the visit movie is it a true story

The Ending Of The Visit Explained

Contains spoilers for  The Visit

M. Night Shyamalan is notorious for using dramatic twists towards the endings of his films, some of which are pulled off perfectly and add an extra layer of depth to a sprawling story (hello, Split ). Some of the director's other offerings simply keep the audience on their toes rather than having any extra subtext or hidden meaning. Shyamalan's 2015 found-footage horror-comedy  The Visit , which he wrote and directed, definitely fits in the latter category, aiming for style over substance.

The Visit follows 15-year-old Becca Jamison (Olivia DeJonge) and her 13-year-old brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) when they spend the week with their mother's estranged parents, who live in another town. Loretta (played by WandaVision 's Kathryn Hahn ) never explained to her children why she separated herself away from her parents, but clearly hopes the weekend could help bring the family back together.

Although The Visit occasionally toys with themes of abandonment and fear of the unknown, it wasn't particularly well-received by critics on its initial release, as many struggled with its bizarre comedic tone in the found-footage style. So, after Tyler and his camera record a number of disturbing occurrences like Nana (Deanna Dunagan) projectile-vomiting in the middle of the night and discovering "Pop Pop"'s (Peter McRobbie) mountain of used diapers, it soon becomes clear that something isn't right with the grandparents.

Here's the ending of  The Visit  explained.

The Visit's twist plays on expectations

Because Shyamalan sets up the idea of the separation between Loretta and her parents very early on — and doesn't show their faces before Becca and Tyler meet them — the film automatically creates a false sense of security. Even more so since the found-footage style restricts the use of typical exposition methods like flashbacks or other scenes which would indicate that Nana and Pop Pop aren't who they say they are. Audiences have no reason to expect that they're actually two escapees from a local psychiatric facility.

The pieces all come together once Becca discovers her  real grandparents' corpses in the basement, along with some uniforms from the psychiatric hospital. It confirms "Nana" and "Pop-Pop" escaped from the institution and murdered the Jamisons because they were a similar age, making it easy to hide their whereabouts from the authorities. And they would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids.)

However, after a video call from Loretta reveals that the pair aren't her parents, the children are forced to keep up appearances — but the unhinged duo start to taunt the siblings. Tyler in particular is forced to face his fear of germs as "Pop Pop" wipes dirty diapers in his face. The germophobia is something Shyamalan threads through Tyler's character throughout The Visit,  and the encounter with "Pop Pop" is a basic attempt of showing he's gone through some kind of trial-by-fire to get over his fears.

But the Jamison kids don't take things lying down: They fight back in vicious fashion — a subversion of yet another expectation that young teens might would wait for adults or law enforcement officers to arrive before doing away with their tormentors.

Its real message is about reconciliation

By the time Becca stabs "Nana" to death and Tyler has repeatedly slammed "Pop-Pop"'s head with the refrigerator door, their mother and the police do arrive to pick up the pieces. In a last-ditch attempt at adding an emotional undertone, Shyamalan reveals Loretta left home after a huge argument with her parents. She hit her mother, and her father hit her in return. But Loretta explains that reconciliation was always on the table if she had stopped being so stubborn and just reached out. One could take a domino-effect perspective and even say that Loretta's stubbornness about not reconnecting and her sustained distance from her parents put them in exactly the vulnerable position they needed to be for "Nana" and "Pop-Pop" to murder them. 

Loretta's confession actually mirrors something "Pop-Pop" told Tyler (before his run-in with the refrigerator door): that he and "Nana" wanted to spend one week as a normal family before dying. They should've thought about that before murdering a pair of innocent grandparents, but here we are. 

So, is The Visit  trying to say that if we don't keep our families together, they'll be replaced by imposters and terrify our children? Well, probably not. The Visit tries to deliver a message about breaking away from old habits, working through your fears, and stop being so stubborn over arguments that don't have any consequences in the long-run. Whether it actually sticks the landing on all of those points is still up for debate.

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Shyamalan's 'The Visit' Is His Creepiest Yet

With M. Night Shyamalan's new movie The Visit , the much-maligned screenwriter/director is hoping to get back into the good graces of critics and audiences alike after a string of almost universally panned movies. Shyamalan burst onto the scene as Hollywood's hottest new director with The Sixth Sense in 1999, which earned several Oscar nominations including Best Picture. He followed that up with the critically praised Unbreakable and Signs , but each of his five movies since then, starting with The Village , have failed to even garner a 50 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Shyamalan is hoping to turn things around with The Visit , a very creepy-looking film about two kids visiting their grandparents and encountering some disturbing behavior. The film uses a handheld camera filming style for many shots, giving a sense of realism, but is The Visit actually based on a true story ?

Nope. Like the bulk of the director's other films, the plot for The Visit emerged from Shyamalan's own brain. Now 45, the filmmaker decided to make elderly people the film's antagonists because he equates fear of the elderly with fear of death, something that becomes more prevalent as people get older. But once you get past the film's storyline coming from Shyamalan's imagination, The Visit shares very little in common with the director's other movies. Here's what sets it apart.

It's A Real Horror Film

Although some of Shyamalan's movies like, The Sixth Sense and Signs, offer some scares, they're both considered more thriller films than straight-up horror. But not The Visit . The movie is said to be Shyamalan's first true scary movie , with the director himself telling Bloody Disgusting, "I never really considered my previous films as scary though… but The Visit ? Yeah! This is the one. The intention of the film is to thrill and scare." Sounds... scary.

He Produced It Himself

As opposed to the big budget studio movies he's been churning out for years (his last film, After Earth , had a budget of $130 million), Shyamalan used his own production company to make The Visit for just $5 million ... of his own money. Take that, Hollywood fat cats!

It's Linked To Paranormal Activity

Helping solidify this film's standing as a true horror movie is the fact that Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions teamed up with Shyamalan to help sell the low budget scary feel of the film. Blum has had his hand behind the recent deluge of dirt cheap scary movies like the Paranormal Activity series , The Purge series, and the Insidious movies, so if those films are any indication, The Visit is going to be a massive success.

It Utilizes Characters Filming

Just don't call it found footage. Although The Visit looks an awful lot like a found footage movie, which Shyamalan has stayed away from and doesn't care for, The Visit is actually shot "documentary style" , according to Shyamalan. He told Games Radar that the difference is that documentary style has cinematic intent, while found footage does not. Either way, the bulk of the movie is seen through the main characters' point of view, and that's a tactic the director has not used before.

He's Not In It

Shyamalan has had a cameo in virtually all of his films, sometimes even playing a larger role like in Signs . But in The Visit , he's nowhere to be found. Shyamalan says the reason he's absent is because the only characters seen for most of the film are this single family, and that if he all of a sudden showed up, it would be too jarring for the viewer. It could have made for a good twist, though.

It's A Comedy?

Despite being his scariest film ever, The Visit is also Shyamalan's funniest , with one of the film's stars being the super funny Kathryn Hahn . The movie's mix of horror and comedy truly separates it from his other serious (some say over-serious) works. In other words, it ain't The Happening .

With all of the differences from his previous work, The Visit could signal a new chapter in Shyamalan's career. Perhaps the director will return to the critical darling status he once enjoyed, or maybe he'll flounder once again. Whatever happens, at least the guy is taking a risk and trying something new. I hope it works out.

Images: Giphy (6)

The Visit Explained (Plot And Ending)

The Visit is a 2015  horror   thriller  directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It follows two siblings who visit their estranged grandparents only to discover something is very wrong with them. As the children try to uncover the truth, they are increasingly terrorized by their grandparents’ bizarre behaviour. Here’s the plot and ending of The Visit explained; spoilers ahead.

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Where To Watch?

To find where to stream any movie or series based on your country, use This Is Barry’s Where To Watch .

Oh, and if this article doesn’t answer all of your questions, drop me a comment or an FB chat message, and I’ll get you the answer .  You can find other film explanations using the search option on top of the site.

Here are links to the key aspects of the movie:

• – The Story
• – Plot Explained
• – Ending Explained
• – The Sense Of Dread
• – Separation, Remorse, and Personal Fears
• – Frequently Asked Questions Answered
• – Wrap Up

What is the story of The Visit?

The Visit is about two kids visiting their grandparents for the first time. They are also going there to hope and rebuild a bridge between their mom and grandparents and help their mom heal after a painful divorce. The movie is in documentary form.

The Visit is one of the most unnerving and realistic horror stories. A good thing about classic horror movies is that, after the movie ends, you can switch it off and go to bed,  knowing that you’re safe . Vampires, ghosts, and demonic powers don’t exist, and even if you are prone to these kinds of esoteric beliefs, there are safeguards. If your home is not built in an Indian burial ground and you haven’t bought any creepy-looking dolls from your local antiquary, you’re perfectly safe.

However, what about the idea of two kids spending five days with two escaped psychiatric ward patients in a remote farmhouse? Now, this is a thought that will send shivers down your spine. It’s a story that sounds not just realistic but real. It’s  something that might have happened in the past  or might happen in the future.

This is  what  The Visit  is all about . This idea, coupled with documentary-form storytelling, is why the movie is so unnerving to watch.

The Visit: Plot Explained

Loretta’s past.

As a young girl, Loretta Jamison fell in love with her high school teacher and decided to skip her hometown with him. Before leaving, she had a heated altercation with her parents and hasn’t seen them since. At the movie’s start, she is a single mom of 15-year-old Becca and 14-year-old Tyler, and she  hasn’t spoken to her parents in 15 years .

What really happened on the day Loretta left?

Loretta’s mom tries to stop her from leaving the house, and Loretta hits her mom, and her dad hits her. Soon after, her parents try to reach out to Loretta, but she refuses to take their calls, and years go by.

Meet The Grandparents

Years later, Loretta’s parents reach out to  meet their grandchildren . The grandparents are, seemingly, wholly reformed and now even help at the local psychiatric hospital. Although initially not too fond of the idea, Loretta is persuaded by the insistence of her children. While she had no intention of visiting the parents, she permitted her children to pay their grandparents a five-day visit.

At The Grandparents’

Their first meeting with Nana and Pop Pop starts on the right foot. They start getting to know each other, and other than a simple generational gap, nothing seems too strange. The only thing that seems off is that they are warned  not to leave the room after 9:30 in the evening .

The kids break this rule, and on the first night, they notice  Nana acting erratically , projectile vomiting, scratching wallpaper with her bare hands, and running around the house on all fours. Grandpa appears paranoid and hides his adult diapers in the garden shed, and the situation escalates each day.

The Visit Ending Explained: What happens in the end?

The ending of Visit has the kids finally showing the elderly couple to Loretta. She, completely horrified, states that  those are not her parents . The pair posing as Pop Pop and Nana are escaped psychiatric institution patients who murdered their grandparents and took their places.

The kids survive, kill their captors, and are found alive and well by their mom and the police. Becca kills Nana with a shard from the mirror, thus symbolically overcoming her fear of her reflection. Tyler kills Pop Pop by repeatedly slamming him in the head with a refrigerator door after overcoming his germaphobia and anxiety about freezing.

The Sense Of Dread

The elements of horror in this movie are just  perfectly executed . First of all, the film is shot as a documentary. Becca is an aspiring filmmaker who records the entire trip with her camera. From time to time, we see an interview of all the characters, which just serves as the perfect vessel for characterization.

No Ghouls or Cults

Another thing that evokes dread is  realism . There are no supernatural beings or demonic forces. It’s just two kids alone in a remote farmstead with two creepy, deranged people. Even in the end, when Loretta finds out what’s happening, it takes her hours to get there with the police. The scariest part is that it’s not that hard to imagine something along those lines really happening.

The  house itself is dread-inducing . The place is old and rustic. Like in The Black Phone soundproofing a room  could have prevented kids from hearing Nana rummaging around the house without a clear idea of what was happening, but this was not the case, as the old couple weren’t that capable.

The  characters  themselves  are perfectly played . Something is unnerving about Pop Pop and Nana from the very first scene. It’s the Uncanny Valley scenario where you feel that something’s off and shakes you to the core, but you have no idea what it is.

Separation, Remorse, and Personal Fears

What this movie does the best is explore the  ugly side of separation, old grudges, and remorse . The main reason why kids are insistent on visiting their grandparents is out of their desire to help their mom.

They see she’s remorseful for never  working things out with her parents . In light of her failed marriage and the affair that caused it to end, she might live with the doubt that her parents were right all along. This makes her decision and altercation with her parents even worse. Reconciling when you know you were wrong is harder than forgiving the person who wronged you.

The Kids’ Perspective

There are personal fears and  traumas of the kids . Tyler, in his childish naivete, is convinced that his father left because he was disappointed in him as a son. Tyler tells Becca that he froze during one game he played, which disappointed his dad so much that he had to leave. While this sounds ridiculous to any adult (and even Becca), it’s a matter of fact to Tyler. As a result of this trauma, Tyler also developed germaphobia. In Becca’s own words, this gives him a greater sense of control.

On the other hand,  Becca refuses to look at herself in the mirror  or stand in front of the camera if she can help it. Both kids  had to overcome their fears to survive , which is a solid and clear metaphor for how these things sometimes turn out in real life.

Frequently Asked Questions Answered

The visit: what’s wrong with the grandparents who are the grandparents.

