Eerie entertainment frequently takes intake from urban legends , with good reasonableness — nothing ’s scarier than a fantastical tarradiddle that still feels like it just might be true . TV shows like The X - Files and Supernatural have made big use of contemporary folklore over the years , and plenty of lineament film have been made in the same vein , too . Here , we count up our deary .
13) Channel Zero
The third instalment of Syfy ’s horror anthology serial based on different internet - spawned Creepypasta tales bring back February 7 , this Wednesday . We could n’t be more excited — or terrified about what nightmares we ’ll experience this season , which is subtitled Butcher ’s Block . It ’s based on Kerry Hammond ’s Reddit series “ Search and Rescue Woods , ” with quite a few surreal terrors added , as well as a sinister keep going turn by Rutger Hauer . On a side eminence , and unrelated to Channel Zero orthe existent - life “ Slender Man ” showcase , Creepypasta is so ubiquitous now that its most infamous caption is getting its own feature film ; style Slender Man ; it ’s out in August .
12) ABCs of Death (segment “E Is for Exterminate”)
Arachnophobes will absolutely want to avoid the Angela Bettis - direct section in this macabre anthology film — but it does draw from one of the most tegument - crawlingly awful urban legends ever : “ Spiders in Cheek . ” serve it to say , the short circuit keep an eye on several troll of man vs. spider … and he who has the most peg , win .
11) The Tag-Along
Urban legends are a global phenomenon , asevidenced by this hugely popular Chinese pic urge on by the story of “ the little girl in red , ” a mysterious number first recognise back in 1998 in a family ’s holiday picture , trailing behind someone who died shortly after the slip . Soon , she made other appearances , seed unnumbered nightmares as she established herself as a ghostly harbinger of doom . In The Tag - Along , a young man searches for his grandmother , who is apparently missing though her presence is still felt in the home they portion out . thing get weirder when he finds a video of Grandma on a hiking trail … with a unknown missy in Bolshevik following close behind . The 2015 pic struck such a chord that managing director Cheng Wei - ha made a sequel last class that was similarly well - receive .
10) Nightmares
This 1983 horror anthology contains four segment , all derive from urban legends . It begins with the ever - pop “ killer in the back seat , ” in which a driver thinks she ’s being terrorized by one homo ( in this version , a gas - post concomitant ) , when really he ’s prove to protect her from the maniac he ’s spotted lurking behind her . There ’s also Emilio Estevez as a kid who gets sucked into his favored video biz ; Lance Henriksen ( Aliens ) as a dishonored non-Christian priest forced to battle a motortruck - driving Satan ; and Veronica Cartwright ( Alien ) as a housewife dealing with a major betrayer problem . Nightmares is not a classic on the level of Creepshow , but the sight of Estevez ( one yr prior to Repo Man ) nerding out in the colonnade — over with cheesy , low-pitched - budget animise effects — is pretty mirthful .
8 & 9) Black Christmas and When a Stranger Calls
Both of these pic from the 1970s are variations on the urban legend of “ the babysitter and the gentleman’s gentleman upstairs”—and both were remade in 2006 , establish that a sinister speech sound call coming from a weirdy who ’s actually inside the sign of the zodiac is potently horrifying for any generation . That awe was afterward reprocess for the gap scene of Scream , in which Drew Barrymore ’s part does n’t realize ( until it ’s too late ) that the repugnance buff she ’s speaking to is lurking just outside her firm .
7) Hold Your Breath
This movie is middling terrible , but it ’s worth mentioning here for the transparent fact that someone ramp up an entire movie off the superstitious notion about have your breathing spell when you run by a necropolis . Most masses rightfully consider that belief to be nothing more than a kiddie adaptation of gallows humor ( since “ it ’s not genteel to breathe when others ca n’t , ” you see ) . But in this context , daring to inhale or exhale at the unseasonable moment can attract the interest of a restless vicious spirit , if one happens to be hang around at the time . Too bad for these Thomas Kid , their weekend of fun in the wild is about to become a homicidal possession - fest instead . Should ’ve minded your manners , guys !
