Watched this movie last night (the 2003 one) with Suzy. I haven't seen the original for eons and don't even remember it much. I'm sure I was scared when I saw it, since I had to be fairly young. But, this one wasn't very scary... well, it was non-scary. A few "startling" parts, but that's not scary.. that's, well, startling. Kyla yelling "BOO" can have the same effect. The best thing about the movie was the actress with the lead role, her white shirt, and all the rain. But, it was nice watching a movie with Suzy. She was scared. The tagline about being based on actual events actually made her think it was. I told her it wasn't, and that it was loosely based on a guy in Wisconsin (Ed Gein). Not sure if she believed me or not. I used to be into the whole psychological aspect of serial killers, so I read about him long ago.

Gein was a real sicko. Norman Bates (Psycho) was partly inspired by him. Also Buffalo Bill (Silence of the Lambs). Gein was found with 15 mutilated female bodies in his farmhouse, and admitted to killing two other women. He said that the other bodies were from graves.. he was more of a grave robber than a killer (well, aside the, at least, 2 people he admitted killing). He used to use the skin and bones of people to make furniture, jewelry, drums, lampshades, clothing (for example, a full suit made of human skin and a belt made of nipples), etc... He didn't use a chainsaw or chop up live victims. He did have a corpse hanging from a meat-hook thing in his farmhouse though (also seen in the movie, but the guy was alive when hung).

I think "based on actual events" is a bit of a longshot here, as it was with the original.