The people who hosted Becca and Tyler were runaway psychiatric hospital patients who murdered the real grandparents and took their place. Nana’s impostor (Claire) was actually responsible for murdering her children by drowning them in a well. Pop Pop’s impostor (Mitchell) wanted to give Claire a second chance at having kids / being a grandparent.

How did the imposter grandparents know about the kids’ visit?

It appears Claire and Mitchell hear the real Nana and Pop Pop brag about their grandkids’ visit. They also learned that neither the grandparents nor the kids had seen each other. The real grandparents appear to have been consulting in the same hospital Claire and Mitchell were being treated. The two crazies take this opportunity to break out, kill the real grandparents and go to the station to pick up the children.

The Visit: What is Sinmorfitellia?

Claire and Mitchell believe that Sinmorfitellia is an alien planet, and the creatures from there lurk on Earth. They spit into the waters of wells and ponds all day, which can put people into a deep sleep. They take  sleeping with the fishes  quite literally. Long ago, Claire drowned her children believing they would go to Sinmorfitellia.

The Visit: What happened to the real grandparents?

Claire and Mitchel killed Nana and Pop Pop and put them in the basement. This information went unnoticed because Becca’s laptop’s camera was damaged by Nana, so Loretta could not confirm the imposters. Claire and Mitchel were not present every time someone came to visit, so no one suspected foul play except Stacey, who received help from the real grandparents. As a result, she is killed.

What did Claire and Mitchel intend to do?

They plan to go to Sinmorfitellia with Becca and Tyler. They all plan to die on that last night and enter the well, which they believe is their path to the alien planet where they can be happy together. This is perhaps why the grandparents hang Stacey outside the house because they don’t care about being caught.

The Visit: What’s wrong with Nana?

We don’t know what caused Nana’s mental illness, but she was crazy enough to kill her two children by putting them in suitcases and drowning them in a pond. It appears she suffers from schizophrenia as she has delusions.

The Visit: Wrap Up

From the standpoint of horror, The Visit has it all. An unnerving realistic scenario, real-life trauma, and an atmosphere of fear. Combine this with  some of the best acting work in the genre  and a documentary-style movie, and you’ve got yourself a real masterpiece.

On the downside, the movie leaves you with a lot of open questions like:

• Considering the kids have never seen the grandparents and are going alone, Loretta didn’t ensure her kids knew what her parents looked like?
• How are Claire and Mitchell out and about so close to the hospital without being caught?
• Considering they are mentally ill, how did Claire and Mitchell plot such a thorough plan? (e.g. strategically damaging the camera of the laptop)
• I understand  Suspension Of Disbelief  in horror films, but neither kids drop their cameras despite the terror they go through only so we, the audience, can get the entire narrative?

What were your thoughts on the plot and ending of the movie The Visit? Drop your comments below!

Stacey is a talented freelance writer passionate about all things pop culture. She has a keen eye for detail and a natural talent for storytelling. She’s a super-fan of Game of Thrones, Cats, and Indie Rock Music and can often be found engrossed in complex films and books. Connect with her on her social media handles to learn more about her work and interests.

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M. Night Shyamalan had his heyday almost 20 years ago. He leapt out of the gate with such confidence he became a champion instantly. And then...something went awry. He became embarrassingly self-serious, his films drowning in pretension and strained allegories. His famous twists felt like a director attempting to re-create the triumph of " The Sixth Sense ," where the twist of the film was so successfully withheld from audiences that people went back to see the film again and again. But now, here comes " The Visit ," a film so purely entertaining that you almost forget how scary it is. With all its terror, "The Visit" is an extremely funny film. 

There are too many horror cliches to even list ("gotcha" scares, dark basements, frightened children, mysterious sounds at night, no cellphone reception), but the main cliche is that it is a "found footage" film, a style already wrung dry. But Shyamalan injects adrenaline into it, as well as a frank admission that, yes, it is a cliche, and yes, it is absurd that one would keep filming in moments of such terror, but he uses the main strength of found footage: we are trapped by the perspective of the person holding the camera. Withhold visual information, lull the audience into safety, then turn the camera, and OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT? 

"The Visit" starts quietly, with Mom ( Kathryn Hahn ) talking to the camera about running away from home when she was 19: her parents disapproved of her boyfriend. She had two kids with this man who recently left them all for someone new. Mom has a brave demeanor, and funny, too, referring to her kids as "brats" but with mama-bear affection. Her parents cut ties with her, but now they have reached out  from their snowy isolated farm and want to know their grandchildren. Mom packs the two kids off on a train for a visit.

Shyamalan breaks up the found footage with still shots of snowy ranks of trees, blazing sunsets, sunrise falling on a stack of logs. There are gigantic blood-red chapter markers: "TUESDAY MORNING", etc. These choices launch us into the overblown operatic horror style while commenting on it at the same time. It ratchets up the dread.

Becca ( Olivia DeJonge ) and Tyler ( Ed Oxenbould ) want to make a film about their mother's lost childhood home, a place they know well from all of her stories. Becca has done her homework about film-making, and instructs her younger brother about "frames" and "mise-en-scène." Tyler, an appealing gregarious kid, keeps stealing the camera to film the inside of his mouth and his improvised raps. Becca sternly reminds him to focus. 

The kids are happy to meet their grandparents. They are worried about the effect their grandparents' rejection had on their mother (similar to Cole's worry about his mother's unfinished business with her own parent in "The Sixth Sense"). Becca uses a fairy-tale word to explain what she wants their film to do — it will be an "elixir" to bring home to Mom. 

Nana ( Deanna Dunagan ), at first glance, is a Grandma out of a storybook, with a grey bun, an apron, and muffins coming out of the oven every hour. Pop Pop ( Peter McRobbie ) is a taciturn farmer who reminds the kids constantly that he and Nana are "old." 

But almost immediately, things get crazy. What is Pop Pop doing out in the barn all the time? Why does Nana ask Becca to clean the oven, insisting that she crawl all the way in ? What are those weird sounds at night from outside their bedroom door? They have a couple of Skype calls with Mom, and she reassures them their grandparents are "weird" but they're also old, and old people are sometimes cranky, sometimes paranoid. 

As the weirdness intensifies, Becca and Tyler's film evolves from an origin-story documentary to a mystery-solving investigation. They sneak the camera into the barn, underneath the house, they place it on a cabinet in the living room overnight, hoping to get a glimpse of what happens downstairs after they go to bed. What they see is more than they (and we) bargained for.

Dunagan and McRobbie play their roles with a melodramatic relish, entering into the fairy-tale world of the film. And the kids are great, funny and distinct. Tyler informs his sister that he wants to stop swearing so much, and instead will say the names of female pop singers. The joke is one that never gets old. He falls, and screams, "Sarah McLachlan!" When terrified, he whispers to himself, " Katy Perry ... " Tyler, filming his sister, asks her why she never looks in the mirror. "Your sweater is on backwards." As he grills her, he zooms in on her, keeping her face off-center, blurry grey-trunked trees filling most of the screen. The blur is the mystery around them. Cinematographer Maryse Alberti creates the illusion that the film is being made by kids, but also avoids the nauseating hand-held stuff that dogs the found-footage style.

When the twist comes, and you knew it was coming because Shyamalan is the director, it legitimately shocks. Maybe not as much as "The Sixth Sense" twist, but it is damn close. (The audience I saw it with gasped and some people screamed in terror.) There are references to " Halloween ", "Psycho" (Nana in a rocking chair seen from behind), and, of course, " Paranormal Activity "; the kids have seen a lot of movies, understand the tropes and try to recreate them themselves. 

"The Visit" represents Shyamalan cutting loose, lightening up, reveling in the improvisational behavior of the kids, their jokes, their bickering, their closeness. Horror is very close to comedy. Screams of terror often dissolve into hysterical laughter, and he uses that emotional dovetail, its tension and catharsis, in almost every scene. The film is ridiculous  on so many levels, the story playing out like the most monstrous version of Hansel & Gretel imaginable, and in that context, "ridiculous" is the highest possible praise.

Sheila O'Malley

Sheila O'Malley received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island and a Master's in Acting from the Actors Studio MFA Program. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Film credits.

The Visit (2015)

Rated PG-13 disturbing thematic material including terror, violence and some nudity, and for brief language

Kathryn Hahn as Mother

Ed Oxenbould as Tyler Jamison

Benjamin Kanes as Dad

Peter McRobbie as Pop-Pop

Olivia DeJonge as Rebecca Jamison

Deanna Dunagan as Nana

• M. Night Shyamalan

Cinematography

• Maryse Alberti
• Luke Franco Ciarrocch

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M. Night Shyamalan's Films Ranked From Absolute Worst To Best (Including Old)

Freaky friday 2 makes me feel a little better about mark harmon not returning to ncis, jennifer lawrence’s new murder mystery is promising after $312 million hit.

Spoilers for M. Night Shyamalans' The Visit.

• Loretta's strained relationship with her parents and lack of photos and communication were clues to The Visit's twist.
• Becca and Tyler had never met their grandparents before and didn't know what they looked like.
• The grandparents had strange rules, and Nana's odd behavior during hide-and-seek hinted at their true intentions.

M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit has every element that makes a Shyamalan horror movie, including a plot twist that was hinted at throughout the whole movie. After rising to fame in 1999 with The Sixth Sense , M. Night Shyamalan has continued to make movies, mostly horror ones that often include a twist and shocking reveal. Although these elements led to predictable and disappointing reveals and movies, there are others with interesting twists that added to the tension of the story, as was the case of the 2015 found footage horror movie The Visit .

The Visit follows siblings Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould), who live with their divorced mother, Loretta (Kathryn Hahn). Loretta hasn’t talked to or seen her parents in 15 years, but when they get into contact with her, Becca and Tyler convince her to let them visit them for a week. As they have never met their grandparents, Becca decides to make a documentary film of the experience. Once with their grandparents at their isolated farmhouse, it all seems normal at first but gets gradually stranger and more disturbing, leading to a shocking reveal: the “grandparents” aren't the real ones, and they killed Loretta’s parents to pose as them .

Our ranking of M. Night Shyamalan's best and worst films includes everything from his first debut drama to his most recent thriller, Old.

Loretta Had No Relationship With Her Parents In The Visit

Loretta didn’t even take her children to the farm..

The first big red flag in The Visit that pointed at this not being a typical trip to the grandparents’ house was Loretta’s relationship with them. At the beginning of The Visit , Loretta explained that she left her parents’ home after falling in love with Becca and Tyler’s father, whom her parents never approved of. Loretta didn’t share more details at first, but at the end of The Visit , it’s revealed that she had a major argument with her parents in which she hit her mother and her father struck her, and after that, she ignored all their attempts to contact her.

Loretta’s resentment and anger went as far as not showing her children photos of her parents , nor did she make the effort to accompany her children to her parents’ house – after all, it was their first time going there and meeting their grandparents. Loretta’s estranged relationship is one of the biggest and earliest clues to The Visit ’s big twist.

Becca & Tyler Had Never Seen Their Grandparents Before

Becca & tyler had no idea what their grandparents looked like..

Not making them part of her and her children’s lives, and not having any photos of them, made it so Becca and Tyler had no idea of what they actually looked like.

Loretta’s difficult relationship with her parents led to her not talking about them, not making them part of her and her children’s lives, and not having any photos of them, so Becca and Tyler had no idea of what they looked like. This certainly made it easier for the fake grandparents to lure Becca and Tyler in , but it was yet another hint at this not being a normal trip to visit the grandparents.

The Kids Weren’t Allowed To Leave Their Room After 9:30 pm.

The grandparents had a couple of rules that had to be followed..

The first rule was because the “grandparents” were hiding the bodies of the real ones in the basement.

Once at the farm, it seemed like a quiet and calm place and the grandparents seemed pleasant, but they had a couple of rules that Becca and Tyler had to follow. The first one was that they weren’t allowed to go into the basement because it had mold, and the second one was that bedtime was at 9:30 every day, and they weren’t allowed to leave their room after that. The first rule was because the “grandparents” were hiding the bodies of the real ones in the basement, but the second one was more complicated.

Nana acted erratically at night , projectile vomiting, running around the house, crawling like an animal, and ripping the walls while naked, among other disturbing things. Leaving their room after 9:30 pm would have not only endangered Becca and Tyler, but it would have also revealed there was something wrong with the grandparents.

Nana’s Odd Behaviour During Hide-and-Seek

One of the visit’s biggest scarejumps..

With not much to do at the farm, Becca and Tyler decided to play hide and seek under the house, but to their surprise, Nana was also there. Nana chased Tyler and Becca, crawling like an animal , and when they all got out, she acted as if nothing had happened and went back inside the house. That same behavior was repeated later on in the movie, further disturbing Becca and Tyler.

Pop Pop Attacked An Unknown Man On The Street

Pop pop believed he was being followed..

Another red flag in Pop Pop’s behavior (after the reveal of the shed with piles of soiled diapers) was when he and Nana took Becca and Tyler to see the school Loretta attended when she was younger. There, Pop Pop saw a man on the other side of the street and, believing he had been following them for a while, attacked him. It wasn’t until Becca stopped him that Pop Pop realized he didn’t know the man, and though this was brushed off by Becca and Loretta as “old people” behavior, Tyler knew something wasn’t right.

Nana “Accidentally” Covered Becca’s Laptop Camera With Dough

Nana temporarily left becca & tyler without their webcam..

