from last house on the left (1972) to Scream 4, Wes Craven It has an impressive slate of horror movie credits. The famous director is known for pushing the boundaries of horror and bending the genre to his liking, much to the delight of his audience. Craven is also known to cite folktales and other historical myths as inspiration for many of his films.His one of his cult classic inspirations Hills Have Eyes (1977), so terrifyingly bizarre that it’s almost shocking that Craven can turn it into an even more terrifying cinematic experience—enter the Sawney Bean legend.
As far as good stories to be adapted for horror were concerned, Sawney Bean’s Scottish folklore was ripe for picking. I came across folklore and fell in love with it. It took only a moment for him to write and direct a visceral, violent and somewhat satirical film that will inspire fans and fellow filmmakers for years to come. Hills Have Eyes.
Life of the Mame Clan
The first description of Sawney Bean came from something like a prison tabloid dating back to the 18th century. Newgate calendar. Granted, this is decades after the life of Bean and his family, and is considered exaggerated and, like any good legend, has changed over time. , reminds me of a young man named Alexander “Sawney” Bean. Growing up, he disliked his father’s honest work of digging trenches and trimming hedges. Thorny left home with Black Angus Douglas, a local accused witch who shared some dark tendencies with Thorny: cannibalism. The couple fled society for a more brutal lifestyle in the wilderness, living near the Galloway Coast.
In the 25 years the family lived in the area, the family has grown to nearly 50 members, including 14 children, and is estimated to have 32 grandchildren. Due to their isolation from society, the family grew from within – incest, presumably causing some genetic abnormalities, to the point where Wes Craven exaggerated the grotesque effect in his films. It hid for years, preying on poor and unlucky travelers in the area at night, robbing and cannibalizing its victims to feed them. It is also said that they dismembered parts of their bodies and pickled them and ate them.
There may have been over 1,000 victims
Historians disagree, but it is said that there may have been more than 1,000 victims during the time the Bean family was active. Tracing disappearances was not always easy given the record keeping of the time. The cause of the disappearance was said to be the fault of a suspicious innkeeper or a wild animal. Another account of this legend in a 1719 book by Alexander Smith states that it was the couple who were attacked and the man killed. After fighting to escape, attention was finally turned to the fact that a clan of wild people was to blame.
When word finally reached the local magistrate that there was a family of vicious cannibals preying on innocent people, the then-King James VI ordered 400 men and several We sent Bloodhounds to thoroughly search the area. Eventually, a cave nearly 200 yards deep was discovered that had been hidden by high tide. According to legend, the cave itself was strewn with limbs, jewelry, clothing, and barrels full of the victim’s goods, with limbs strewn along the walls. With nowhere to go, the Bean clan is said to have surrendered to the overwhelming power they met on their doorstep. A dark fate awaits them.
The fate of the Bean family
Legend has it that the family was placed in Old Tolbooth Prison, where onlookers and curious people would gather to see the savage family that caused so many deaths. The family was not given due process and the man had his genitals mutilated and thrown into the fire, his limbs amputated and he bled to death. As for the women and children, the fate of the Bean men was made to watch and either burned alive or hanged.
This concludes the story of Sawney Bean and his clan of cannibals.Craven found a level of comprehension for the story that welled up during creation Hills Have Eyesin a 1977 Arrow Magazine interview (via Unilad), “When they caught on, they had done nothing worse than civilization had done. And I thought it was a great A/B of culture.” How the most civilized can become the most savage, and how the most savage can become civilized.” Nonetheless, it would produce one of the most iconic horror films of all time.
