all horror movies are just campfire stories made tangible. Instead of a torch under some twerpy teenager's chin, we get studio lights blaring down on our grisly settings, transforming shadows on the wall into monstrous creatures that make for the most terrifying of tales.

So it makes sense that the horror genre borrows heartily from the stories that have already been whispered for generations. Urban legends - with stories from Candyman, to The Grudge, to of course, Urban Legend fitting the bill - are ripe for the picking when it comes to horror movies, since the mythos around them has already been steeped in our collective subconscious. Whether they're eerily familiar stories wrapped up in shiny new packaging, or age old classics spun into visual feasts for the senses, urban legends are absolutely the sinewy, rotting backbone of the genre.

And naturally, films become all the more scary when you take a look at the inspiration that makes them, especially when they come with one foot firmly planted in reality...

10. Giant Alligators Live In The Sewer System - Alligator

The Red Spot Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Group 1 Films

You've all heard that story of rogue reptiles growing unfathomably large in the sewers. They're bought as little tank pets before growing uncomfortably big in unprepared owners homes, and end up making a swift exit down the nearest toilet rather than releasing them back into the wild. There, they feast on all your dirty doings and dumped goldfish for years, until they grow to unchecked, monstrous proportions to attack sewer workers and take over the underground.

Sometimes, they even become mutated from the toxic nature of sewage systems and incorrectly disposed of waste - which is exactly where 80s monster movie Alligator gets its titular beastie from. Chomping down on discarded corpses of animal test subjects imbued with a growth formula, the alligator grows to ridiculous proportions, and quickly moves onto humans for its main course.

Alligators in sewers aren't unheard of, but gigantic, irradiated behemoths rampaging through the pipes would probably get better coverage than one campy B-movie from the 80s. As scary as the thought of prehistoric monsters out for flesh is whilst you're sitting on the porcelain throne, you're probably safe on this one. Or so you'd hope...

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Contributor

Horror film junkie, burrito connoisseur, and serial cat stroker. WhatCulture's least favourite ginger.