Becca and Tyler kept in touch with Loretta through video calls every day while Loretta was on a cruise with her new boyfriend. One day, Nana apologized to Becca for ruining her laptop as she spilled dough on it and tried to clean it but couldn’t get rid of the dough on the camera. Loretta wasn’t able to see her kids because of this , but it was soon clear Nana did it on purpose so Loretta couldn’t see them and thus tell the kids they weren’t the real grandparents.

Dr. Sam’s Visit To Check On The Grandparents

Dr. sam’s visit was a big clue to what happened to the grandparents..

Had the grandparents been home when Dr. Sam arrived, The Visit would have ended earlier.

During their time at the farm, only two people came to visit. The first one was Dr. Sam, who worked at the same hospital where Becca and Tyler’s grandparents volunteered. The grandparents weren’t around when Dr. Sam arrived, but he told Becca and Tyler that he wanted to check on them as they hadn’t gone to work in a couple of days. Had the grandparents been home when Dr. Sam arrived, The Visit would have ended earlier.

Nana Asked Becca To Clean The Oven

Nana had other intentions..

In one of the most suspenseful and strangest moments in The Visit , Nana suddenly asked Becca to help her clean the back of the oven. Becca did so to help her, but Nana insisted that she reach the far back of it, thus getting in completely. Although Nana didn’t do anything to Becca the first time, the second time she asked her for help she closed the oven to clean the outside and then opened it again, letting Becca out.

This moment is reminiscent of the tale of Hansel & Gretel and how the witch tried to trick Gretel into getting inside the oven.

Stacey’s Visit & Confrontation

Stacey realized these weren’t the real grandparents..

The second visit was from a woman named Stacey, whom Becca and Tyler’s real grandparents had helped in counseling at the hospital. As the grandparents weren’t home when she arrived, she returned later and came face to face with the fake grandparents. Stacey tried to get them to leave with her to take them back to the hospital, but they ended up killing her and hanging her body from a tree. Stacey realized these weren’t Becca and Tyler’s real grandparents , but the siblings didn’t understand her reaction.

Why Nana & Pop Pop Killed The Real Grandparents

Becca & tyler never got to meet their real grandparents..

Nana was revealed to have committed murder in the past, and they were both jealous of the real grandparents’ happiness and the visit of their grandkids.

During Becca and Tyler’s final night at the farm, the truth was unveiled: Nana and Pop Pop were patients at the mental hospital where Becca and Tyler’s grandparents volunteered, and the real ones were murdered by them and their bodies kept in the basement. Nana was revealed to have committed murder in the past, and they were both jealous of the real grandparents’ happiness and the visit of their grandkids , so they killed them and took their place.

Clues like Loretta having no photos of her parents and the kids never having met them were necessary to keep the big reveal of The Visit a secret, while others like Dr. Sam and Stacey’s visit added to the horrors that were about to be unleashed at the farm.

From director M. Night Shyamalan, The Visit follows two siblings who are sent to stay with their estranged grandparents while their mother is out of town on vacation. Realizing that all isn't what it seems during their stay, the siblings set out to find out what is really going on at their grandparents' home. Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould star as Becca and Tyler, with Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, and Kathryn Hahn making up the rest of the main cast. 

43 Facts About The Movie The Visit

Written by Chad Polanco

Modified & Updated: 31 May 2024

Reviewed by Jessica Corbett

The Visit is a thrilling movie that captivated audiences with its unique storyline and chilling atmosphere. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, known for his signature twists and suspenseful storytelling, this film takes viewers on a suspense-filled journey. Released in 2015, The Visit follows the story of two siblings who go to their grandparents’ house for a week-long visit, only to discover horrifying secrets lurking within the family. With its blend of horror, mystery, and psychological elements, The Visit leaves audiences on the edge of their seats, eager to unravel the dark mysteries that unfold throughout the film. In this article, we will delve deeper into this intriguing movie by exploring 43 fascinating facts that you may not know about The Visit. So, get ready to uncover the secrets and dive into the world of The Visit!

Key Takeaways:

• “The Visit” is a chilling psychological horror film directed by M. Night Shyamalan, known for its unexpected twists, intense atmosphere, and captivating performances by the cast.
• Audiences will be kept on the edge of their seats as “The Visit” explores themes of family, childhood trauma, and the dark side of human nature, making it a must-watch for fans of psychological horror.

The Visit is a psychological horror film.

The Visit is a thrilling and suspenseful movie that falls under the horror genre, delivering an unforgettable cinematic experience.

The movie was directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

Renowned director M . Night Shyamalan, known for his captivating storytelling and unique plot twists, helmed The Visit.

The Visit was released in 2015.

The movie premiered in 2015, captivating audiences worldwide with its intriguing storyline and impressive performances.

It stars Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould.

Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould deliver exceptional performances as the main characters in The Visit, bringing their characters to life with intensity and authenticity.

The Visit was produced by Blumhouse Productions.

Blumhouse Productions, known for its successful horror films, served as the production company for The Visit, ensuring a high-quality and thrilling cinematic experience.

The movie received positive reviews from critics.

The Visit garnered positive reviews from film critics, praising its suspenseful plot, well-executed twists, and standout performances.

The Visit has a unique found-footage style.

One of the notable aspects of The Visit is its found-footage style, adding to the realism and intensity of the story.

The film’s budget was $5 million.

The Visit was made on a relatively modest budget of $5 million, proving that a captivating storyline and skilled filmmaking can achieve great results without breaking the bank.

The Visit grossed over $98 million worldwide.

The movie was a commercial success, grossing over $98 million globally, highlighting its popularity among audiences.

The Visit explores themes of family and secrets.

The Visit delves into deep themes of family dynamics, hidden secrets, and the horrors that can be uncovered within our closest relationships.

The movie keeps viewers on the edge of their seats.

The Visit is known for its ability to create tension and suspense, keeping viewers engaged and on the edge of their seats throughout the film.

It includes both intense and comedic moments.

The Visit effectively balances intense and shocking moments with lighthearted and comedic scenes, creating a rollercoaster of emotions for the audience.

The film’s atmospheric setting adds to the overall eeriness.

The Visit takes place in a remote countryside location, adding to the overall eerie atmosphere and amplifying the suspense of the story.

The Visit is known for its unexpected plot twists.

The movie surprises viewers with unexpected plot twists that keep them guessing and engaged until the very end.

The Visit explores the impact of childhood trauma.

The movie delves into the lasting effects of childhood trauma and how it can shape individuals’ lives and relationships.

The Visit features a chilling and memorable “hide and seek” scene.

One of the most memorable scenes in The Visit involves a suspenseful game of “ hide and seek ” that will make your heart race.

The movie’s soundtrack adds to the overall tension.

The Visit’s haunting and atmospheric soundtrack heightens the tension and creates a sense of unease throughout the film.

The Visit received several award nominations.

The movie garnered recognition in various award ceremonies, receiving nominations for its exceptional performances, direction, and screenplay.

The film’s twist ending left audiences shocked.

The Visit’s twist ending left viewers stunned and discussing the movie long after the credits rolled.

The Visit was a box office success.

Despite its modest budget, The Visit achieved significant success at the box office, solidifying its place among other successful horror films.

The movie’s pacing keeps the audience engaged.

The Visit maintains a well-balanced pace, ensuring that there are no dull moments and keeping the audience fully invested in the story.

The Visit is an unsettling and thought-provoking film.

With its disturbing themes and thought-provoking narrative, The Visit leaves a lasting impression on its viewers.

The film’s cinematography creates a sense of claustrophobia.

The Visit’s cinematography effectively conveys a feeling of claustrophobia, enhancing the overall suspense and unease experienced by the characters.

The Visit explores the dark side of human nature.

The movie delves into the darkest corners of human nature, showcasing the lengths some individuals are willing to go for their own agendas.

The Visit features memorable and chilling performances by supporting actors.

Aside from the lead actors, the supporting cast in The Visit delivers exceptional performances that add depth and complexity to the story.

The movie’s script is filled with clever and suspenseful dialogue.

The Visit’s script is crafted with clever and suspenseful dialogue, heightening the tension and adding layers to the characters and their interactions.

The Visit was influenced by classic horror films.

The movie pays homage to classic horror films and incorporates elements that fans of the genre will appreciate.

The movie’s tagline is “No one loves you like your grandparents.”

The Visit’s tagline perfectly captures the unsettling nature of the story, highlighting the twisted relationship between grandparents and their grandchildren.

The Visit has a runtime of approximately 94 minutes.

The movie maintains a concise runtime, delivering a gripping and intense viewing experience without unnecessary filler.

The Visit was shot on location in Pennsylvania.

The movie was filmed on location in Pennsylvania, enhancing the authenticity of the setting and adding to the immersive experience for the audience.

The Visit’s marketing campaign created intrigue and anticipation.

The Visit’s marketing campaign effectively piqued the interest of viewers, building anticipation and generating buzz prior to the movie’s release.

The Visit was a return to form for M. Night Shyamalan.

After a series of mixed reviews for his previous films, The Visit marked a return to form for director M. Night Shyamalan, receiving positive critical reception and reigniting interest in his work.

The Visit explores the consequences of estranged family relationships.

The movie delves into the repercussions of familial estrangement and the impact it can have on both individuals and the dynamics within a family.

The Visit’s ending provides closure while leaving room for interpretation.

The movie’s conclusion ties up loose ends and offers closure, but also leaves room for viewers to interpret certain aspects of the story and its characters.

The Visit utilizes psychological horror elements.

The movie employs psychological horror elements, playing with the audience’s minds and creating a sense of unease that lingers long after the film ends.

The Visit received positive audience reception.

Audiences embraced The Visit, praising its ability to keep them engaged and its unpredictable narrative.

The Visit was a collaborative effort between Shyamalan and Blumhouse Productions.

Director M. Night Shyamalan worked closely with Blumhouse Productions to bring The Visit to life, resulting in a successful partnership that elevated the film’s quality.

The movie’s character development is compelling and nuanced.

The Visit skillfully develops its characters, offering a deep dive into their motivations, fears, and vulnerabilities.

The Visit’s twists and turns keep viewers guessing.

The movie is filled with unexpected twists and turns, ensuring that the audience is constantly kept on their toes and engaged in the story.

The Visit has a memorable and chilling climax.

The movie builds up to a climactic finale that will leave you on the edge of your seat, with its intensity and shocking revelations .

The Visit’s performance scenes are captivating.

The movie features powerful performance scenes that showcase the talent of the main cast and add depth to the characters.

The Visit leaves a lasting impression on its viewers.

The movie’s thought-provoking themes, top-notch performances, and masterful storytelling make it a film that stays with you long after watching.

The Visit is a must-watch for fans of psychological horror.

If you are a fan of psychological horror and enjoy films that keep you guessing until the very end, then The Visit is a must-watch movie that will leave you thoroughly entertained and unsettled.

In conclusion, The Visit is a suspenseful and chilling movie that captivates audiences with its unique twist on the horror genre. With its expertly crafted storytelling, compelling performances, and eerie atmosphere, it leaves viewers on the edge of their seats until the very end. From its unconventional found footage style to its thought-provoking exploration of familial relationships, this film proves to be a memorable and thrilling cinematic experience. Whether you’re a fan of psychological thrillers or simply enjoy a good scare, The Visit is definitely worth a watch.

1. What is the plot of The Visit?

The Visit follows the story of two young siblings who go to visit their grandparents for the first time. As the days progress, they begin to notice odd and unsettling behaviors from their grandparents, leading to a series of terrifying events.

2. Is The Visit based on a true story?

No, The Visit is a fictional film created by acclaimed director M. Night Shyamalan. However, the movie’s found footage style may give it a documentary-like feel, making it more unsettling for viewers.

3. Can The Visit be classified as a horror movie?

Yes, The Visit falls under the horror genre. It combines elements of psychological suspense and thriller, delivering a blend of fear, tension, and unexpected twists to keep audiences engaged and scared.

4. Who directed The Visit?

The Visit is directed by M. Night Shyamalan, known for his unique and suspenseful storytelling in films such as The Sixth Sense and Split.

5. Is The Visit appropriate for all ages?

No, The Visit is rated PG-13 for intense thematic material, some violence, and disturbing content. It may not be suitable for young children or those sensitive to horror themes.

6. What makes The Visit stand out from other horror movies?

The Visit stands out with its found footage style, which provides a unique, immersive perspective for viewers. Additionally, the film’s exploration of familial relationships adds depth and complexity to the horror narrative.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Shyamalan's found-footage spooker has teens in peril.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Teens learn to overcome past fears to deal with cu

The main characters are teens (13 and 15) who try

Dead bodies, one hanged. Elderly man killed in a s

Minor innuendo involving 13-year-old boy who imagi

"F--k" is used once. Other words include

Skype is used as part of the plot. Sony laptop sho

Adults occasionally smoke cigarettes. A boy mimes

Parents need to know that The Visit is a found-footage horror movie from director M. Night Shyamalan. There are plenty of spooky images, sounds, and dialogue, as well as jump scares and a small amount of blood and gore. Viewers see dead bodies (including one killed in a rather shocking way), and two teens, 13…

Positive Messages

Teens learn to overcome past fears to deal with current situations. They sometimes work together but at other times are forced to split up.

