Is "The Strangers" actually inspired by true events?

Question

When they say 'inspired by' or 'based on true events' you know the movie generally has very little to do with those events but usually something at least vaguely similar has actually happened in real life. As far as I can tell this movie is based on the French film "Them" and from all the movie sites I can find none of them have any info about an actual case. Can movie makers just use this phrase whenever they like now just cos it sounds cool?

Answer 1

The movie is based on two things:

-an incident from the writer's childhood in which a man came door to door, burgling homes that were empty but asking for someone who didn't live there if someone answered

-the book Helter Skelter, which was written about the Manson Family murders.  These murders were very real, and in formation about them can be found in the source below.  

Hope that shed some light on your question!

Answer 2

I guess so but the movie scared the **** out of me

Answer 3

Well I looked every where for information on the muders of the hoyt family but I never found anything. They say they changed the names for privacy reasons but I think they're just trying to get attention. Alot of people say that there was a murder like this but the family used an internet wipe of some kind and got rid of all evidence but that's highly unlikely. It makes you wonder which is obviously what the director wanted us to do. Every one is looking up the strangers murders etc and the movie gets better publicity I guess. The movie is pretty scary however whether it's based on a true story or not, although I did not like the rushed ending and how it left so many ends open. It makes you wonder if there will be a number 2.......