Truly scary stuff.Īrguably the most famous horror film based on horrifying, allegedly real events, The Amityville Horror has spent more than four decades giving audiences a permanent case of night terrors with the story of a young couple and their house in Amityville, New York haunted by violent spirits.įour years prior to the film’s release, the real-life Lutz family claimed to have suffered a fate similar to that of their fictional counterparts. Ultimately, two priests - like in the film - performed the rite of exorcism some 20 to 30 times to save the boy from the demonic infestation. According to Allen, the young boy in the case plays with an Ouija board, much like Regan (Linda Blair) does in The Exorcist. Allen wrote about the true story in a 1993 book titled Possessed: The True Story of an Exorcism. Rainier Boy Reported Held in Devil's Grip.' Decades later, author Thomas B. A student at Georgetown University at the time, Blatty became fascinated with a Washington Post article headlined 'Priest Frees Mt. William Peter Blatty, who wrote both the Oscar-winning screenplay and the bestselling 1971 novel, was first inspired by the 1949 real-life exorcism of a 14-year-old boy. girl possessed by a demon is closer to truth than fiction. Quite possibly the most terrifying horror film ever made (and certainly one of the best), The Exorcist becomes even scarier when you consider its story about a young Washington, D.C.
