10 Movies Inspired By Things NOBODY Expected
3. Amedeo Modigliani's Paintings - Mama
Andy Muschietti's 2013 horror film Mama has one of the more distinctive and memorable designs of any horror monster from the last decade-or-so, its angular, distorted facial features helping propel the film to enormous box office success.
In a 2017 interview with The New York Times to promote his adaptation of Stephen King's It, Muschietti revealed that Mama's design was inspired by the work of Italian-Jewish artist Amedeo Modigliani, known for his unconventional portraiture. He said:
"It's a literal translation of a very personal childhood fear... In my house, there was a print of a Modigliani painting that I found terrifying. And the thought of meeting an incarnation of the woman in it would drive me crazy... [Modigliani] often does these portraits with elongated characters. His vision of humans were with elongated necks, crooked faces and empty eyes most of the time. It was so deformed that as a child, you don't see that as an artist's style. You see it as a monster."
With that in mind, it's honestly surprising that more horror movies don't look to creepy fine art for inspiration, because plenty of it sure is freaky alright.