One more thing, the whole "based on true events" that's used by movies to give the story some credibility is totally over done. I read that this movie isn't based on anything specific, just random cases of violence. ********
Yeah, very VERY loosely based on true events but I've heard they were inspired by the Manson murders, which if you take elements from each, makes sense.
A stranger coming to your door asking for someone that doesn't live there:
"When Manson told Hatami he was looking for someone whose name Hatami did not recognize, Hatami informed him the place was the Polanski residence."
"That evening, Manson returned to the property and again went back to the guest house, where, presuming to enter the enclosed porch, he spoke with Rudi Altobelli, who was just coming out of the shower. Although Manson asked for Melcher, Altobelli felt Manson had come looking for him,[46] as is consistent with prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi's later discovery that Manson had apparently been to the place on earlier occasions since Melcher's departure from it."
One guy and two girls breaking into a home and murdering the occupant(s):
"On July 25, 1969, Manson sent sometime Family member Bobby Beausoleil along with Mary Brunner and Susan Atkins to the house of acquaintance Gary Hinman, to persuade him to turn over money Manson thought Hinman had inherited. The three held the uncooperative Hinman hostage for two days, during which Manson showed up with a sword to slash his ear. After that, Beausoleil stabbed him to death, ostensibly on Manson’s instruction."
Taking turns stabbing the vicitms:
"Returning to the bedroom, where Krenwinkel was stabbing Rosemary LaBianca with a knife from the LaBianca kitchen, Watson — heeding Manson’s instruction to make sure each of the girls played a part — told Van Houten to stab her too.[73] She did, on the exposed buttocks and elsewhere.[75][67][69] At trial, Van Houten would claim, uncertainly,[76] that Rosemary LaBianca was dead by the time she stabbed her. Evidence showed that many of Mrs. LaBianca's forty-one total stab wounds had, in fact, been inflicted post-mortem."
And the phrase "You're gonna die.":
"Hoyt said she had cooperated with the Family because she was "trying to keep them from killing my family." She stated that, at the time of the trial, she was "constantly being threatened: 'Your family’s gonna die.'"
I thought this movie had a good share of tension and "scares" but the actual events taking place annoyed me. Seriously, 2 girls and 1 guy (all looking like teenagers) decide to continue with their plan of killing a couple who are armed with a shotgun, when all they have is an axe?
Really?