3. The Strangers - The Keddie Cabin Murders
Anyone who has seen 2009's The Strangers will tell you not to watch it when you're alone. I have seen this movie only twice in my life and it was back to back and it was in 2009. I like to re-watch movies that have a significant effect on me as a way to dull down the impact. It's kind of like watching the special features on any Saw DVD. The Strangers is about two people, a man and a woman, who have just come from a wedding. There is an animosity between them, which is just a way to distract audiences from what is really about to happen, which, as we all know, is truly terrifying. Three masked intruders spend the night infiltrating the house, torturing the couple, and eventually killing one and leaving the other for dead upon sunrise. No one is held responsible for the crime and we are left with the haunting words about the truth about home invasion in America. It has been speculated that this movie had its roots in the infamous Manson family and the murder of Sharon Tate and her illustrious house guests, which I don't for a second try to deny the similarities. It has come to my attention that, although very similar, there is another story that The Strangers provides a near perfect cinematic parallel for. In 1981, in Keddie, California, at a cabin resort called "Keddie Resort", three bodies were found mutilated and bound to chairs. The three victims were Sue Sharp, her sixteen year old son, John Sharp, and his friend Dana Wingate, who was 17. The bodies were found by Sue's 14 year old daughter, who had spent the previous night at a friends'. Once police arrived at the scene, three other children (2 younger Sharp children and a friend of theirs) were found in a separate room, unharmed. There was still, however, one Sharp child unaccounted for. 13 year old Tina Sharp had vanished, though it was stated by the younger Sharp children that she had been there throughout the attack and had gone missing at some point during the night. Three years later, Tina's head was found fifty miles from the resort, which had since become dilapidated and fell out of commission. The killers have still never been caught. Which is utterly terrifying. That means that The Strangers could happen again. And again. And again...and again... and again...