Positive Role Models

The main characters are teens (13 and 15) who try their best to survive a bad situation; they're brave, but their situation isn't one anyone would emulate. The adults in the story aren't particularly admirable.

Violence & Scariness

Dead bodies, one hanged. Elderly man killed in a shocking way. Some blood. Spooky images, spooky dialogue, and jump scares. Stabbing with a mirror shard. Teens in jeopardy. Vomiting and poop. A man briefly assaults another man. Rifle briefly shown.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Minor innuendo involving 13-year-old boy who imagines himself a ladykiller. Nana's naked bottom is shown twice.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

"F--k" is used once. Other words include "s--t," "ass," "ho," "bitch," "goddamn," "hell," "douche," and possibly "a--hole." Middle finger gesture.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Skype is used as part of the plot. Sony laptop shown. A Yahtzee! game, with references to toy companies Hasbro and Milton Bradley.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Adults occasionally smoke cigarettes. A boy mimes "pot smoking" with his fingers.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Visit is a found-footage horror movie from director M. Night Shyamalan . There are plenty of spooky images, sounds, and dialogue, as well as jump scares and a small amount of blood and gore. Viewers see dead bodies (including one killed in a rather shocking way), and two teens, 13 and 15, are frequently in peril. The 13-year-old boy fancies himself a ladykiller, which leads to some minor innuendo, and the "Nana" character's naked bottom is shown a couple of times. Language includes a use of "f--k," plus "s--t," "bitch," and more, most frequently spoken by the 13-year-old. Adult characters infrequently smoke cigarettes, and there's a very brief, mimed reference to smoking pot. Shyamalan is a filmmaker whom horror hounds love to hate, but this movie could be a comeback that fans will want to see. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (19)
• Kids say (82)

Based on 19 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Thirteen-year-old Tyler ( Ed Oxenbould ) and 15-year-old Becca (Olivia DeJonge) agree to spend a week with their grandparents while encouraging their mom ( Kathryn Hahn ) to take a vacation with her boyfriend. The kids have never met their grandparents, "Nana" (Deanna Dunagan) and "Pop Pop" (Peter McRobbie), at least partly because when their mother left home 15 years earlier, something terrible apparently happened. At first things seem fine, but then Nana and Pop Pop start behaving strangely. Even if it can all be explained -- Nana gets "sundown" syndrome, and Pop Pop requires adult diapers -- it doesn't quite ease the feeling that something's wrong. Meanwhile, Becca documents their visit on video, hoping to capture something that explains it all.

Is It Any Good?

After several perplexing misfires, writer/director M. Night Shyamalan has scaled back, gone for a lower budget and a lighter tone, and emerged with his most effective movie in over a decade. THE VISIT begins interestingly; the potentially creepy moments can be easily explained away and even laughed off, but the director still manages to create a subtle, creeping dread that steadily builds toward the climax.

Shyamalan uses the found-footage concept with more creativity than most other filmmakers, displaying his usual intriguing grasp of three-dimensional space, as well as empty space. The characters themselves are even aware of certain cinematic theories that could make their "documentary" more interesting. They're refreshingly intelligent and self-aware, and they never blunder stupidly into any situation. If the movie has a drawback, it's that fans will be looking hard for clues to one of Shyamalan's big "twists." As to what it is, or whether there is one, we're not saying.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about The Visit 's violence . How much is shown, and how much is suggested? How did it affect you? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

Tyler considers himself a "ladykiller." Is his dialogue inappropriate for someone his age?

Tyler likes to rap and posts videos of himself. Is he expressing himself, or is he merely seeking fame? What's appealing about fame? Is it OK for kids to start their own online channels?

Movie Details

• In theaters : September 11, 2015
• On DVD or streaming : January 5, 2016
• Cast : Kathryn Hahn , Ed Oxenbould , Olivia DeJonge
• Director : M. Night Shyamalan
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Universal Pictures
• Genre : Horror
• Run time : 94 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : disturbing thematic material including terror, violence and some nudity, and for brief language
• Last updated : April 7, 2024

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Is The Surprise Visit a true story? The movie’s connection to true crime

• by Kate Marin
•  – on Nov 27, 2023
•  in Film

The Surprise Visit  tells the story of a desperate couple who break into a mansion intending to make away with as much as they can. Aware that the owner has left town, they do not expect any resistance. However, the couple, young drug addicts, are unaware of a visit by the owner’s relatives.

The Surprise Visit  is based on a true break-in attempt on the home of the co-writer’s husband

The Surprise Visit  is loosely based on a true crime. Serah Henesey, one of the film’s writers, based the narrative on a break-in attempt at her husband’s family’s home. However, the movie’s creators embellished the story to make it more entertaining. 

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‘The Surprise Visit’ Embellishes a True-Life Scary Story

By Eva Trieger

SOLANA BEACH, California — While some surprises are good and welcome, others, not so much.  In this horror/thriller based on a real story, The Surprise Visit  relates the story of an unplanned visit gone horribly awry. The story has factual historic roots, but co-producer, and actress, Serah Henessey told me that she and husband, Nathan Cowles, “Hollywoodized” it.  I was very happy to hear that as the film disturbed me very much and I was relieved to know that it was embellished and not a precise re-enactment.

Henessey has a fascinating and varied history in the entertainment business. She was born in Sydney, Australia, and trained in ballet until the age of 16. She also lived in Turkey where she expanded her repertoire by acting in a sitcom for four years that outperformed “Friends” in America!  This dancer/actor/ producer also does her own stunts and indulges in kick-boxing!

In a delightful phone interview, I became acquainted with Serah. She shared that her first theatrical role was in The Epic of Gilgamesh . Since that time she has done film and theater.  Her theater experiences are especially interesting, spanning virtually all genres, from action, sitcom, drama, horror, and comedy.

Recently Henessey has been seen in Saw franchise films, directed by Darren Bousman. These immersive films were done in downtown Los Angeles and were interactive. Audiences and actors fed off each other, creating a “mind-blowing” experience. Henessey has performed in Saw II through Spiral.

The actress told me that she loves doing period pieces and especially enjoys roles that require her to step back into the 17th-century era. She is a devotee of Shakespearean works and also loves performing plays from this time

The Surprise Visit is the embellishment of a break-in that went awry on Henessey’s husband’s family’s homestead. A previous owner, Mrs.Dixon, recently widowed, had decided to visit a sister for the weekend. Her groundskeeper (Erc Roberts) somehow shared this information with his son, a drug addict. The son and his girlfriend, who recently discovered they were pregnant, figured that they would rob the home in the absence of the owner to get some capital. They did not anticipate the surprise visit of Mrs. Dixon’s daughter and son-in-law.

The film depicts the desperation of the young couple of addicts and the fear and desperation of Mrs. Dixon’s daughter. All of the characters are sympathetic and the viewer experiences the fear, desperation, and will to survive on the part of each character.  While Juliet has grown up with means, a loving family, and privilege, she also just lost her father and watched the murder of her husband. The young addicts have no material goods, but a future and a baby on the way. The groundskeeper loves his son, Casey, but cannot condone his actions. The emotional roller coaster is inescapable.

One very interesting thing to note is that this film was made during the pandemic and Serah Henessey told me that they did not want to expose countless people to the virus, so the cast and crew were working overtime. As she observed the first day on the set as a producer, not as an actor, she felt great pride and gratitude to everyone who gave their all. Henessey cried, kvelling and humbled by the efforts of everyone.  She saw the blood, sweat, and tears they put into their efforts and she knew a “joyful kind of exhaustion.” The film is definitely worth seeing and encourages viewer to consider his own moral compass and guideposts.

Click here for the trailer: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#inbox/FMfcgzGllMLLkDDtDppxGZjgdjPGPlzp?projector=1

The film will be available after January 14, 2022.

* Eva Trieger is a Solana Beach-based freelance writer who specializes in coverage of the arts.  She may be contacted via [email protected]

Recently, we've done several changes to help out this wiki, from deleting empty pages, improving the navigation, adding a rules page, as well as merging film infoboxes.

You can check out the latest overhauls that we have done on this wiki so far, as well as upcoming updates in our announcement post here .

• Horror films
• American fantasy films
• Films directed by M. Night Shyamalan
• Found Footage films
• 2010s films
• Rated PG-13

The Visit is a 2015 American "found footage" style horror-fantasy written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan , and produced by Shyamalan, Jason Blum, Marc Bienstock, Steven Schneider, and Ashwin Rajan.

The film stars Kathryn Hahn, Ed Oxenbould, Peter McRobbie, and Benjamin Kanes. It was released vis Universal Pictures on September 11, 2015.

• 3.1 Trailers
• 3.2 Reviews
• 5 References

Philadelphia teens, 15-year-old Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and her 13-year-old brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould), prepare for a five-day visit with their maternal grandparents while their divorced mother, Loretta Jamison (Kathryn Hahn) goes on a cruise with her new boyfriend.

The two kids (who have never met their grandparents) intend to film a documentary about their visit. Loretta reveals that she has not spoken to her parents in fifteen years after having married her high-school teacher Corin, of whom her parents disapproved.

The father of Becca and Tyler, Corin left Loretta after ten years for another woman. Loretta tells Becca little about the disagreement she had with her parents that led to their estrangement, suggesting that Becca ask them for the details instead.

Becca and Tyler meet their grandparents (Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie), who Becca refers to as "Nana" and "Pop Pop". At the isolated farmhouse, Becca and Tyler are instructed to never go into the basement because it contains toxic mold, and that bedtime is 9:30 p.m.

An hour past curfew, Becca ventures downstairs for something to eat and sees Nana projectile vomiting, frightening her. She tells Pop Pop, who dismisses it as Nana having the stomach flu. He reminds her not to leave the room after 9:30.

Over the next few days, Becca and Tyler notice their grandparents exhibiting more strange, sometimes frightening behavior. Pop Pop keeps mentioning a white light he sees. When Becca asks Nana about what happened the day Loretta left home, Nana begins shaking and screaming. Pop Pop and Nana are later confronted by a woman who was helped by them in counseling; she goes into the backyard with them but is never seen leaving.

Tyler (concerned about the occurrences) decides to secretly film what happens downstairs at night. Nana discovers the hidden camera, retrieves a large knife and unsuccessfully tries to break into the children's locked bedroom.

When Becca and Tyler view the camera footage of Nana with the knife, they contact their mother via Skype, begging her to come get them. When shown images of Pop Pop and Nana, Loretta panics upon the realization that they are not her parents.

Becca and Tyler attempt to leave the house and end up seeing the woman from earlier hung from a nearby tree. The impostors then trap them and force them to play Yahtzee. Becca sneaks to the basement, where she finds the corpses of the real Pop Pop and Nana, along with uniforms from the mental hospital they worked at, indicating the impostors are escaped patients.

Pop Pop grabs Becca and imprisons her in his bedroom with Nana, who tries to eat her. Becca fatally stabs Nana with a glass shard from a broken mirror, then tries to save Tyler. The Pop Pop imposter reveals to Tyler that the plan was to have a wonderful week "as a family" before dying so that they could reach the white light together.

After Becca's attempts to hold back Pop Pop, Tyler tackles Pop Pop to the floor and repeatedly slams the refrigerator door on his head, killing him. The two escape outside where they are met by their incoming mother and police officers.

In the aftermath, Becca asks Loretta about what happened the day she left home. Loretta states that she had a fight with her parents in which she hit her mother. After that, she left home and ignored their attempts to contact her. Loretta concludes that reconciliation was always possible had she wanted it. She tells Becca not to hold on to anger over her father's abandonment.

• Olivia DeJonge as Becca
• Ed Oxenbould as Tyler
• Kathryn Hahn as Loretta Jamison
• Deanna Dunagan as "Nana"\Maria Bella Jamison
• Peter McRobbie as "Pop Pop"\Frederick Spencer Jamison
• Benjamin Kanes as Corin
• Celia Keenan-Bolger as Stacey
• Jon Douglas Rainey, Brian Gildea, Shawn Gonzalez, and Richard Barlow as police
• Erica Lynne Marszalek and Shawn Gonzalez as passengers on a train
• Michael Mariano as a hairy-chested contestant

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Is The Notebook Based on a True Story? All About the Real Couple Who Inspired Noah and Allie's Epic Romance

In honor of the 20th anniversary of 'The Notebook,' starring Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling, here's a look at author Nicholas Sparks' inspiration for his hit novel

Nicole Briese is a contributing writer at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2022. Her work has previously appeared in Us Weekly, Brides and MTV News.

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The Notebook is widely considered one of the greatest love stories ever told — and it’s based on a real-life couple.

The best-selling 1996 novel by Nicholas Sparks, which was adapted for the screen in 2004 and Broadway in 2024 , follows the lives of Noah Calhoun ( Ryan Gosling ) and Allie Hamilton ( Rachel McAdams ) as they fall in love, separate and find their way back to each other. Now in their golden years, Allie’s memories are slowly being ripped away from her by Alzheimer’s disease — but Noah is determined to save them, reading the story of their lives to his wife from a notebook each day to help her remember.

According to Sparks, who penned the novel in a six-month span, the book was inspired by his ex-wife Cathy Sparks’ grandparents, who embarked upon a passionate summer romance, only to be separated by her grandmother’s strict parents.

While Cathy’s grandmother moved on, becoming engaged to another man, she never forgot her summer romance and eventually returned to her one true love. “Cathy’s grandparents, they were this great couple and in many ways, their story [is The Notebook ],” Nicholas told The Wall Street Journal in 2016.

