10 Human Trafficking Horror Films

by Amanda Kloer

category: Human Trafficking Awareness

Published October 31, 2009 @ 09:00AM PT

Human trafficking can be scary. So in honor of Halloween today, I've compiled a list for ten horror films that aren't about human trafficking, but could be based on their titles. Here are some new synopses for the modern-day slavery centric plots of these classic horror flicks. And, yes, the tag lines are cheesy on purpose, just like most films in the genre. Don't try to find these on Netflix, friends. They exist only in my head. And while these synopses are works of fiction, they are heavily based on reality.

10 Human Trafficking Horror Films

10. Nightmare on Elm Street: It can happen in small town America.

Yolanda and Gina were 14-year-olds the evening they took a walk on Elm Street. What could ever happen in their sleepy small town? A car pulled up next to them with the older brother of a friend in it. He offered them a ride, and what ensued for the girls was a whirlwind tour of the underground world of child sex trafficking in the U.S.

9. The Ring: Money can't buy you love ... but it can buy abuse.

Nikola joined a mail order bride agency in the hopes of getting out of Moldova. So when she met Frank, she thought he was her ticket to a life of prosperity in America. Little did she know, Frank was waiting at home for his "obedient" wife with a list of demands and a belt.

8. The Wicker Man: He'll break you like a reed.

The wicker man promised Fransisco a good job in his factory making furniture. It was only a couple hundred miles away, and Fransisco could send money home to support his family. But the factory was actually a slave compound and Fransisco had unknowingly entered into debt bondage. Can he escape without being caught and beaten to death?

7. Rosemary's Baby: Now I lay you down to a life slavery.

Rosemary was raped at age 14 and didn't know what to do when she got pregnant. She met a kind woman who offered to let Rosemary live with her while she was pregnant and adopt the baby out to a good family. But Rosemary begins to notice some strange happenings around the house, and soon finds herself deep in the world of the underground economy of child trafficking, trying to get herself and her child out alive.

6. Amityville Horror: Sometimes people do horrible things.

When Maggie and Peter moved to Amityville, she thought the quite town would be the perfect place to raise a family. That is, until Peter was caught buying sex from underage girls in prostitution on Craigslist. Can their marriage survive his buying and abusing human trafficking victims?

5. Rear Window: Let's meet in real life ... and be together ... forever.

Madison met Brandon in a chat room. He was a few years older than her -- she was 13 and he was 22 -- but he was the first boy who really understood her. So when he asked her to meet him in person, she never hesitated to climb right out her bedroom window and into his car. Madison's picture showed up on an escort service website a few days later. Can the police and her parents find her before its too late?

4. Seven: Seven cents an hour, seven hours a week.

Carlos followed his cousin's advice and took a job in Mexico on a seasonal berry farm. And then he found out what the working conditions were like: 17 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 7 cents an hour. Carlos tried to get out of the bogus contract he'd signed, but the boss convinced him that he'd be deported back to El Salvador if he did. Carlos must now try and find someone to help him avoid a lifetime of indentured servitude.

3. The Changeling: He's not what he seems.

Jung was thrilled to find a traditional, manly husband at first, until he began hitting her. The abuse escalated, especially when he lost his job. And when money got tight, he told Jung she had to prostitute herself in order to help them make ends meet. Will Jung's community shun her for wanting to leave an abusive and exploitative marriage? Will they believe what is happening to her even though her husband is an upstanding member of the community?

2. 28 Days Later: She went to be a student, but she became a slave.

Haiba was excited when her distant relatives in France offered to send her to school in exchange for a little help with the household chores. They were in France illegally, so Haiba had to travel secretly, by boat. 28 days after she left her home, she arrived in France to discover she was not to be a student, but a slave. Will Haiba ever get an education?

1. Invasion of the Body Snatchers:They're coming for you ... and they have guns.

Taji was only 9 when the body snatchers, the men who kidnap boys to become child soldiers, came to Uganda. His mother cried, but she didn't dare try and prevent them from taking him. Taji had no idea, when they first gave him a gun, what horrors his new life as a soldier would hold. Or that it would now be much, much shorter.