Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Lifetime movie Boy in the Walls!
This article mentions abuse and graphic violence.
Sometimes there’s nothing better than a lifetime movie like Boy in the Wallsand it’s even better if they’re based on a true story. Recent films based on true stories like Girl in the basement show how the network takes ripped-from-the-headlines stories and makes them gripping television, but this mystery is so twisted that it feels like a work of Hollywood fiction. The film begins with Alisa (Ryan Michelle Bathe) who, while still adjusting to her role as stepmother to her husband Chris’ children, moves from a busy life in Manhattan to rural Connecticut and begins to feel like someone might be watching her. those inside the house. .
While her husband is busy with work all the time, things in the house are moved or lost, food is consumed, and she finds more and more evidence that points to someone else living with her family. What she discovers shocks her – a stranger is frogging (living inside a house without the tenants’ knowledge or permission) right under their noses. While it seems impossible that someone could live alongside a family without seeing them for that long, it turns out that not only is it more common than it seems, but the Lifetime movie is based on an extremely graphic true crime story.
Yes, Boy In The Walls is a true story
What to Know About Phrogging and Daniel LaPlante
The concept of phrogging is not new and Boy in the Walls is based on the true story of Daniel LaPlante, a bullied and troubled boy who, at age 17, sneaked into Tina Bowen’s house and found a place in the walls of her house to hide. According to A&E’s true crime blog, LaPlante managed to live, unbeknownst to Bowen, for almost an entire year in 1986, first just watching her go about her normal routine and then relishing the idea that he could terrorize her family. When he was discovered, he grabbed a hatchet and held Bowen, his sister, his father and a friend hostage until he was arrested in 1987.
While out on bail in December ’87, LaPlante broke into Priscilla Gustafson’s home and killed her and her two children, after which he was arrested for the final time and sentenced to multiple life terms for their murders. Most of the phroggers are homeless transients and are not violent, but screenwriters Katrina Onstad and David Weaver do a good job of capitalizing on what they represent. An unknown terror lurking in what is normally considered a safe space gives Boy in the Walls its tension and taps into a primal fear in most viewers.
How accurate is the boy on the walls?
The film is terribly attentive to realism
The script may be fictional, but as it is based on real events, the Boy in the Walls is an accurate account of phrogging and the terror it inflicts on unsuspecting victims. The film begins with Alisa and her children experiencing many of the things that happen to victims of phroggers; hear strange noises, notice objects in the house being changed, food being eaten, TVs on and things often attributed to a supernatural haunting. The end of Boy in the Walls It may not be as gruesome as LaPlante’s story, but it’s satisfying for a slice-of-life thriller.
Films like At home and even the Oscar-winning film Parasite I focused on the disturbing nature of another person living in secret. As unlikely as it may seem that the practice of phrogging and home invasions of this type could happen, it’s a plot that has sparked the imagination of mystery fans for years and led to one of Lifetime’s best “Based on a True Story” movies. LaPlante’s story is the most famous case that inspired stories like that of Boy in the Walls but it proves that truth can still be stranger than fiction.
Other Lifetime Movies Based on Disturbing True Stories
The Boy in the Walls Isn’t the Only Disturbing Case Adapted Throughout Life
Many Lifetime viewers were shocked to learn of the disturbing events of Boy in the Walls were based on a true story. However, Lifetime has adapted several utterly harrowing true events into equally shocking films, and 2023 Boy in the Walls is simply the latest true crime incident to be taken online and turned into a shocking feature film.
One of Lifetime’s most notorious films based on true events is the 2021 Girl in the basement. For many viewers, Girl in the basement It was an even harder watch than Boy in the Walls, as it focused on a father who locked his daughter in the basement of his home and subjected her to years of sexual abuse. This Lifetime film was based on the real-life case of Austrian Josef Fritzl, although the Lifetime film added some uplifting moments of hope to make the narrative (a little) more palatable.
The same happens with 2016 Girl in the box. As Girl in the basement and Boy in the Walls, Lifetime Girl in the box turned one of the most harrowing real-life examples of kidnapping and prolonged abusive captivity into a disturbing film. To Girl in the box, the case of Colleen Stan’s kidnapping was used.
In short, Lifetime has a rich history of turning true crime cases into compelling, if often stomach-churning, straight-to-TV movies. The network doesn’t just focus on true crime either, with films like 2003’s Homeless to Harvard and 2006 For one night also being based on true stories. However, these are not nightmare-inducing thrillers, but more wholesome and still incredibly emotional dramas. Boy in the Walls It may shock some fans when they discover it’s based on true events, but if they want to discover more films like this with similar real-life origins, there are plenty of Lifetime movies that might suit your needs.
Source: A&E’s true crime