Their heartwarming tale landed on The New York Times bestsellers list for more than a year and sold more than 105 million copies worldwide as of 2019, per USA Today . When the movie was released in 2004, success followed suit, grossing more than $117 million worldwide .

Sparks spoke to the novel’s universal appeal in an interview with CBS News' Sunday Morning in 2024. “It is a love story, it is a story of young love, it’s a story of reunited love, it’s a story of everlasting love,” he said, adding, “it’s also a story of memory.”

Read on to find out the true story of The Notebook and meet the real-life Noah and Allie.

Who are Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton in The Notebook ?

Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton are the main characters of The Notebook . Played by Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams in the 2004 film, the characters were inspired by Cathy Sparks' grandparents.

Author Sparks has never revealed his ex-grandfather-in-law’s name to his fans, though a photo of him with his wife was shown on CBS News in 2024. While little is also known about Cathy's grandmother, including her real name and profession, she was extremely close to her granddaughter. According to Sparks, Cathy often spent weekends with both of her grandparents as a teenager and frequently visited them during college.

How did Cathy’s grandparents meet?

Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

Per the Herald-Tribune , Sparks told a crowd in Bradenton, Fla., that his former spouse’s grandparents met as teenagers and embarked upon a summer romance.

“As I’m trying to figure out what story to write, I got this one story but I didn’t know if anyone was going to like it,” Sparks told the audience in 2021. “I thought it was kind of sweet and it was a story that I thought I could write ... that story eventually became The Notebook .”

As in the novel and film, Cathy’s great-grandparents separated their daughter from her newfound love at the end of the season. Just like the character of Noah, however, Cathy’s grandfather didn’t give up, continuing to write her grandmother letters of affection every day.

Is Lon Hammond real?

RGR Collection / Alamy

While the real-life Lon is unknown in name and profession, Cathy’s grandmother was indeed engaged to another man for a time before reuniting with Cathy's grandfather.

“They were separated for years and she [got] engaged and she [came] back and they [fell] in love,” Sparks told The Wall Street Journal of his muse.

It is unknown what happened to her former fiancé, but James Marsden , who played the character Lon in the film, told Screen Rant in 2022 that he would be open to exploring Lon’s fictional fate. “I feel like he's doing well. I feel like he's got a good head on his shoulders. I think he's doing well,” he said, adding, “We'll have to see, a Lon spin-off.”

Did Cathy’s grandfather really have a notebook that helped her grandmother remember their lives together?

Melissa Moseley/New Line/Kobal/Shutterstock 

Sparks told The Wall Street Journal that Noah’s devotion to reading Allie the story of their lives to help bring back her memory was also inspired by his ex-grandfather-in-law.

As the author explained, Cathy’s grandfather had his own methods for helping her grandmother, who was diagnosed with dementia, remember their love. “Toward the end of her life, she [got] dementia ... and he’s with her, and showing her ... drawings and photographs,” he said. “He didn’t have a notebook, but it was an album that he would walk her through and tell her about their lives together.”

His dedication touched Sparks so much that he put the story to paper. “I just thought there was something really beautiful about that entire concept and so I tried to do it in The Notebook .”

How long were Cathy’s grandparents together?

New Line/Everett/Shutterstock

The exact length of time that Cathy’s grandparents were together is unknown, but they had been together for more than 60 years.

As the novelist wrote on his website , their relationship was seemingly as strong after six decades as ever.  “What I most remember ... is the way they were treating each other,” he wrote of the couple following a particularly sweet visit. “The way his eyes shined when he looked at her, the way he held her hand, the way he got her tea and took care of her. I remember watching them together and thinking to myself that after sixty years of marriage, these two people were treating each other exactly the same as my wife and I were treating each other after twelve hours [of marriage].”

What happened to Cathy’s grandparents?

New Line/courtesy Everett

Sparks revealed on Sunday Morning that Cathy’s grandparents struggled with their well-being in their twilight years. “They [lived] long and happy and then in their final years, age [began] to take its toll,” he said.

In addition to the dementia Cathy’s grandmother was afflicted with, the writer noted on his website that she and her husband were under doctor’s orders not to attend their Cathy and Sparks' 1989 nuptials due to “ill health.”

With a little ingenuity, however, they were still able to enjoy the couple’s celebration. According to Sparks, he and Cathy dressed up in their wedding ensembles the morning after exchanging their vows and traveled to see the older couple with flowers, a video from the event and a piece of wedding cake in tow. “They had no idea we’d be coming and were excited to see us,” he wrote. “My grandfather-in-law slipped into his jacket and put on the boutonniere and we took photographs with them.”

According to the author, their day together planted the first seeds of his now-iconic novel. He wrote: “It was then they told us the story of how they met and fell in love, parts of which eventually made their way into The Notebook .”

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Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot

Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot is the true story of Donna and Reverend Martin and their church in East Texas. 22 families adopted 77 children from the local foster system, igniting ... Read all Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot is the true story of Donna and Reverend Martin and their church in East Texas. 22 families adopted 77 children from the local foster system, igniting a movement for vulnerable children everywhere. Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot is the true story of Donna and Reverend Martin and their church in East Texas. 22 families adopted 77 children from the local foster system, igniting a movement for vulnerable children everywhere.

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Is 'Hit Man' based on a true story? Fact checking Glen Powell's Netflix Gary Johnson movie

Spoiler alert! We're discussing plot points in Netflix's new fake assassin movie "Hit Man." Stop reading now if you haven't seen it yet and don't want to know.

"Hit Man" is a romantic comedy that aims to kill your notion of who a hit man can be.

The Netflix movie stars Glen Powell (" Top Gun ," " Anyone But You ") as Gary Johnson, a real-life undercover police officer who made a name for himself by posing as a fake assassin for hire. He would meet with people who wanted to murder a spouse, colleague, boss and so on, and once they uttered their desire for the hit and gave Johnson money, the recorded transaction often landed those individuals in jail.

Powell co-wrote "Hit Man," which is based on a 2001 Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth , with director Richard Linklater ( "Boyhood," "Everybody Wants Some!!" ). Powell, 35, told USA TODAY that he dove into the script in order to grab a role he didn't think he'd otherwise get.

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"The one thing that you realize about Hollywood is no one's ever going to give you the role that you've dreamed of," he said. "You have to bake it up yourself."

Linklater says he was drawn to the project as a way explore the often cliché notion of a killer for hire.

"This is the weirdest job ever, being a fake hit man for people who want someone dead," Linklater told the Austin American-Statesman , part of the USA TODAY Network. "It was more about the myth of the hit man. And these things don’t exist; hit men are created by movies. It’s a pop culture delusion. So I’m kind of interested in that too, about people’s beliefs. I kind of enjoy deconstructing and debunking."

How much of "Hit Man" is bunk, and how much is based on the real Johnson's exploits? We explore:

Is Gary Johnson, the hero of Netflix's 'Hit Man,' a real person?

As depicted in the movie, Johnson was a mild-mannered professor who taught classes in human sexuality and general psychology at a nearby college. While the film is set in New Orleans, Johnson lived in Houston and worked undercover alongside local law enforcement. Wearing a wire, he would meet with people soliciting hit men and coax out confessions.

According to Texas Monthly, Johnson was considered "the Laurence Olivier of the field" by his peers. He assisted in the arrests of more than 70 people seeking contract killers: Using aliases such as Mike Caine and Jody Eagle, he posed as everything from country-club sophisticates to rough-and-tumble bikers.

“He’s the perfect chameleon,” Houston lawyer Michael Hinton told Hollandsworth. “He never gets flustered, and he never says the wrong thing. ... He fools them every time.”

Did Gary Johnson really fall in love with a woman who wanted him to kill her husband?

Early in the film, Johnson is contacted by a young woman named Madison Masters (Adria Arjona), or Maddy, who asks him to kill her abusive husband, Ray (Evan Holtzman). Instead, Johnson tells her to keep her money, leave her spouse and start a new life. The two fall into bed together and start a relationship, which quickly turns dangerous when Ray shows up seeking vengeance.

According to Hollandsworth's article, there is no evidence that Johnson dated one of his potential "clients." He does detail instances in which women found Johnson seductive and tried to have sex with him.

In the movie, Johnson is divorced; in reality, Johnson was divorced three times and, according to Texas Monthly, was mostly a soft-spoken loner who enjoyed his cats and reading books by famous philosophers.

Did Gary Johnson really talk a client out of ordering a hit?

While defense attorneys would argue that Johnson steered his "clients" toward hiring him to commit murder, Johnson maintained that he was trying to help these individuals understand their true desires more clearly.

Never was that more true when he met a young woman at a Starbucks who wanted her boyfriend dead. The “Hit Man” movie uses the unnamed woman's story as a jumping-off point for the second half of the movie, but the romance was purely fictional.

Johnson "learned that she really was the victim of abuse, regularly battered by her boyfriend, too terrified to leave him because of her fear of what he might do if he found her,” Hollandsworth writes. “Instead of setting up a sting to catch the woman and send her off to jail, he decided to help her. He referred her to social service agencies and a therapist to make sure she got proper help so she could leave her boyfriend and get into a women’s shelter.”

But in most cases, even when Johnson would repeatedly ask clients to confirm they wanted to hire a killer, most ultimately said yes, the article says.

Did the murders in the Netflix movie 'Hit Man' really happen?

In "Hit Man," Powell's Johnson has fallen in love with Maddy (Arjona) and is determined to ensure that the two have a life together, despite the duo being in serious legal jeopardy. In the movie, Madison has killed her abusive ex-husband, Ray (Holtzman), who tried to take out a hit on her. A police colleague of Johnson's, Jasper (Austin Amelio), finds out and threatens to turn the couple in unless he is given the million-dollar payment from Ray's insurance policy.

As Jasper lays out his demands to Gary and Maddy, he suddenly slumps over, as the drugs Maddy has slipped into his drink take effect. While he isn't quite dead, Gary makes the decision to put a plastic bag over Jasper's head, killing him. The movie then cuts to a few years down the road, in which, murders be damned, Gary and Maddy have two children and appear to be living happily ever after.

The real Gary Johnson never killed anyone. A title card at the end of movie says Johnson was an animal-loving Buddhist, a Vietnam War veteran and the “chilliest dude imaginable.” He was born in 1947 and died in 2022 before “Hit Man” started shooting, although his cause of death is unknown.  

Contributing: Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, and Matthew Odam, Austin American-Statesman

The Vandals from The Bikeriders Are Based on a Real Motorcycle Club

The movie, starring Tom Hardy and Austin Butler, takes inspiration from a 1968 photobook documenting the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club.

Now in theaters, The Bikeriders— starring Tom Hardy , Austin Butler , Jodie Comer, and Mike Faist—tells the story of the Chicago Vandals, a fictionalized version of the Outlaws and some of their actual members. Inspired by Lyon’s acclaimed 1968 photobook of the same name, the movie examines the Vandals and their transition from a haven for outcasted bikers to something more sinister.

Similar to their onscreen counterparts, the influence and reputation of the Outlaws have changed dramatically since their inception.

The Outlaws originated almost 90 years ago

While The Bikeriders documents the founding and rise of the fictional Vandals starting in the 1960s, the Outlaws’ true story began three decades earlier. According to its official website , the club started as the McCook Outlaws Motorcycle Club in 1935. Riders formed the group outside of Matilda’s Bar in McCook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. After years of limited inactivity during World War II, the organization held its first major rally at Chicago’s Soldier Field in 1946.

According to Time , the war was a major catalyst for the rise of motorcycle culture in the United States. The resulting military surplus made bikes affordable, and returning veterans sought an adventurous escape from the boredom of civilian life. This led to the formation of other clubs, including the Hells Angels—the Outlaws’ chief rival—in Fontana, California, in 1948.

Meanwhile, the Outlaws continued attracting riders from throughout the Windy City and moved their headquarters from McCook in 1950 to become the Chicago Outlaws. Around this time, the club adopted its signature skull logo on shirts and jackets; the crossed pistons were added four years later.

By 1964, the Outlaws had incorporated chapters from Milwaukee and Louisville, Kentucky—and caught the interest of a young rider named Danny Lyon.

Lyon became an Outlaws member to create his book

Lyon was a first-year history student at the University of Chicago in 1959 when a classmate introduced him to motorcycle culture. The owner of a Triumph TR6 bike, he would soon combine this new passion with his budding journalistic skills.

But first, Lyon left Chicago in 1962 to document the Civil Rights Movement . He served as an official photographer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and befriended key figures like John Lewis and Julian Bond.

One year later, he embarked on his motorcycle project that would become The Bikeriders. Although Lyon said he received a very clean-cut transformation in the new film—Faist, who portrays his fictional stand-in “Danny,” doesn’t ride a motorcycle onscreen—the photographer became a full-fledged Outlaws member by 1965. A self-described “pothead” in the primarily beer-drinking club, he documented his fellow riders through photography and analog tape recordings.

Published in 1968, The Bikeriders book received acclaim and reportedly inspired the 1969 movie Easy Rider starring Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda, and Jack Nicholson . However, Lyon left the group and the biker lifestyle following its release. “I loved my work and loved what I was doing, but it was a subject to me,” Lyon told A Rabbit’s Foot , “so when I thought I had what I needed, I knew it was time to move on, and I did.”

