4. Horror Movies "Based On A True Story"

            Excitation, curiosity, and fear are common emotions that humans seem to have quite often, horror movies definitely help trigger them. So when a movie that shows paranormal activity is said to be "based on a true story"it is more than likely that people will get curious about it. Scott Meslow, the author of "The real story behind The Conjuring and four other horror movies 'based on a true story'", challenges this claim (based on a true story). He mentions a recent summer horror movie The Conjuring, and other four The Devil Inside, The Haunting in Connecticut, The Amityville Horror, and The Exorcist. Basically, what he does is compare what the movies show to what actually happened, and most of the time the true story is extremely exaggerated or it never really happened at all.

           This article is effective for what it is set out to do: persuade the reader that horror movies "based on a true story"are not as true as they say (it could also be to inform). The language is very informal, making it more appealing to a younger audience or anyone that is looking for something interesting to read. The article is more for entertainment. Personally, Scott's article seemed to have an easy-going and criticizing tone, because he talks about the people who claim the story to be true and then discredits them. Meslow does not present a clear thesis, or follow any formal structure. He even announces what he is going to talk about: "Here, we fact-check The Conjuring and four other "based on a true story" horror movies". Meslow also numbers the different movies, instead of using transitional phrases to shift from one movie to another. However, this article is not meant to be taken seriously since it is entertainment. The selection also does not include a conclusion paragraph but it encourages further thought. Scott subtly keeps the reader guessing what parts were real and what were not.


http://theweek.com/article/index/247280/the-real-story-behind-the-conjuring-and-four-other-horror-movies-based-on-a-true-story