Horror movies will often take inspiration from a selection of different subgenres. Some are influenced by ideas of the paranormal, others try to implement a convincing slasher, but some of the most memorable will try to adapt an urban legend to evoke an entirely new level of fear.
Urban legends are exactly what the name would suggest they are: legends. There is very little proof behind most of them, but that doesn't prevent them from being regularly discussed among fans of horror. Most urban legends are scary enough as it is, making them perfect additions to an already terrifying horror movie. Though some attempts to portray an urban legend on the big screen fail, there are a select few movies that succeed.
7 Slender Man (2018)
Sylvain White's Slender Man is a supernatural horror movie based on a faceless man who kidnaps children. It follows the story of four friends who, despite their better judgment, end up summoning the so-called Slender Man by watching a cursed video on the internet. None of the friends believe Slender Man exists, but they quickly change their minds when their friend Kate mysteriously goes missing.
Though Slender Man received quite poor reviews upon its release, there is no denying how frightening its depiction of Slender Man was. His debut appearance on the Something Awful forum in 2009 portrayed him as scary, but this interpretation of the well-dressed monster has been one of his most unsettling depictions to date.
6 I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Jim Gillespie's I Know What You Did Last Summer documents the tale of four friends who find themselves entangled in a sinister plot. While driving one night, the group accidentally runs over a pedestrian. Believing him to be dead, they decide to throw his body in a lake, only to have his spirit return one year later.
The pedestrian, now sporting a hook for a hand, spends the remainder of the narrative attempting to punish his killers by murdering them. I Know What You Did Last Summer was inspired by the "Hookman" legend which originated during the 1950s and referred to a merciless killer who used a hook as their primary weapon.
5 Halloween (1978)
John Carpenter's Halloween tells the frightening tale of a masked murderer who takes great pleasure in stalking his victims before eventually killing them. He is perhaps the most terrifying villain to ever appear in a horror movie due to his cold-hearted demeanor and questionable actions.
Michael Myers has killed countless people throughout his life, but there was something extra frightening about the way he chose to murder Annie Bracket. He waits silently in the backseat of her car before grabbing the unsuspecting Annie, strangling her, and slitting her throat. This attack is reminiscent of the "Killer in the Backseat" urban legend, a tale that spoke of a patient killer who hunted his victims from the backseat of their own cars.
4 When A Stranger Calls (1979)
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Fred Walton's When A Stranger Calls is a psychological horror based on an urban legend known as "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs." The movie's premise is simple yet effective in adapting this legend to suit its own narrative, making it far more terrifying as a result.
The movie kicks off with Jill Johnson babysitting a pair of children. Once they are put to sleep, Jill receives a phone call from an unknown man who encourages her to go upstairs. Jill refuses the man's request but slowly comes to suspect that the man is waiting for her on the floor above.
3 The Boogeyman (1980)
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The legend of the "Boogeyman" may very well be one of the most popular urban legends to ever exist. At its core, the Boogeyman is believed to be an otherworldly entity whose sole purpose is to punish children for misbehaving. The punishment he deals out varies, but he has been known to kidnap and eat children in certain depictions.
Ulli Lommel's The Boogeyman opens on a rather unsettling note. Two siblings named Willy and Lacey watch their mother and her boyfriend kissing. Their mother notices them watching and asks her boyfriend to tie Willy up so that he doesn't intrude again. Willy breaks free from his binds and stabs his mother's boyfriend repeatedly. Though the boyfriend dies, his vengeful spirit is released twenty years later to enact its revenge.
2 The Ring (2002)
Gore Verbinski's remake of The Ring follows the story of Rachel Keller, a devout journalist tasked with uncovering how her niece died, whose investigation leads her to discover a cursed videotape that kills all those who watch it after seven days have passed.
Much of The Ring is inspired by the legend of Okiku, a servant who denied a samurai's romantic advances. As a result of her refusal, the samurai, named Aoyama, imprisoned Okiku and forced the young woman to become his slave. Okiki ends her life by jumping into a well before returning to haunt Aoyama, much like what Samara Morgan did before the events of The Ring.
1 Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark (2019)
André Øvredal's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark centers around a group of three childhood friends who find themselves plagued by a terrifying evil. The three friends, alongside a drifter named Ramón, decide to explore a haunted house once owned by a wealthy family, but their presence in the house awakens a terrifying entity from its slumber.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark takes inspiration from a variety of different urban legends, but the "Spider Bite" stands out more than the rest. Chuck's sister, Ruth, notices a red spot on her face toward the latter half of the movie. It eventually bursts, allowing hundreds of spiders to spill out. The "Spider Bite" urban legend originated during the 1970s and has become quite a popular means of evoking feelings of horror in modern-day cinema.