Real recordings from Lyon are used in the movie

The Bikeriders movie draws heavily from Lyon’s source material, including using “verbatim imitations” of his audio recordings, according to Bleak Beauty . Lyon spoke with Outlaws members Cal, Zipco, and Cockroach, who all appear in the new movie. The re-creation treatment is especially true of Comer’s character, Kathy—modeled after the real-life Kathy Bauer—whose interviews form the narrative structure of the plot surrounding the fictional Vandals.

In 1966, the 25-year-old Bauer offered a glimpse into the Outlaws’ tight-knit nature by describing her first meeting with a rider named Benny (played by Butler). She explained in detail how the group, including leader Johnny Davis (Hardy), tricked Bauer into taking a ride on Benny’s motorcycle. “He takes off, he goes through the stoplights and everything so that I wouldn’t jump off,” Bauer told Lyon . “And I wouldn’t have jumped off anyway because I was scared s—less; I’d never been on a motorcycle in all my life.

“Johnny was real nice to me. He says, ‘Don’t worry, I’m the president of this club, and I wouldn’t let nothing happen to you. They’re only having fun, and this one guy wanted to go out with you,’” Bauer said. The unusual courtship worked as Bauer and Benny later married. Their relationship is featured prominently in the movie.

But while this cordiality is illustrated through the Outlaws’ onscreen stand-ins, the club has been linked to much more antagonistic activity in the decades since.

The Outlaws of today are pretty different from the movie

The Outlaws have spread far beyond their Chicago hub in the decades since, with the organization now boasting chapters across at least 26 states and reaching countries like France, Ireland, Japan, and Russia. According to the Chicago Reader , the Outlaws were estimated to have more than 1,500 members by 2014.

However, the club has developed a treacherous reputation. As of November 2023, the U.S. Justice Department classifies the Outlaws as one of 300 “outlaw motorcycle gangs,” or OMGs. These are described as “highly structured criminal organizations whose members engage in criminal activities such as violent crime, weapons trafficking, and drug trafficking.”

Much of this stems from the group’s ongoing feud with the Hells Angels. The Chicago Sun-Times has reported the two factions waged a violent turf war in the city during the 1990s—including a series of bombings, shootings, and stabbings—before reaching an uneasy truce. According to TwinCities.com , the Outlaws reportedly use the coded acronym ADIOS, which stands for “Angels die in Outlaw states.”

In a November 2016 interview with the Sun-Times , a former Outlaws member named Peter James said the Hells Angels’ presence in the Chicago area has grown more influential and could ignite more conflict. However, he suggested modern Outlaws have shifted away from crime and violence. “The times have changed. Somehow, there’s no testosterone out there,” James said. “It used to be the boss’ word was law. He says, ‘Ride off the cliff,’ and guys would ride off a cliff. The quality of the members has gone down.”

In any case, most riders have maintained that the club merely embraces an alternative lifestyle and isn’t an organized crime syndicate.

See The Bikeriders in Theaters Now

Director Jeff Nichols has said The Bikeriders isn’t meant to be a documentary of the Chicago Outlaws, nor to show disrespect toward the club in any way. He simply hopes to give viewers a sense of the time and societal conditions that allowed the group to thrive.

“When you’re looking at these guys, if you want to, you can simply dismiss them, but if you watch the film, you start to see how their brains work, and hopefully you start to identify with them a little bit,” he told A Rabbit’s Foot . “Not feeling like you belong, that’s something that everybody feels. It should be a unifying trait.”

The movie cruised into theaters on Friday and stars Tom Hardy as Johnny, Austin Butler as Benny, Jodie Comer as Kathy, and Mike Faist as Danny.

Get Tickets

Tyler Piccotti first joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor in February 2023, and before that worked almost eight years as a newspaper reporter and copy editor. He is a graduate of Syracuse University. When he's not writing and researching his next story, you can find him at the nearest amusement park, catching the latest movie, or cheering on his favorite sports teams.

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20 Intense and Heartbreaking Movies Based on True Events

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Unfortunately, misfortune is no stranger to history, and movies about real-life tragedies are actually pretty popular in the drama genre. Because there have been countless devastating events throughout the years, it is only natural that the film industry brings those poignant moments to light while simultaneously paying homage to those involved. Whether it be a tragic true tale of hope, courage, and bravery like 2017's Stronger or a cinematic depiction of a hero soldier in a warzone in 2016's six-time Academy Award-nominated Hacksaw Ridge , heartbreaking true-story movies can range in a wide variety.

From survival stories and epic war dramas to natural disasters and terrorist attacks, movies have, for decades now, held the power to bring audiences to nothing more than a sobbing mess with gut-wrenching portrayals of heroism to disastrous occurrences. These are some of the most impactful and poignant movies based on real-life disasters .

20 'Only the Brave' (2017)

Directed by joseph kosinski.

Featuring an ensemble cast, including Josh Brolin , James Badge Dale , Jeff Bridges , Miles Teller , Alex Russell , Taylor Kitsch , and Ben Hardy among others, Joseph Kosinski 's Only the Brave , based on the GQ article "No Exit" by Sean Flynn , focuses on the true story of a group of elite firefighters, known as Granite Mountain Hotshots, who risk everything to protect a town from a life-changing wildfire.

Despite being a commercial flop and grossing just $26.3 million worldwide against a $38 million budget, Only the Brave was met with generally positive reviews. Its narrative is gripping and touching, managing to tell a difficult tale of fatherhood, duty, and bravery quite well. It's not a groundbreaking movie. However, the fact that it is based on a true story makes it all the more meaningful.

Only the Brave

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19 'Boys Don't Cry' (1999)

Directed by kimberly peirce.

Image via Searchlight Pictures

Starring Hilary Swank in an Oscar-winning role, Boys Don't Cry dramatizes the real-life story of a young man named Brandon Teena as he navigates love, life, and being transgender in rural Nebraska, ending up falling victim to a brutal hate crime perpetrated by two male ex-convicts. Chloë Sevigny also stars as Brandon's girlfriend, Lana Tisdel .

Boys Don't Cry is a controversial movie in this niche subcategory for the way it handles the sensitive topics it tackles, including trans identities. Although divisive, it is impossible to deny how utterly heartbreaking and difficult to watch Kimberly Peirce's film is, making it one of the saddest films based on real-life stories . While many elements make Boys Don't Cry an impactful feature (including the film's devastating ending) , Swank's amazing performance is definitely a major highlight.

Boys Don't Cry

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18 'Alpha Dog' (2006)

Directed by nick cassavetes.

Written and directed by John Cassavete ’s son Nick , Alpha Dog is based on the true story of the kidnapping and murder of Nicholas Markowitz in 2000. Johnny ( Emile Hirsch ) and his pals kidnap Jake's 15-year-old brother Zach ( Anton Yelchin ) and assign his buddy Frankie to be Zach's minder. While they develop a brotherly friendship and Zach parties with his captors, things begin to spin out of control.

Part of why Alpha Dog works has to do with its realistic filmmaking and storyline . It’s a powerful depiction of a real-life event anchored by great performances. Both sad (especially the ending) and compelling, Cassavetes’ film will not leave anyone indifferent — the fact that it is actually based on a true story just makes the viewing experience even more unforgettable.

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17 'Breathe' (2017)

Directed by andy serkis.

Undoubtedly a film to tug on the heartstrings, 2017's Breathe stars Andrew Garfield as Robin Cavendish , a man paralyzed by Polio from the neck down when he was just twenty-eight years old. Cavendish's son, Jonathan , produced the movie as a way to tell his father's story and the inspirational impact Robin had on the lives of people with disabilities at the time.

Robin had the idea of installing a built-in respirator on a chair. That idea went on to accomplish at the time unimaginable steps in improving the lives of people in the same situation as himself. With more chairs distributed, the quality and quantity of life of those in his position greatly improved. Following a bittersweet goodbye to his friends after starting to suffer heavy bleeding from the respirator, Robin died with Diana and Jonathan by his side. While not a must-see, Breathe makes for an intriguing viewing experience for those who are looking for a well-crafted film based on real-life stories .

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16 'Everest' (2015)

Directed by baltasar kormákur.

When it comes to great natural disaster movies based on true stories, 2015s Everest is a good pick. As the title suggests, the film is based on the 1996 Mount Everest disaster and focuses on the journey of hope, faith, courage, and bravery between two expedition groups as they attempt to descend from the summit during treacherous weather conditions, having made it to the top of the tallest mountain in the world.

The film stars Josh Brolin , Jason Clarke , and Jake Gyllenhaal to name a few, and depicts the heartbreaking story of the eight people who lost their lives during the third deadliest Everest expedition. From Beck Weathers' (Brolin) miraculous survival to Rob Hall's (Clarke) gutwrenching goodbye to his wife and unborn daughter as he dies, Everest wasn't lacking in the emotional scenes, even if some feel it would've been a better documentary than a film . The movie ends with a clip of the real Beck Weathers , having lost both hands and his nose due to severe frostbite, and reveals that Rob Hall 's body sadly remains on Everest.

15 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016)

Directed by peter berg.

This great must-see disaster movie follows the events leading up to and the aftermath of the explosion and oil spill of the Deepwater Horizon. An inextinguishable fire resulted, and the rig sank after burning for over a day. The incident resulted in approximately 200 million gallons of oil spilling into the ocean over 87 days, eleven deaths, and is the worst oil disaster in United States history.

Starring Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russel as Mike Williams and Jimmy "Mr. Jimmy" Harrell , there aren't many movies like Deepwater Horizon ; the nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat film was nominated for two Oscars. Deepwater Horizon is filled with tense scenes and life-threatening experiences , culminating in a heartbreaking scene with the survivors reuniting with their families and a shaken Mike having a panic attack while being comforted by his wife and daughter. Before the credits roll, footage of the rig and pictures of the eleven people who died play out on screen.

Deepwater Horizon

14 'the impossible' (2012), directed by j. a. bayona.

Starring Naomi Watts , Ewan McGregor , and a young but talented Tom Holland in his film debut , 2012's The Impossible follows one family's incredible journey to find each other after being separated during the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The movie was considered one of the best films of 2012 and received highly positive reviews for its acting and directing, becoming one of the most well-known true disaster movies.

Throughout its entirety, The Impossible is chock-full of incredibly hard-hitting emotion and doesn't lack tough-to-watch scenes. From losing loved ones in such a tragic way to that heartbreaking reunion scene, The Impossible left viewers reeling from the devastation depicted and the trauma that thousands experienced from the natural disaster that killed over 200,000 people. Its impact on the disaster genre is undeniable.

The Impossible

13 'changeling' (2008), directed by clint eastwood.

Starring Angelina Jolie in one of her best movie performances (it earned her her second Academy Award nom), Clint Eastwood 's intense Changeling is based on the real-life events surrounding the 1928 Wineville Chicken Coop murders in Mira Loma, California. It focuses on a woman who is reunited with a boy who she then realizes is not really her missing son, depicting her struggles as she is vilified as delusional.

The critically acclaimed feature is undoubtedly a must-see film based on real-life events, especially given the powerfully poignant messages it sends about the anxieties of being a woman and a mother and the constant begging to be believed that comes with it. The heartbreaking Changeling is impactful and recommendable , though the faint of heart may find it difficult to sit through it all.

12 'Hacksaw Ridge' (2016)

Directed by mel gibson.

Desmond Doss was a combat medic who refused to carry a firearm or weapon of any kind and heroically saved the lives of an estimated seventy-five soldiers during the World War II Battle of Okinawa. Directed by Mel Gibson and starring Andrew Garfield in the lead role , 2016's Hacksaw Ridge is a biographical drama that follows the story of Doss, who became the first conscientious objector to win the Medal of Honor.

Throughout this heartwrenching film, Doss was often looked down upon for refusing to bear arms, earning him zero respect from his fellow soldiers. His sergeant and Captain put him through intense labor to get him to quit, his fellow soldiers beat him up, and he faced potential imprisonment. Despite everything, Doss saved dozens of lives and became a hero in the face of treacherous conditions. There is no doubt that Hacksaw Ridge is an incredibly touching film based on real-life events .

Hacksaw Ridge

11 'united 93' (2006), directed by paul greengrass.

United 93 , which is among the most popular terrorism movies based on a true story, is a docudrama written and directed by Paul Greengrass that tells the harrowing story of the only hijacked plane that didn't reach its intended target during the 9/11 attacks. While Flights 11, 77, and 175 devastatingly hit their targets, Flight 93 didn't. Instead, it crashed into a Pennsylvania field due to the bravery of the flight crew and passengers on board.

The two-time Academy Award-nominated film follows the passengers and crew as they attempt to retain control from the al-Queda terrorists after a violent hijacking. The heartbreaking reality of Flight 93 remains instilled in the hearts and minds of the people directly impacted and the world. What could've added thousands of losses to the death toll was prevented by the forty courageous people who sadly lost their lives aboard Flight 93 on that tragic day.

United 93 (2006)

10 'stronger' (2017), directed by david gordon green.

Those who enjoy movies like Patriots Day should check out 2017's Stronger . It follows the events surrounding the Boston Marathon bombings that happened on April 15th, 2013. However, unlike Patriots Day , which follows the investigative side of things, Stronger is a biographical drama that highlights the impact it had on one man who was hailed a hero after identifying one of the bombers involved.

