11 Blood-Curdling Documentaries On Real People That Are Bound To Keep You Up All Night

Ever wondered how far filmmakers can go to depict real life stories on screens? While some are adapted from actual incidents, many try to recreate situations as they occurred. So if the subject is intriguing enough to run a chill down your spine, don't blame the makers. Because what they depict, happened for real. Take a look at some of the most blood-curdling, gory documentaries ever made. Not only will the plots of these give you nightmares, the crimes attached to each of them will leave you stunned.

Read at your own risk!

1. Interview With A Cannibal (2011)

This documents Issei Sagawa's obsession with human flesh. It has Sagawa sharing his experience with cannibalistic desires. In 1981, he murdered a Dutch woman in Paris and spent days binging on her body parts. Shockingly, Sagawa was released from police custody within 2 years. Courtesy his rich dad, he was declared legally insane and unfit for any trial. He was deported to Japan where psychologists deemed him mentally fit. Since August 1986, he has remained free.

2. Body Shock: The Man Who Ate His Lover (2004)

This might be the most disturbing thing you'll ever have come across. So much so that the real footage is unavailable and has been dumped by the authorities. The documentary portrays the story of Armin Meiwes, The Rotenburg Cannibal, who was in search of a man willing to be killed and eaten by Armin. After he finds one, Armin detaches the willing victim's genitals and they both eat it. The victim is then left to bleed to death. The cannibal then finishes it off by tearing him apart with a knife, butchering him up, and then barbecuing him. All this while, the cannibal films it all. A story enough to churn your stomach and give you sleepless nights!

3. The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer (1992)

A serial contract killer of over 100 people, Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski lived with his family in New Jersey, and had kept his family unaware of his shady life outside of home. He was given the nickname "Iceman" due to his murdering technique that involved freezing the victim. Through a series of spine-chilling interviews taken by psychiatrist Michael Baden, the film gets you inside the mind of a psycho killer and his bloody story. A second documentary on him in 2001 called 'The Iceman: Confessions of a Mafia Hitman' was also released.

4. High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell (1995)

This powerful film is about the lives of three crack cocaine drug addicts and its repercussions on them. It showed the lives of three victims - an actress Brenda, a world champion boxer Dicki, and Boo-Boo. It vividly dealt with STDs, HIV, pregnancies, prostitution, and their daily struggle of obtaining their next fix. The film follows 18 months in their lives journeying in and out of crack houses, rehab centers, and jails.

5. Bulgaria¡¯s Abandoned Children (2007)

The BBC documentary caused an international outcry due to its harrowing details of neglect and the sorry state of children abandoned by their families due to certain disabilities, in State Care. This came out just when Bulgaria had become a part of the European Union.

6. Nuit et Brouillard (1955)

The French documentary, translated as Night And Fog, portrays the troubled survival stories of prisoners in Nazi concentration camps. It depicted the Nazi torture, prostitution, executions and human experimentation on inmates. The scriptwriter was a survivor of a concentration camp himself, and thus, the details of reality were quite harrowing.

7. Kill Me If You Can (2005)

It is the story of a 14-year-old Manchester boy "John" who tried to arrange his own death by manipulating his 16-year-old friend into murder. He created eight fictitious characters from his bedroom using a laptop and his imagination. With these characters, including an MI6 spy-mistress, he snared Mark into his own murder. An example of imagination turning fatal.

8. Child of Rage (1992)

The television movie is based on the true story of Beth Thomas, a girl who was sexually abused as a child, and hence, suffered reactive attachment disorder.

9. Crazy Love (2007)

The American documentary explores the troubled relationship between New York City attorney Burt Pugach and his ten-years-younger girlfriend Linda Riss. Linda was blinded and permanently scarred when thugs hired by Pugach threw lye in her face. The film was screened at various film festivals including the Sundance, Seattle and Amsterdam international festivals.

10. Capturing The Friedmans (2003)

The HBO documentary focuses on the 1980s investigations of Arnold and Jesse Friedman for child molestation. Director Jarecki initially planned to make it into a short film on children's birthday party entertainers, which included the popular clown David Friedman. It was during the investigation he learned that David's brother and father, had pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 2003.

11. Zoo (2007)

It is a documentary on American Boeing engineer Kenneth Pinyan who 'loved' horses. Kenneth died of peritonitis, due to injuries he suffered after engaging in receptive anal sex with a horse. All the more, it was caught on a video recording by his friend. The film talks about this utterly disturbing incident which became one of the most-read stories in the Seattle Times in 2005.