9 Films "Based On True Stories" That Missed Out The Best Part

5. The Killers' Motives - The Strangers

The Strangers is a film that comes with the vague claim of being "inspired by true events". In this case that means a corroboration of different home attack stories, with the most sinister aspects from each being brought together. You have burglars knocking on doors to ask if a random person is home to find which houses are empty, along with a bunch of the usual serial killer stuff, chief amongst them the crimes of Charles Manson. One of the creepiest parts of The Strangers was how little was given about the motives of the three killers who terrorise a married couple. Wearing masks the whole time and stating their only reason for doing it was "because you were home", it's kept hunger for a potential sequel high and helps make the unprovoked terror cut a little closer to home. Of course, with an inspiration like Manson the motivations could have been even more unnerving than the unknown. Convinced there were hidden messages in The Beatles' 'White Album', Manson believed a race war named after one of the songs on the album, Helter Skelter, would soon break out, which he attempted to help start by having his followers commit a series of grisly murders. If that's not franchise material we don't know what is.