In the first film of a horror trilogy, The Strangers (2008) begins with the message “based on a true story”. The director and writer Bryan Bertino states that parts of the storyline were loosely based on real life cases, instead of just one specifically.
In an interview with Collider, Bertino revealed that part of his inspiration for the film was his own personal experience with break ins. He stated that he was home alone with his sister at night when some people kept knocking on their door, asking for someone who didn’t live there. It was later discovered that they were knocking on doors in the area and breaking into the houses where no one was home.
In this interview he revealed that another inspiration for the movies was the 1969 Manson Family murders, which would take the lives of Sharon Tate, her friends, and her unborn child. Bertino explained that the Tate murders painted a picture of what it was like in the house with the victims.
“…None of the victims knew of the Manson family or why it was happening to them, So I got really fascinated with telling the victims’ tale… You read obituaries every day where someone is killed for a random reason. Yes, we may eventually find out why, but sometimes they don’t.” Bertino discussed.
Sharon is speculated to not have been the original target for the attack. Music producer Terry Melcher had been the previous resident of the house and had considered Manson for a recording contract before deciding against it. This gives theorists and police reason to believe that their original objective was to kill him.
A third case that is said to have some similarities with the movie’s plot but hasn’t been confirmed to directly inspire it is the Keddie Cabin cold case. In Keddie California 1981, 14-year-old Sheila Sharp would discover the bodies of her mother, Sue Sharp, her brother, John Sharp, and her brother’s friend, Dana Wingate. Her two younger brothers and another one of their friends were in the house during the murders but were unharmed. Her sister, 12-year-old Tina Louise Sharp was nowhere to be found.
As she was a minor at the time, the search for Tina was handed to the FBI and was ended after about a month. However, three years later Ronald Pedrini reported that he was in the woods collecting cans 90 miles outside of southwest Keddie as he discovered a human skull and mandible.
One anonymous call to the Sheriff’s office reported the remains as Tina Sharp’s and two months later a forensic analysis of the teeth would confirm they were Tina’s. A pair of jeans, a blue jacket, a blanket, and a surgical tape dispenser would be found near her bones, yet no clues as to how she died.
All of these cases contributed to the haunting story that The Strangers films portray, hopefully making viewers think twice before opening doors for strangers.
“Why are you doing this to us?”
“Because you were home.”
The Keddie Cabin Murders Closer to Being Solved (historicmysteries.com)
‘The Strangers’ Was Inspired by a Chilling, Twisted True Story
Inside Sharon Tate’s Death At The Hands Of The Manson Family (allthatsinteresting.com)
