8 Horror Movies With Creepy Urban Legends
1. Cannibal Holocaust Is A Snuff Movie
The most famous horror film to successfully convince audiences that what was occurring was actually real, Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust was ahead of its time for a variety of reasons. It's a very early Italian-American example of the found footage subgenre, with the production design intended to mimic the real feel of a documentary in the heart of darkness of the Amazon rainforests gone horribly wrong. The four principle actors in the cast had it written into their contracts that they had to stay out of the media and the limelight for a year so that the aura of realism that the film generated could stay intact.
Unfortunately, the cinéma vérité style and the use of real native people as actors led some members of initial audiences to believe that the gruesome mutilations, rapes and deaths occurring onscreen were genuine footage. Ten days after the premiere of the film, Deodato was arrested and charged, first under obscenity laws, and later with murder. The film, believed to be a genuine snuff movie, was confiscated and all further distribution was cancelled. Cast and crew were required to appear before court in Italy to prove that all of the footage had been faked using special effects.
In fact, the murder charges against Deodato were only officially dropped once hed taken the cast onto a national television show to explain that they were still alive, and to demonstrate how the horrendous impalement effect had been created. The makers of Cannibal Holocaust wouldnt get away unscathed, however. The film was found to have contained genuine footage of animals being killed specifically for the film, and the producers, the writer, the director and the studio executive in charge of the production were convicted of obscenity and animal cruelty, and each given a suspended sentence.
Do you have any other examples of horror flicks with spooky urban legends attached to them? Tell us all about them in the comments!