Murders Inspired By Films

[ferretchucker]

Hi guys,

Don't know if I told you lot about it, but this week I'm doing some work placement at a production company in London. You know how I do. :p

It's all usual work experience stuff - nothing too serious, but interesting nonetheless. The company specialises in Documentaries. Now, I've been tasked to do some research for a potential doc. Long story short, I need some info about murders which we inspired by films.

Given my inexperience of youth ;) and the fact I'm here in England, I don't know of all of them. But I'm guessing many of you have heard of a fair few in your time (and for the likes of Neverending and Newb...that time has been long).

The higher profile the better. Preferably ones where the killer has stated they were inspired, or maybe recreated a murder. Must be murders.

I hate to ask this - Lord knows I get fed up with the trillions of Media students coming here, seeming to want us to do their research for them. It's not just me being lazy, I swear! :D But Google just turns up the usual. I thought I'd rack your combined Encyclopaedic knowledge instead!

EDIT: Worth mentioning, I'm of the view that I know a lot of you share - that a movie cannot single handedly make someone kill. The people are unhinged as it is, and they use the film as a scapegoat to try and explain it. Or the parents do that. BUT, this is my task and I've gotta role with it.

[Elvis_Christ]

This (http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/psychology/movies_made_me_kill/1_index.html) might help you out.

[ferretchucker]

You're a good man.

[cheebacheeba]

Which film do you think might've inspired this one?
http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/9971925/neighbours-terror-as-bomb-drama-unfolded/ :rolleyes:

Personally I think she's just one of those rich kids out to rip her parents off, in that the device was fake implying she was both too stupid to put something useful together herself and/or risk actual self harm with amateurish efforts, certainly seems pretty "rich girl crying for attention/money"...we'll see how it unfolds, not saying this IS the case as if it wasn't it must've been a pretty fucked up ordeal and I totally sympathise...but, I can't really help but have come to the thought of it being an inside job on her and/or her friends part.

[Ferox13]

Heres one I always liked (keep in mind this is pre Zombie Halloween):

On the 1st of May 1990, The Sun newspaper ran a headline ‘I heard the voice of Michael Myers’. The story concerned an attempted spree killing that was carried out by Robert Sartin who shot one man and wounded 17 others in the town of Monkseaton, Tyne and Wear the previous year. At his trial, The Sun reports, the Court was told that that Sartin was being found unfit for trial and was being detained in a mental hospital. The Sun’s link to the film Halloween and its fictional psychopathic killer Michael Myers was even dismissed by Home Office psychiatrist Dr Marion Swann.

[Ferox13]

I'd take some of those cases in Elvis' link with a pinch of salt.

Not read all of it but the Suzanne Capper Murder one is definally inaccurate.

'Four people in England claimed this as an influence in the murder of Suzanne Capper, 16, in 1992. They had injected her with drugs, tortured her with pliers and set fire to her house. All the while, they spouted lines from the movie.'

This was all taken from Elizabeth Newson report and was never proven. Newson certainly had her own agenda. Her report was done at the request of David Alton for the specific purpose of giving weight to his upcoming amendment to ban explict horror films.

[TheWickerFan]

Which film do you think might've inspired this one?
http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/9971925/neighbours-terror-as-bomb-drama-unfolded/ :rolleyes:

Personally I think she's just one of those rich kids out to rip her parents off, in that the device was fake implying she was both too stupid to put something useful together herself and/or risk actual self harm with amateurish efforts, certainly seems pretty "rich girl crying for attention/money"...we'll see how it unfolds, not saying this IS the case as if it wasn't it must've been a pretty fucked up ordeal and I totally sympathise...but, I can't really help but have come to the thought of it being an inside job on her and/or her friends part.

I saw this story, and felt exactly the same way. It seems a bit fishy.

[ferretchucker]

Thanks guys, that's been really helpful :) I was surprised at how few there were on the web when I turned it up. Particularly like that Halloween one, Ferox - it's perfect!

As for the rich girl, I think I agree. More than anything it seems too farfetched for any real criminal to do! A bomb strapped to a rich teenager...that isn't even a bomb.

[Ferox13]

The Jamie Bulger Murder is another obvious one - they scapegoated Childs Play 3 which all originated with some off the cuff remark made my the Judge.

There was never any proof that the kids even saw the film.


Here's some background:

In the book,Children in the Cinema (published in the late 30's), One psychiatrist claimed that ‘Seventy percent of all crimes were first conceived in the cinema’.

I also had a great one from a 19th century Judge blaming violent crime (robbery and murder) on the ballads sung in ale houses that romantised Highway men. I sure I have it written somewhere.

[ferretchucker]

The Jamie Bulger Murder is another obvious one - they scapegoated Childs Play 3 which all originated with some off the cuff remark made my the Judge.

There was never any proof that the kids even saw the film.


Here's some background:

In the book,Children in the Cinema (published in the late 30's), One psychiatrist claimed that ‘Seventy percent of all crimes were first conceived in the cinema’.