Based on Jeff Bauman and Bret Witter 's memoir of the same name, the movie emotionally depicts the personal struggles faced by Jeff (played by Jake Gyllenhaal ) as he adjusted to life after losing both legs in the attack. Jeff struggled greatly with his mental health, and PTSD and had flashbacks to the day of the bombings, not helped by the constant media attention. But, despite his mental health conditions (depicted with precision), he overcame the challenges he faced, learned how to walk again, and became an inspiration to thousands. With that being said, Stronger is easily one of the most encouraging and captivating films about real-life events .

9 'Hotel Rwanda' (2004)

Directed by terry george.

Based on the Rwandan genocide twenty years before the film's release, Hotel Rwanda is a multi-award-nominated movie that follows the events that took place between April 7th and July 15th, 1994, and resulted in an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 Tutsi deaths over a timeline of just one hundred days.

The film pursues the story of Paul Rusesabagina and his wife Tatiana (played by Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo ) as they embark on saving the lives of their family and over a thousand other Hutu and Tutsi refugees during the Rwandan civil war. Hotel Rwanda is full of chilling and tear-jerking scenes. It's among the best sad movies based on true stories , with the real-life conflict that inspired the heartbreaking but high-rated film remaining as one of the most difficult to fathom for many.

Hotel Rwanda

8 'captain phillips' (2013).

Directed by Paul Greengrass and starring America's dad Tom Hanks as the title character, this 2013 biographical drama follows the story of Captain Richard Phillips and his hostage-taking during the Maersk Alabama hijacking in 2009. With a screenplay inspired by Phillips' book, the film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Captain Phillips certainly isn't lacking in intensity and hard-to-watch scenes. From nail-biting confrontation and negotiation to Hanks' incredibly emotional performance as Phillips , the film was a critical success. In the aftermath of his kidnapping, Richard Phillips became an author and returned to sea just over a year later until his retirement in 2014. If you're looking for sad true story movies, this might be worth a shot.

Captain Phillips

7 'titanic' (1997), directed by james cameron.

Possibly the most famous of the bunch, James Cameron 's highly popular drama was inspired by the events of the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912, a British-registered ship that was launched on May 31, 1911. After striking an iceberg, the Titanic broke apart and sank to the bottom of the ocean. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in the lead roles, depicting their ill-fated, timeless love story.

Although it contains both historical and fictionalized aspects, the iconic 1997 movie is indeed a widely appreciated one. For the date it was released, the heartwrenching Titanic featured a massive budget and high production, which ultimately made the whole viewing experience extremely immersive , especially in movie theaters.

6 'The Elephant Man' (1980)

Directed by david lynch.

Based on the life of Joseph Merrick ("John" in the film), The Elephant Man tells the heartbreaking story of a severely deformed man who lived in London in the late 19th century. The story was adapted from Frederick Treves ' The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences and Ashley Montagu 's The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity .

As expected from the filmmaker, David Lynch’s acclaimed movie is incredibly well-directed and stylish. Some even name it the most accessible of all his complex body of work. The black-and-white cinematography is also top-notch, perfectly mirroring the dark themes of exploitation and other complicated situations its protagonist is put through. At its core, The Elephant Man reflects on integration and humanity, highlighting that there is no such thing as limits when it comes to compassion .

The Elephant Man

5 '12 years a slave' (2013), directed by steve mcqueen.

Steve McQueen 's 12 Years a Slave is a heart-wrenching survival drama that tells the true story of a free Black man ( Chiwetel Ejiofor , who delivers a powerhouse performance) from upstate New York who is kidnapped in Washington, D.C. by two conmen in 1841 and eventually sold into slavery. The film chronicles his heartbreaking struggles, shedding light on themes of racism and sexism among others.

This powerful movie is not an easy watch by any means. However, those curious to know more about this specific topic and the hardships many faced may want to give 12 Years a Slave a try . It is also worth mentioning that the performances by its star-studded cast are incredible, with Lupita Nyong'o also standing out in her film debut (and winning a very much-deserved Oscar for it). The tear-jerker is based on the 1853 slave memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup .

12 Years a Slave

Rent on Apple TV

4 'One Life' (2023)

Directed by james hawes.

When it comes to devastating pictures, 2023's drama One Life also deserves a mention. Based on a true story about a tragic real-life event, James Hawes ' powerful movie follows British humanitarian Sir Nicholas Winton (portrayed by Sir Anthony Hopkins ) as he looks back on his past efforts to help groups of Jewish children in German-occupied Czechoslovakia to hide and escape just before the beginning of World War II.

This heart-wrenching film is guaranteed to move audiences to tears given the sensitive topic it tackles and Hopkins' dramatic performance that anchors it. Despite its sad bits, though, the highly emotional One Life also celebrates Winton's incredible accomplishments and the numerous lives that he saved. Based on the book If It's Not Impossible...: The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton by Barbara Winton .

Watch on Amazon Prime

3 'Fruitvale Station' (2013)

Directed by ryan coogler.

This powerfully acted Michael B. Jordan -led film directed by the MCU filmmaker Ryan Coogler is one of the most heartbreaking portrayals of police brutality on-screen. It centers on 22-year-old Bay Area resident Oscar Grant III, who makes the New Year's Eve resolution of being a better son, boyfriend, and father on the final day of 2008. In the meantime, he runs into friends, foes, family, and strangers.

As viewers would guess, Coogler's thoroughly impressive directorial debut is inspired by the events leading to the death of a young man who was brutally killed by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale district station in Oakland in the year of 2009. Shining a poignant light on prejudice and an increasingly unjust system, Fruitvale Station makes for a deeply touching and memorable watch that provides food for thought .

Fruitvale Station

2 'letters from iwo jima' (2006).

From the mind of the iconic Clint Eastwood , this intriguing 2006 adventure drama introduces audiences to the true story of the Battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II. It is, of course, told from the point of view of the Japanese who fought in the war.

Featuring an absorbing storyline that shines a light on the humanistic side of such tragic events, this engaging feature is likely to glue the audience's eyes to their screens. While it may not be as ostentatious and bold as other war films — but silently heartbreaking instead — Letters From Iwo Jima is nonetheless essential viewing for those who enjoy true story movies .

Letters from Iwo Jima

1 'schindler's list' (1993), directed by steven spielberg.

Steven Spielberg 's 1993 historical drama, Schindler's List , remains one of the most heartbreaking depictions of the Holocaust of all time. The film is based on the non-fiction novel Schindler's Ark , written by Thomas Keneally in 1982, and was nominated for twelve Academy Awards, winning seven, including Best Picture and Best Director for Spielberg.

The war film which doesn't actually focus on the fighting stars Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler , a German industrialist responsible for saving the lives of over a thousand Jewish people from the Holocaust. The Nazi's genocide of the Jewish people resulted in the deaths of an estimated six million Jews, and Schindler saved approximately 1200, who became known as the Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews). An epilogue for the film shows the surviving Schindlerjuden and the actors visiting Schindler's grave. Schindler's List is widely regarded as one of the best movies of all time, so it only makes sense that it is essential in the genre .

Schindler's List (1995)

NEXT: Popular Movies You Didn’t Know Were Based on True Stories

The Visit: Where Was M. Night Shyamalan’s Horror Movie Shot?

Helmed by director M. Night Shyamalan, ‘The Visit’ is a thrilling found-footage film that follows siblings Becca and Tyler as they visit their grandparents, and notice their increasingly disturbing behavior. After arriving at their grandparents’ quaint countryside home, Becca and Tyler are delighted to be able to spend time with them after so long. A day of delightful catching up later, Pop Pop puts the two to sleep and strongly suggests that they not leave their room after nine-thirty. Later that night the children hear loud bangs and scratchings. Soon the elders’ strange behaviour leaks over to the daytime, making the siblings concerned for their safety, but failing to convince their mother to pick them up.

The 2015 film’s tension builds steadily as the siblings uncover dark family secrets and struggle to survive in a house filled with eerie mysteries . ‘The Visit’ delivers a compelling blend of psychological horror and thrilling situations, using its simple backdrop and premise to create terrifying circumstances. The chilling story is contrasted heavily by its seemingly mundane backdrop, which is later revealed to hide disturbing realities within its layers. Thus the atmospheric tension built throughout the tale may spark curiosity in some regarding its real-world filming sites.

The Visit Filming Locations

‘The Visit’ was filmed mainly in Philadelphia, Chester Springs, and Royersford, Pennsylvania, with a few scenes shot in Miami, Florida. Principal photography began on February 19, 2014, under the tentative title, ‘Sundowning,’ and was wrapped up in about a month by March 21 of the same year. In an interview , writer-director Shyamalan marveled at finding the ideal actors to bring his story to life, saying, “This might be my perfect constellation of actors, it’s as if these people were the people that I wrote.” Let’s examine the sites seen throughout the film and their real-life counterparts.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Situated along the banks of the Delaware River, the city of Philadelphia has a brief appearance in ‘The Visit,’ primarily at the beginning and end of the film. When the siblings are dropped off at the train station by their mother, the site is actually the 30th Street Station at 3001 Market Street. Officially known as William H. Gray III 30th Street Station, the prominent intermodal transit station is defined by its grand classical entrance held up with Roman pillars.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ed Oxenbould (@edoxenbould)

Chester Springs, Pennsylvania

Filming for the grandparents’ house and its exterior scenes was carried out on 3049 Merlin Road, in the unincorporated community of Chester Springs in Chester County. The community lies west of Philadelphia, and its serene snow-covered landscape can be spotted early in ‘The Visit’ as the siblings travel to their grandparents’ house.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Visit (@thevisitmovie)

Royersford, Pennsylvania

Nestled along the Schuylkill River, the borough of Royersford stood in for much of the town seen in the film as the characters left the house. Shooting for these scenes was done on 330 Main Street, its small-town charm imbuing the narrative with a pleasant departure from the claustrophobic situations at the elders’ house. Further filming was done on location at 705 Washington Street, which is a quintessential suburban neighborhood.

#Royersford Ambulance crew with @MNightShyamalan . #Sundowning pic.twitter.com/SXR9zKWr9X — Matt Stehman 🇺🇸🇺🇦🌻 (@MattStehman) February 20, 2014

When the grandfather takes the siblings out to a school, shooting for the sequence was done at the 5/6 Grade Center on 833 South Lewis Road. After their visit, whilst returning, they begin to play a game of pointing out at buildings and guessing their stories. The children point to a large, red-bricked complex lined with white windows. The grandfather ominously reveals the structure to be the Maple Shade Psychiatric Hospital, where he had supposedly volunteered at an earlier point in time. The structure is actually the Royersford Spring Company on 98 Main Street which manufactures automotive parts and springs.

Miami, Florida

For a couple of scenes on a cruise ship, the film crew ventured onboard the Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas for a few days in Miami. The city’s bustling seaport, PortMiami, stands as the Cruise Capital of the World, welcoming millions of passengers annually to embark on voyages to exotic destinations. The cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, was used as a set for ‘The Visit.’ A casting call for extras announced the need for upscale cruise wear and skills related to activities carried out on the ship, such as wakeboarding and rock wall climbing.

Adam Goldstein tours the set of @MNightShyamalan 's new film shooting scenes onboard Allure of the Seas. pic.twitter.com/WzCG5RtzCp — Royal Caribbean Public Relations (@RoyalCaribPR) April 7, 2014

Read More:  Is The Visit Based on a True Story?

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The Bikeriders ' writer-director Jeff Nichols explains how the movie compares to the true story that inspired it

The 1960s-set drama about the rise and fall of a Midwestern motorcycle gang is loosely based on Danny Lyon's 1968 photobook of the same name.

Sydney Bucksbaum is a writer at Entertainment Weekly covering all things pop culture – but TV is her one true love. She currently lives in Los Angeles but grew up in Chicago so please don't make fun of her accent when it slips out.

Start your engines; it's time to take a ride with The Bikeriders.

The period film starring Tom Hardy ,  Austin Butler , and  Jodie Comer  tells the story of the rise of a fictional Midwestern motorcycle club called the Vandals. Set in the 1960s, the movie follows a core group of original members across the years as they watch the club grow and evolve in both positive and negative ways.

The movie paints a detailed picture of what '60s motorcycle culture was really like, and that's because director Jeff Nichols ( Midnight Special ) took inspiration for the story from photojournalist Danny Lyon’s acclaimed 1968 photobook of the same name. Lyons spent years embedded with a Chicago motorcycle club, taking photos and interviewing real members and their families. Nichols became fascinated with the subject matter when he first read the book some 20 years ago.

But the movie version isn't a direct retelling of Lyon's book. The film's plot and many details are fictionalized as the director did not want to make a historical account of the real motorcycle club Lyon wrote about, the Chicago Outlaws, which was founded in 1935 and still operates today with chapters all over the world. Instead, he changed the name of the club to the Chicago Vandals and based the film on Lyon's photos and interviews to create the onscreen version.

Kyle Kaplan/Focus Features

"I fictionalized a movie that was inspired by real things that they said and did in this very brief period of time," Nichols told Entertainment Weekly . Besides admittedly not wanting to provoke a reaction from the real biker gang the film is based on, Nichols also cited his experience working on 2016's Loving, which told the true story behind the landmark decision Loving v. Virginia , as a reason for fictionalizing The Bikeriders . " Loving was the film where I would look at Peggy, [Richard and Mildred Loving's] only surviving child and say, 'I'm doing my best to represent these people as they were. They're always affectations because movies are fake, but I'm doing my best.' That is not what The Bikeriders is. The Bikeriders is fiction."

