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 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/-/...rama-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]

Originally Posted by cheebacheeba

Which film do you think might've inspired this one?
http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/...rama-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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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.