I also had a great one from a 19th century Judge blaming violent crime (robbery and murder) on the ballads sung in ale houses that romantised Highway men. I sure I have it written somewhere.

Yeah, I always hated the way they use that film with Bulger's case. The fact that Venables has been convicted again shows he's unstable as it is!

As for the older stuff, that's really useful. If you can find the 19th century thing I'll definitely include that in my research. If the doc gets made it'd be a great background to general media violence.

[ferretchucker]

On a side note, looking for some stuff of Sartin and I stumbled across this. It is brilliant. Conspiracy theory nuts are always funny, but this takes the cake. This person has managed to link Sartin's shooting with just about every other murder of the time. They do the typical thing of looking at dates and other numbers and putting them together to show how it was all some scheme (One murder -which was nothing to do with Sartin - happened on the 111th day of a leap year. Years before, Sartin's girlfriend's school friend was found dead. Her birthday was the 11-1) It's brilliant.

They go on to suggest that the government were involved in brainwashing him as a child. That there's an ex-coldwar underground base near his home where he was conditioned and that the Halloween films acted as a trigger. This has made my day! :D

[Ferox13]

Have you got links to that - sounds interesting.

[Disease]

Which film do you think might've inspired this one?
http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/9971925/neighbours-terror-as-bomb-drama-unfolded/ :rolleyes:

Personally I think she's just one of those rich kids out to rip her parents off, in that the device was fake implying she was both too stupid to put something useful together herself and/or risk actual self harm with amateurish efforts, certainly seems pretty "rich girl crying for attention/money"...we'll see how it unfolds, not saying this IS the case as if it wasn't it must've been a pretty fucked up ordeal and I totally sympathise...but, I can't really help but have come to the thought of it being an inside job on her and/or her friends part.



Yeah, I get the same feeling.


You must know about the Childs Play one Ferret? One of the killers got released a few years back, he could be living in your street.

[Ferox13]

Yeah, I get the same feeling.


You must know about the Childs Play one Ferret? One of the killers got released a few years back, he could be living in your street.

Yeah, Jon Venables was released but is back in prison for child porn - Robert Thompson is free. There is a film based loosely on him called 'Boy A' (in the case Thompson was refered to as 'Child A'.

Is pretty good but a difficult watch.

[ferretchucker]

Have you got links to that - sounds interesting.

http://forum.davidicke.com/showthread.php?t=26563

The entire site is nuts. I found a poll on there "did the holocaust really happen." Over half said no. Fucking idiots :rolleyes:

And yeah, I always remember hearing about the uproar when they released them. I mean, people like Ferox are going to remember the thing happening clearer than me (I wasn't even born when the actual kidnapping took place) but apparently they took pity on them because they were just young boys.

Meh, that's the justice system for you...

[Ferox13]

LOL - I just see its a David Icke forum..lol.

When I was a kid he was a Sports presenter. I remember when he went on Wogan claiming to be the son of god. That was a shocker.

I really can't remember there being a huge outcry when Venables/Thompson were released. I remember more stories about injunctions protecting their identity. (I do have some of the newpaper articles that I used for my papers I think)y

I wrote a paper on Horror films as a scapegoat in ‘media moral panics’. Theres prolly some usefull stuff in it and a good list of books/Journals/Articles..

PM me an email addy and I can send it to you.

Ferret - if you have time check out some written stuff by these guys:

Martin Barker (I actually wanted to do a post grad with this guy at one stage).

Julian Petley

Their book Ill Effects, (Routledge – 1997) was useful.

Guy Cumberbatch

[Disease]

Yeah, Jon Venables was released but is back in prison for child porn - Robert Thompson is free. There is a film based loosely on him called 'Boy A' (in the case Thompson was refered to as 'Child A'.

Is pretty good but a difficult watch.

Sounds interesting, I will have to check that out!

[Ferox13]

How is this going for you FC?

[ferretchucker]

The work experience has finished now, but with you guys' help I got a pretty comprehensive list which I passed up to the boss. They're going to then polish it off and present the idea of the show to a channel (probably BBC 2). Whilst it might never even get picked up, the people at the studio told me they'd keep me updated. If anything does happen with it (it'll be some time before it does, if it does), I'll be sure to tell you all! Thanks :)

I just found it such an interesting topic to look into, even if I don't necessarily agree with the idea that movies can make killers! (I think Billy's quote in Scream sums it up). What particularly got to me was when the research led me to Columbine (they say the boys MIGHT have been watching some films beforehand - too loose of a link for me to include it, but meh). Either way, when I actually looked into what happened - I'm sure you all know, but as I was only 5-6 at the time, I was unaware -but it was just so intense. Reading through bit by bit what happened felt like I was reading the plot of a horror/thriller film.

[favabeans]

Although I'm extremely late on the posting train for this thread, I just wanted to put it down that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (the Columbine killers) were very inspired by the film Natural Born Killers (1994, Oliver Stone). So much so, in fact, that they named the shooting NBK continuously in their journals.