Films that inspired real life crimes!
If you found this link through a search online and wonder why it is on my site, that is because it it part of the resource material for my blog series "The 7 Deadly Spells from the Abyss" and specifically "Spell#5: The Film Industry - Part I". If you are not familiar with these please click on the hyperlinks and follow through to read on the same.
Meantime, please read below the real life cases of those that not only watched the movies shown here, but went ahead and actually committed the crimes depicted. For further study you can Google the names in Bold Underlined and learn more online.
Meantime, please read below the real life cases of those that not only watched the movies shown here, but went ahead and actually committed the crimes depicted. For further study you can Google the names in Bold Underlined and learn more online.
Example #1
Natural Born Killers
The most famous killings allegedly caused by Natural Born Killers were committed by the couple Sarah Edmonson and Benjamin Darrus: famous neither for the number of victims (2) nor any specific modus operandi (the killers dropped LSD and watched the film several times before shooting two victims soon after), but for the unsuccessful legal action brought by the victims’ family and friends (most notably, legal fiction author John Grisham) against the creators of the film that challenged the First Amendment of the Constitution itself. Natural Born Killers was also an influence for the perpetrators of the Columbine massacre, with the phrase “going NBK” in the journal entries of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold signaling the start of their rampage. Jeremy Steinke claimed on an audio tape that the slaughter of his girlfriend’s parents and brother was his love legacy a la Natural Born Killers.
In addition to these, some other crimes have been significantly influenced by Natural Born Killers:
* The decapitation of a 13 year old Texan girl by a 14 year old boy who wanted “to be famous like the Natural Born Killers”.
* Nathan Martinez murdering his mother and sister after becoming obsessed with the film.
* Angus Wallan and Kara Winn murdering their roommate.
* Eric Tavulares murdering Lauren Aljubouri halfway through watching the film.
In addition to these, some other crimes have been significantly influenced by Natural Born Killers:
* The decapitation of a 13 year old Texan girl by a 14 year old boy who wanted “to be famous like the Natural Born Killers”.
* Nathan Martinez murdering his mother and sister after becoming obsessed with the film.
* Angus Wallan and Kara Winn murdering their roommate.
* Eric Tavulares murdering Lauren Aljubouri halfway through watching the film.
Example 2
Child’s Play Series
James Bulger was a two year old boy who on the 12th February 1993 was abducted, tortured and murdered by two ten-year-old boys, Robert Thompson (born 23 August 1982) and Jon Venables (born 13 August 1982). Bulger disappeared from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, near Liverpool, while accompanying his mother. His mutilated body was found on a railway line two-and-a-half miles (4 km) away in Walton, two days after his murder. Thompson and Venables were charged on 20 February 1993 with Bulger's abduction and murder. After Bulger's killers left the scene, his body was cut in half by a train. Now please note that the killers themselves “claimed that the attack on James Bulger was inspired by the film Child's Play 3”. In case you are not familiar with Child’s Play, it is a film about a serial killer who manages to channel his soul using sorcery into a doll, which subsequently starts a killing spree using all manner of gore and violence.
Perhaps, the most notorious person influenced was Martin Bryant, Australia’s worst serial killer. Bryant killed 35 people in a massacre in Port Arthur in 1996, shaking the psyche of the entire nation. A schizophrenic, he became obsessed with the childlike characteristics of the doll and its ability to wreak vengeful destruction. It was submitted to a psychiatrist that his obsession with the movie was one of the contributing factors in the fateful massacre.
Manchester was also rocked by the by the tragic death of Suzanne Capper, a 16-year-old who was tortured then torched. During this entire ordeal the perpetrators chanted, “'I'm Chucky. Chucky wants to play” and played a tape that mimics Chucky’s lines of “Hi, I’m Chucky, want to play?”
Perhaps, the most notorious person influenced was Martin Bryant, Australia’s worst serial killer. Bryant killed 35 people in a massacre in Port Arthur in 1996, shaking the psyche of the entire nation. A schizophrenic, he became obsessed with the childlike characteristics of the doll and its ability to wreak vengeful destruction. It was submitted to a psychiatrist that his obsession with the movie was one of the contributing factors in the fateful massacre.
Manchester was also rocked by the by the tragic death of Suzanne Capper, a 16-year-old who was tortured then torched. During this entire ordeal the perpetrators chanted, “'I'm Chucky. Chucky wants to play” and played a tape that mimics Chucky’s lines of “Hi, I’m Chucky, want to play?”
Example 3
A Clockwork Orange
After its 1971 release, Britain was subject to a series of crimes that exhibited similarities with the film, so much so that the director of this film, Stanley Kubrick himself withdrew it from British circulation.
Of the many of copycat crimes, there are several that are, like the British, peculiarly noteworthy. In 1973 there were two separate instances of 16-year-old boys imitating aspects of the film: the first beat a tramp to death (similar to the gang’s group assault of a drunk); the second, dressed in the distinctive uniform of the gang, stabbed a younger boy. A Dutch girl was gang-raped in Lancashire by a group singing, “Singin’ in the Rain”, the song sung by Alex in one of the most notorious scenes in the film.
Of the many of copycat crimes, there are several that are, like the British, peculiarly noteworthy. In 1973 there were two separate instances of 16-year-old boys imitating aspects of the film: the first beat a tramp to death (similar to the gang’s group assault of a drunk); the second, dressed in the distinctive uniform of the gang, stabbed a younger boy. A Dutch girl was gang-raped in Lancashire by a group singing, “Singin’ in the Rain”, the song sung by Alex in one of the most notorious scenes in the film.
Example 4
The Collector
Another piece of British cinema, The Collector tells the story of a young, socially-awkward butterfly collector, who yearns after the stunning Miranda. When he wins enough money to buy his own house, the ardent lepidopterist decides to abduct Miranda and add her to his collection. He attempts to make her fall in love with him, but he never succeeds, and she eventually dies from exposure locked in his basement.