As Lyon himself explained in an interview , "What Jeff did was to structure a fictional film script around the recorded monologues that are the recorded stories of the book. These are great, heartfelt narratives that often tell more about the character of the speakers than they do of the world they are describing."

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Challengers  star Mike Faist plays Lyon, who spent four years as a legitimate member of the club. But the movie never mentions him by name, and according to Lyon, his depiction in the film is a more sanitized version of reality.

"In the film, Jeff cleaned me up," Lyon said in that same interview. "He did not have me riding a motorcycle, and in my scene where I am making an audio recording of Zipco, who is brilliantly recreated by Michael Shannon , asks 'Danny' what he is doing, 'Danny' answers that he is a 'photo student.' For anyone that has followed my life as a bookmaker and photojournalist would know I was a history student, never a photo student, and long gone from school when I joined the club at age 24."

Mike Faist/Focus Features

The movie is narrated by Kathy Bauer (Comer), who Lyon interviewed extensively for his book. While not a member of the gang herself, she did marry one — both in the movie and in real life. Her hilarious, insightful, and heavily Midwest-accented tales of her time around the club form the backbone for much of the film. In fact, the opening moments are ripped almost verbatim from one of her interviews describing the night she met her future husband, Benny (Butler). Kathy had gone to a bar to meet a girlfriend but did not realize that the establishment was frequented almost exclusively by bikers.

Here's how she described first seeing Benny: "So I sees my girlfriend, and I goes over to her, and I sits down there, and I’m takin’ everything in. And all these guys kept comin’ up to me sayin’, you know, different stuff like you need a man, or you want to come live with me? And I was about ready to just run. So I says to my girlfriend, well, I gotta go. And she says, 'Oh, they’re not that bad. Just sit here.' So all of a sudden I seen Benny and he was standin’ at the end of the bar. And I says to my girlfriend, boy, who’s the good-lookin’ blond guy? I says, he don’t look like the rest of these guys. She says, oh Kathy, you don’t want to go out with him."

In the film, Benny is the true rebel without a cause in the group, only caring about his bike and the open road until he meets Kathy (and even then, she has to fight for his attention). According to Lyon's website, where you can hear some of the original audio recordings that became dialogue in the movie, Benny was "one of the more reckless riders of the club."

Focus Features

What the movie doesn't show is that at the time of their meeting, Kathy had three children and, at 25, was six years older than her teenage biker beau. Nichols calls not including the children "one of my biggest regrets of the film." He explains to EW, "We had scenes of her talking about her kids, but we only had one shot of them. And when I first started showing people the film, it was really distracting. I hadn't involved that family enough to make it integral to the film. It was really distracting and it made people really not like her. But more than that, it was just kind of confusing. They were like, wait a second, where are [the kids]? ... It brought up all these questions, which in the book, when you're reading it, makes her really fascinating, and it is my biggest regret that as a storyteller, I didn't craft that in a way that it could stay."

Other real people that Nichols included in the movie are Cal (played by Boyd Holbrook ), Zipco (Shannon), Cockroach (played by Emory Cohen), and Norman Reedus ' "Funny" Sonny, the latter being a former Hell’s Angels member who joined the Outlaws. "Most of the bike riders I knew are dead," Lyon told A Rabbit's Foot . "Now and then, I hear from their children, often asking about parents that I knew, and they didn’t."

Before making the movie, Nichols tried to make contact with some of the people who would be depicted in the film but didn't have much luck. "We did Google searches," he says. "We tried to find people, but we just didn't have a lot of information. I mean, it's nearly 60 years ago, and a lot of these people had died. A lot of these people didn't have names that we knew. How do you find Zipco?"

But that's starting to change now that the movie is coming out. "Now that we've made it, things have started to emerge and we're kind of in the process [of connecting with people]," Nichols says. "Kathy and Benny had a son, and he showed up to the box office when we were going to premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival and gave us a letter. We gave that to Danny Lyon and he's gone to interview him. So the story is unfolding and it's going to be pretty fascinating, I think, to see who does come out of the woodwork."

While Nichols tried to avoid some of the burden he felt with Loving by crafting a fictional story, as the real people behind The Bikeriders start to emerge, he now finds himself in a similar position. "It honestly puts pressure on me, kind of a responsibility for me to say this," he adds. "If [Kathy and Benny's son] came up to me and was like, 'Did you make a movie about my mom and dad?' I would have to say, no. I made a movie inspired by an interview that your mom gave in 1965, and that is all that I had. I made everything else up."

The Bikeriders is playing now in theaters.

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Fans are praising Celine Dion's 'raw' and 'emotional' documentary

Fans are getting emotional after watching Celine Dion's new Prime Video documentary, " I Am: Celine Dion ."

The film, which was released at 3 a.m. ET. on Tuesday, June 25, gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at Dion's life in the spotlight and her struggles with stiff person syndrome.

According to the  National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke , stiff person syndrome is a progressive and neurological disorder that causes muscle stiffness in the torso and limbs, and a heightened sensitivity to noise, touch and emotional stress. This can set off painful muscle spasms in the body.

Due to her illness, Dion canceled multiple shows on her world tour  in 2023. However, the singer has since made a vow to return to the stage.

“I’m going to go back on stage, even if I have to crawl. Even if I have to talk with my hands, I will. I will," Dion said in an interview with TODAY’s Hoda Kotb earlier this month.

On X, many fans agreed that Dion's documentary was hard to watch.

One person wrote, "Just watched I Am Celine Dion and that was so raw, honest and emotional. So sad and so hard but if anyone can find their voice again and get back on their feet, it’s @celinedion!! She’s one determined lady!!! We can’t wait for her return! #IAmCelineDion."

Another said , "I have just finished watching 'I Am Celine Dion' on Amazon. I cannot express how raw, heartbreaking and, at times, distressing it is. This’ll be with me for some time."

Two people also shared a meme of Tamera Mowry-Housley crying on "The Real" and said that's how they felt about the documentary.

"Actually me right now. Absolutely ruined by #IAmCelineDion but completely in awe of this incredible woman who I have adored all of my life. I love you @celinedion ❤️," a fan said online .

Many sympathized with what the "My Heart Will Go On" singer has been through.

"Seeing celine suffer was terrible, I love you so much @celinedion ❤️," an X user wrote .

Another said , "Omg seeing celine dion like that is heartbreaking omg."

Joyann Jeffrey is a trending news reporter based in New York City

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The Disturbing True Story Behind Netflix Documentary Tell Them You Love Me

Where is former ethics professor Anna Stubblefield now?

Every item on this page was chosen by an ELLE editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

This story contains discussions about sexual assault. If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit rainn.org for support online.

The documentary hails from director Nick August-Perna and producer Louis Theroux, who was also behind the streamer’s true crime series Can I Tell You a Secret? Here’s what you need to know about the shocking case detailed in Tell Them You Love Me , including where Anna Stubblefield and Derrick Johnson are now.

What is Tell Them You Love Me About?

Tell Them You Love Me examines an exceedingly complicated case involving a grievous abuse of power. The film attempts to explain how a sexually abusive relationship developed between former Rutgers University professor Anna Stubblefield and Derrick Johnson, a disabled, non-verbal Black man, who was 11 years her junior and living with cerebral palsy.

Stubblefield was a married mother of two when she started working with Derrick, referred to as D.J. The former professor was introduced to Derrick by his brother John, who had taken classes with Stubblefield while attending Rutgers University, The Standard reports . Stubblefield had an interest in “facilitated communication,” a much-maligned way of allegedly allowing non-verbal people to communicate using a keyboard and the guided hand of a facilitator. Knowing of Stubblefield’s expertise, John asked if she’d be able to try working with his brother Derrick, whom he believed was trying to communicate, according to The Standard .

Over the course of two years, Stubblefield conducted many “facilitated communication” sessions with Derrick, with seemingly impressive results, The Standard reported. However, in 2011, Stubblefield revealed that she had entered into a consensual sexual relationship with Derrick, according to The New York Times . As recounted by Stubblefield in Tell Them You Love Me , Derrick reportedly used “facilitated conversation” to tell his mother and brother, “No one’s been taken advantage of. I’ve been trying to seduce Anna for years, and she resisted valiantly.” Derrick’s family members asked Stubblefield to leave Derrick alone, and when she refused, they complained to Rutgers University, and details were passed on to the police, The New York Times reported.

Was Derrick Johnson able to communicate using “facilitated conversation”?

At the core of Tell Them You Love Me is the question of whether Derrick was actually able to communicate using this method. While Stubblefield has maintained that she didn’t influence Derrick’s words whatsoever, the scientific community has long dismissed “facilitated conversation” as a harmful pseudoscience . As reported by The Cut , “It produces a ‘Ouija board effect’ in which the facilitator, not the disabled person, unwittingly (in most cases) produces the messages in question. In some cases, these messages have included shocking allegations of sexual abuse, leading to false charges being pressed against caretakers.”

The reason Stubblefield’s original 2015 conviction was overturned was because experts speaking on “facilitated conversation” were banned from testifying in front of the jury. One such expert, Dr. Rosemary Crossley, evaluated Derrick, who “was said to have independently correctly answered 43 of 45 scored questions, most of which required literacy skills,” Inside Higher Ed reported. As noted in Tell Them You Love Me , a college student who had worked with Derrick, who claimed he was able to independently communicate, was also barred from testifying.

With so many conflicting opinions regarding whether Derrick was able to communicate via “facilitated conversation,” the documentary’s director is leaving it up to viewers to decide. “In a way I think that is the question of the film and I don’t actually have a straightforward answer,” August-Perna told Deadline . “I think his voice is kind of at the intersection of himself, of course, of Anna, and of this third character, which is this machine—the Neo [keyboard].”

What happened after the alleged relationship was revealed?

In October 2015, Stubblefield was found guilty on two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, The New York Times reported. Stubblefield was sentenced to 12 years in prison , but in 2017, her conviction was overturned by an appellate court that decided she hadn’t received a fair trial, according to NJ.com .

To avoid a second trial, Stubblefield agreed to plead “guilty to third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact as part of an agreement under which the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office will recommend a four-year prison sentence,” NJ.com reported in March 2018. Despite having only served fewer than two years of her original sentence, the former professor was sentenced to time served in May 2018.

At the heart of the matter remains much uncertainty, particularly when it comes to knowing whether Derrick can consent or not. “There is a kind of order of facts that happened in this case and from Anna’s point of view, it’s a kind of Romeo and Juliet story of forbidden romance, and from the Johnsons’ point of view, it’s the story of abuse,” producer Arron Fellows told Deadline . “But Derek’s experience of what happened is something that we aren’t quite sure of.”

It’s also worth noting that during Stubblefield’s original trial, Dr. Paul Fulford evaluated Derrick’s mental capacity, and concluded, “My final opinion, essentially the bottom line, was that he was not competent to give consent to sexual activity,” NJ.com reported.

What has Derrick Johnson’s family said about the case?

Derrick’s mother, Daisy Johnson, raised the two brothers as a single parent, and provided constant care when Derrick became disabled, she explained in Tell Them You Love Me. Also in the documentary, Derrick’s brother John Johnson discussed the extent of his sibling’s disability, saying Derrick visited a few psychologists who deemed him non-verbal, with cerebral palsy. He described Derrick as a generally happy person who enjoyed music, dancing, and hugs, having watched his younger brother’s personality develop from a young age. He also noted witnessing Derrick’s frustration, sometimes resulting in self-harm and physical violence, which he assumed was in response to his brother being unable to communicate effectively.

Derrick’s family has maintained that he was a victim of Stubblefield’s, whom the Johnsons filed a civil suit against, which they won. In October 2016, Derrick’s legal guardians, brother John and mother Daisy, were awarded “$2 million in compensatory damages, including attorneys fees, and another $2 million in punitive damages,” NJ.com reported.

When Stubblefield was sentenced following her plea deal in May 2018, Derrick’s brother John told the judge, “Anna Stubblefield took advantage of [D.J.’s] vulnerability ... Indeed the thing that she was supposedly saving him from was the very thing she needed to get away with her crime: [D.J.’s] silence.”

Where is Anna Stubblefield now?

Despite pleading guilty to third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact in March 2018, Stubblefield has maintained that she did nothing wrong in her relationship with Derrick. “I believed that he and I were intellectual equals, and that our romantic relationship was consensual,” she explained in a letter sent from prison, which was published by Slate . “I intended no harm, and I had nothing to gain.”

The former ethics professor also suggested she had planned a new life with Derrick, and that she would have navigated the situation differently a second time around. “Had we anticipated his family’s reaction, we would have waited,” Stubblefield wrote from prison, The New York Times reported. “He would have talked with his family and pursued emancipation from the guardianship, and I would have used the time to obtain a divorce.”

In Tell Them You Love Me , Stubblefield doubled down on her stance, saying, “I don’t mind people knowing because I’m not guilty of a crime.” However, Stubblefield is now a registered sex offender under Megan’s Law, and will be under parole supervision for the rest of her life, NJ.com reported. Additionally, she is not allowed to speak to Derrick or contact his family ever again.

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