✖
FILM

9 Times Movies Predicted or Inspired Real-Life Horror Stories

Life imitates art?

Orphan

Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers - YouTube.com

Normally, we think of horror movies as based on true events, not the other way around.

But on a number of occasions, horror movies have actually inspired or predicted real-life occurrences.

While the vast majority of violent events occur without the influence of movies, and while most people who watch scary movies do not become violent afterwards, every once in awhile, life really does imitate art. Here are eight terrifying and gory examples of times that scary movies crept their way into reality.

1. The Orphan

Kendall Rae - YouTube.com

Natalia Grace

The tale of Natalia Grace, the girl with dwarfism abandoned by her adoptive parents, has been all over the news lately. According to Natalia's parents, the 9-year-old they believed they adopted was actually a 22-year-old, sociopathic adult woman. Doctors have apparently been unable to determine her actual age.

If this story sounds familiar, you might be thinking of the 2009 film Orphan, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. In that film, a 9-year-old adopted child named Esther is revealed to be...a wicked, sociopathic 33-year-old woman with dwarfism.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
horror movies became real
Film Features

Please Enjoy These 10 Best Movie Scenes Starring Dogs

Woof.

Photo by Izabelly Marques Unsplash

Its always emotionally devastating when one of your favorite characters dies in a movie.

But if that favorite character is a dog? Shut off the movie, crawl in bed, and don't get up for a few days. Our real life furry friends mean the world to us, and consequently, it's easy to get very attached to big screen good boys, too. Whether it's a movie about dogs or one that just happens to feature a talented canine actor, here are our favorite movie scenes starring dogs.


Keep ReadingShow less
best dog scenes in movies
MUSIC

The Best Performances of Eddie Vedder

One of the original purveyors of grunge continues to rock on. Happy 55th birthday!

Eddie Vedder of the Pearl Jam

Photo by Matteo Chinellato (Shutterstock)

Pearl Jam's beloved baritone turns 55 today.

The multi-instrumentalist has enriched American rock music since Pearl Jam's debut in 1990. Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Jeff Ament (bass), and original drummer Dave Krusen helped bring forth the era of grunge and speaking out against the soulless corporatization of the music industry (we still love that the band sued Ticketmaster for creating a monopoly over concert ticket sales). When it came to finding their name, Vedder once claimed that "Pearl Jam" was an homage to his great-grandmother Pearl. "Great-grandpa was an Indian and totally into hallucinogenics and peyote," he said. "Great-grandma Pearl used to make this hallucinogenic preserve that there's total stories about. We don't have the recipe, though." In true rock and roll fashion, he later clarified the story was "total bullsh*t" (though to be fair, he did indeed have a great-grandmother named Pearl).

As a band (and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees), Pearl Jam has more classics than we have time to list, but Eddie Vedder shines brightest on these gems:

Black

Back in the days of MTV spotlighting musicians rather than lonely strangers playing online games of catfishing and ghosting, there was MTV Unplugged. Your favorite musicians gave raw, stripped down performances of their biggest hits, revealing new layers of their talent as well as new emotional vulnerabilities of their work.

Breakerfall

The lead song on Binaural is beloved by true Pearl Jam fans, despite it never being released as a single. The pulse-quickening pace is matched with Vedder's vibrating energy and his signature rasp.


Baba O'Riley (The Who cover)

Pearl Jam's 2003 cover of The Who's classic proved that they match the talents of rock's greatest bands. Even dressed in full dad-fresh-off-the-golf-course gear, Vedder gets all of Madison Square Garden on their feet with rock and roll energy.

Baba O'Riley (The Who Cover) - Live at Madison Square Garden - Pearl Jamyoutu.be

Jeremy

As one of Pearl Jam's most well known songs, "Jeremy" can seem overplayed to some. But their 1992 performance at the Pinkpop Festival in Landgraaf, Netherlands saw Vedder at his sharpest, crooning in perfect sync with McCready and "unleashing the lion" in true Grunge spirit.

Oceans

No words. Experience this. You're welcome.

Related Articles Around the Web
eddie vedder
FILM

"Ghostbusters: Afterlife" Is a Darker Take on the Classic Franchise

"Stranger Things" meets "Ghost Busters."

Photo by: Willian Justen de Vasconcellos / Unsplash

If you're a fan of the original 1984 Ghostbusters or the 2016 remake because of their inherent hilarity and kitsch, then you may not love the new trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

The new film, directed by Jason Reitman and written by Reitman and Gil Kenan, stars Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), Carrie Coon, and Paul Rudd, while Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts return in their roles from the 1984 film. The trailer is decidedly dark, even sad at times, as it depicts a single mother (Carrie Coon) and her two children (Grace and Wolfhard) retreating to their recently inherited family patriarch's rickety old farm house. As the town is thrown into disarray by unexplained earthquake-like occurrences, the children start to uncover relics of their late-grandfather's past, such as a ghost trap and, eventually, the car from the original Ghostbusters movie.

It all adds up to hint at a darker, less-comedic, more heartfelt addition to the beloved franchise.

GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE - Official Trailer (HD)youtu.be

Related Articles Around the Web
ghostbusters afterlife
CULTURE

7 Creepy Short Stories Available Online to Read In Quarantine

Because we're all dying in slow motion.

Henry Be (Unsplash)

Blessed be, b*tches!

To be honest, this list began as a sweet throwback to some of the short fiction from our middle school English textbooks that spooked and delighted our tiny, hormonal brains. But because everything is creepier in quarantine, it became a list of dangerously talented horror writers who tap into our overwhelming, buried fears for our own humanity in the face of society's collapse. Some are short-short stories and some are works of nightmare fiction that you can't stop reading.

Keep ReadingShow less
creepy online stories
FILM

Spookiest Horror Movies Currently Streaming on Netflix

SpOoOoOoOoOky

Fall has just begun, meaning Halloween is right around the corner. But something else is lurking around the corner too, and it's not pumpkin spice lattes...

Okay, it is pumpkin spice lattes.

But also, October is all about snuggling up under a blanket and streaming scary movies on Netflix. Unfortunately, Netflix's horror movie section is a minefield of hot garbage with a few spooky gems strewn amongst the trash. Luckily, we're here to guide you to the right choices. Think of this list kind of like your own personal Netflix Halloween Minesweeper.

The Conjuring

The Conjuring may have spawned an infinite number of mediocre sequels, but the original deserves all of its success. James Wan directs with subtlety, earning scares through well-crafted tension-building instead of cheap jump spooks.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
netflix horror