Twenty years after its release, The Collector formed the basis for several abduction/murders that were part of the serial killings of Leonard Lake and Charles Ng. Lake wrote in his diary of Operation Miranda which described the capture and torture of Kathy Allen and Brenda O’Connor. The pair built a bunker to keep the two women, planning on using them for sex and housekeeping, documenting some of their interactions on tapes labeled “M Ladies”. When that didn’t work they murdered them. The two were forestalled after Ng was caught shoplifting; Lake committed suicide to avoid incarceration. They left a trail of 25 dead in their wake and were discovered to own a DIY torture-chamber in a secluded area of woods which contained a number of horrifically elaborate machines on the walls and above a type of dentist's chair used for restraining victims.
Twenty years after its release, The Collector formed the basis for several abduction/murders that were part of the serial killings of Leonard Lake and Charles Ng. Lake wrote in his diary of Operation Miranda which described the capture and torture of Kathy Allen and Brenda O’Connor. The pair built a bunker to keep the two women, planning on using them for sex and housekeeping, documenting some of their interactions on tapes labeled “M Ladies”. When that didn’t work they murdered them. The two were forestalled after Ng was caught shoplifting; Lake committed suicide to avoid incarceration. They left a trail of 25 dead in their wake and were discovered to own a DIY torture-chamber in a secluded area of woods which contained a number of horrifically elaborate machines on the walls and above a type of dentist's chair used for restraining victims.
Example 5
Scream Series
The Scream face is one the most instantly recognizable devices of modern horror cinema. A simple black robe and white mask, it has inspired hordes of Halloween costumes. And, although the film deliberately undercuts much of the horror genre, it has unfortunately inspired several bloody murders. Perhaps the most notable of these is the Belgian case of Thierry Jaradin, a truck driver who murdered his neighbor Alisson Cambier. When she stopped by to drop off some videos, he tried to pull a Young MC and bust a move. When he got rejected for being overzealous, he decided to dance to a different groove. He strode into the next room, donned his Scream costume and returned with two kitchen knives, stabbing Alisson 30 times.
Meanwhile, in England, two teens stabbed their friend after watching the movie, thinking that the occult was talking through the film and telling them to kill him. Daniel Gill and Robert Fuller enticed their friend Ashley Murray to a secluded spot before attacking him and leaving him to die. He was found the next day and managed to survive, but the attempted murder was so abhorrent that the judge decided to release the perpetrators’ names despite their young age.
Meanwhile, in England, two teens stabbed their friend after watching the movie, thinking that the occult was talking through the film and telling them to kill him. Daniel Gill and Robert Fuller enticed their friend Ashley Murray to a secluded spot before attacking him and leaving him to die. He was found the next day and managed to survive, but the attempted murder was so abhorrent that the judge decided to release the perpetrators’ names despite their young age.
Example 6
The Deer Hunter
Emulation suicides have also been influenced greatly by movies the most notorious being the two mentioned above.
In the first one, The Deer Hunter, it is said to inspire suicide. The plot is non-complex: American soldiers captured by the Viet Cong army are forced to play a game of Russian roulette. One of the soldiers, Nick, becomes so affected by his time in captivity that he elects to remain in Vietnam where he repeatedly plays the game for money. Eventually, probability catches up with him and he ends up dying. There seems to be something almost hypnotizing about Russian roulette – who knows whether this stems from a morbid curiosity, sadomasochistic gratification, fatalism brought about by the bleakness of nihilism, the adrenalin rush from flirting with death, or from a simply brutish machismo – for there are many examples of people willingly playing the game like Nick.
Mickey Culpupper shot himself in the head after a round of “playing Deer Hunter” in 1980; similar reports have come from the Philippines, Finland and Lebanon. Also in 1980, a man was captured and tortured in a similar way to the Viet Cong torture scene. Despite being critically acclaimed, The Deer Hunter has inspired many to becoming critically maimed or dead.
In the first one, The Deer Hunter, it is said to inspire suicide. The plot is non-complex: American soldiers captured by the Viet Cong army are forced to play a game of Russian roulette. One of the soldiers, Nick, becomes so affected by his time in captivity that he elects to remain in Vietnam where he repeatedly plays the game for money. Eventually, probability catches up with him and he ends up dying. There seems to be something almost hypnotizing about Russian roulette – who knows whether this stems from a morbid curiosity, sadomasochistic gratification, fatalism brought about by the bleakness of nihilism, the adrenalin rush from flirting with death, or from a simply brutish machismo – for there are many examples of people willingly playing the game like Nick.
Mickey Culpupper shot himself in the head after a round of “playing Deer Hunter” in 1980; similar reports have come from the Philippines, Finland and Lebanon. Also in 1980, a man was captured and tortured in a similar way to the Viet Cong torture scene. Despite being critically acclaimed, The Deer Hunter has inspired many to becoming critically maimed or dead.
The Program
Another movie that lead to emulation suicides in an attempt to be macho was the 1993 football movie The Program. In this movie, the protagonist lies down in the middle of a busy highway to demonstrate his manliness and supreme daredevil persona. Michael A. Shingledecker Jr. decided he’d go one better and demonstrate his madness and supreme “devil-may-care” attitude when he convinced a friend to lie with him in dark clothes, at night, on a Philadelphia highway. They were struck by a truck which did not see them; Michael died instantly and his friend was critically injured. Several other similar events occurred in Long Island and New Jersey, with fatalities resulting from each, which lead police chief George Moyer to make this rather graphic cautionary statement: “In the movies you jump out a window and walk away, but in real life we pick up the pieces, as we did with Birkhimer [the New Jersey victim].”
