Warning: the following story contains graphic details concerning a real-life murder case.
Scream is easily one of the best — if not the best — slasher movies of all time. Wes Craven’s 1996 horror flick cuts the perfect balance between gory scares and black comedy, and the franchise solidified a young Neve Campbell’s status as the reigning scream queen of the ’90s.
While the masked murderers who terrorize Campbell’s Sidney are fictional, there’s another, even more disturbing layer to the story that has roots in reality: Scream was inspired by a rash of real-life murders committed by a serial killer in Gainesville, FL.Danny Rolling wasn’t from the tight-knit Florida college town, but he left a lasting mark on the community that was felt long after he was imprisoned. He grew up in Shreveport, LA, where he had a rough upbringing that resulted in several physical clashes this his father, a police officer. He was arrested multiple times over the years for robberies in Georgia and spying on a cheerleader who was getting undressed. His troubled early life eventually culminated in an attempt to kill his father after an argument in May of 1990; his father survived the two gunshots to his head, but lost an eye and an ear.
In August of that same year, Rolling made his way to Gainesville just as the University of Florida was beginning its Fall semester. There, he began a spree of burglaries in low-cost apartment buildings off campus, which led to the savage, fatal stabbings of five students (one from Santa Fe College and the rest from the University of Florida). He began his spree in the very early morning hours of Aug. 24 by breaking into the apartment of 17-year-old freshmen Sonja Larson and Christina Powell, who were both asleep. He proceeded to tape each of their mouths shut before stabbing them to death (he also raped Powell and stabbed her repeatedly in the back), and then left their bodies in sexually provocative positions.
Danny Rolling wasn’t from the tight-knit Florida college town, but he left a lasting mark on the community that was felt long after he was imprisoned.
On Aug. 25, Rolling pried open a sliding glass door of 18-year-old Christa Hoyt’s apartment with a knife and screwdriver. She wasn’t home during the break in, so he waited in her living room until she returned….
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