6) Alligator
commemorate that urban legend about the big - metropolis fry who flushes his baby alligator down the lav … where it uprise into a toothy , sewer - dwelling lusus naturae ? agree to Snopes.com , the story pass all the way back to the 1920sand is , alas , not straight . But it still appropriate enough imaginations to bring 1980 creaturesploitation classic Alligator into the earth , which begins as a teeny Florida alligator finds its way out of the swamp , gets unceremoniously dispose of in the expected manner , and spends 12 years banquet on discarded illegal aesculapian experimentation … transforming into a mutant supergator ! Robert Forster act the cop on the guinea pig who ’s rag by regretful fortune even beyond his scaly curse , and the badass reptile feed the mayor of Chicago and displume up a high - society wedding before at long last being repress .
5) The Hitcher
Rutger Hauer , already on this inclination for Channel Zero , plays the hitchhiker from hell in this Twilight Zone - ish 1986 thriller . The motion-picture show — compose by Eric Red , who was later involved inhis own cable car - related , real - life repugnance tarradiddle — takes some license with one of the most famous , most widespread hitchhiker - related urban fable , “ the disappear hitchhiker . ” In that taradiddle , though , the spiritual hitchhiker disappears , leaving only a narrative behind , rather than turning up over and over again like a sanguinary sorry cent . The Hitcher , which also star C. Thomas Howell and Jennifer Jason Leigh , got a moderately decent remaking in 2007 with Sean Bean in the villain role . ( Hopefully , nobody ’s plan a third version set in the age of Uber . )
4) The Burning
This first - wave slasher classic is best - known nowadays for its early - career performances by Jason Alexander , Holly Hunter , and Fisher Stevens . It came out a yr after Friday the 13th , and the 1980 hit ’s influence is very obviously take in in its summer - camp stage setting . The electrocution ’s urban - legend connection comes , oddly enough , with the name given to its brand - wielding maniac : “ Cropsey , ” an homage to a boogeyman that real - aliveness New York kids fear during the same earned run average as the celluloid . A 2009 documentary , titled Cropsey , investigate the stemma of that urban legend , turning up some frightening truth that are way scarier than anything in The electrocution . The prevue is above and it ’s well deserving checking out the doc , as well as a follow - up the same film maker made in a similar vein , entitle Killer Legends .
3) The Mothman Prophecies
2) Urban Legend
Back in 1998 , a baby - confront Jared Leto starred in this Scream - era repugnance film , which took advantage of the fact that most slasher films have at least some root in urban legends . But it went a little overboard in stuffing its self - aware script with nightmares straightforward outta Snopes.com . It starts with our old acquaintance , the slayer in the back seat , and also includes “ the dead roommate ” ( complete with the punchline “ Are n’t you glad you did n’t sprain on the light ? ” scrawled on the bulwark in blood ) , thegang - initiation headlight flash , killer Pop Rocks , and many more . There ’s also a fun cameo by Robert “ Freddy Krueger ” England as a tweedy folklore professor . Urban Legend father two sequels ; part three , aim by Pet Sematary ’s Mary Lambert , is subtitled Bloody Mary and add an intense backstory to the slumber - political party tradition of say you - know - which name multiple times in the mirror .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3EduQR66Ak
1) Candyman
Speaking of names you should n’t repeat … This 1992 Bernard Rose flick , base on a Clive Barker account , is still genuinely unsettling , with folklore tilt adding strange depth to its tarradiddle . Tony Todd play the titulary supernatural killer , once a prosperous African - American man off ( horribly , by bee ) soon after the Civil War by a racist , envious lynch mob . Virginia Madsen plays a grad student study urban legends who becomes personally mat with the Candyman while investigating his chronicle , and how he might tie into recent murders in the area . The quest lead her into Chicago ’s toughest housing project . against the advice of her confrere , her cheesy prof married man , and residents who call back she ’s out of her mind , both for treading where she does n’t belong and for investigate a booger who looks like back in byplay . Though certain aspects of the movie have maturate well than others , Candyman is still one of the scariest films ever made . You ’ll never look at a medicine console the same way again .
CandymanfolkloreHorrorurban legends
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