Top 20 Real Life Crimes Inspired by Movies and TV
#20: Setting an Apartment on Fire
“Backdraft” (1991) A movie about a group of heroic firefighters is hardly the type of film you’d expect to influence a copycat crime. But it did. Eighteen-year-old Glen Jones of Lake George, New York was watching “Backdraft” with his girlfriend when he got a brilliant idea. He wanted to be a hero, so he naturally decided to set his girlfriend’s apartment on fire and put it out himself! He was successful in setting a chair on fire, but it was extinguished by the girlfriend’s family before he could act. Luckily, no one was hurt in the ordeal. Jones in turn was charged with second-degree arson, and he faced upwards of ten years in prison. So, you know, that plan didn’t pan out…
#19: “Purging”
“The Purge” (2013) Though the execution isn’t always perfect, the concept behind “The Purge” is clever. For one night every year, all crime becomes legal and emergency services are prohibited from responding to calls. It makes for a great fictional story, but would be terrifying if actually brought to life. Unfortunately, it was. Back in 2017, Indianapolis’s Johnathan Cruz was charged with three fatal shootings. He directly referenced the film, writing in one text message, “I Purge every night now.” A witness also told detectives that Cruz had referenced the movie in person. Unlike “The Purge,” crime is not legal, ever, and Cruz was justly sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for his senseless actions.
#18: Bottle Deposit Fraud
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“Seinfeld” (1989-98) Here’s a general rule of thumb: don’t do anything that Kramer does. In the seventh season episode “The Bottle Deposit,” Kramer and Newman hatch a scheme to redeem empty bottles in Michigan to earn an extra five cents per container. This actually happened in 2011, when three people were charged with bottle deposit fraud. Yes, it’s a real thing. Couple Thomas and Megan Woodard and a man named Peter Prybot illegally redeemed out-of-state bottles in Maine. Combined, they were charged with stealing upwards of $11,000. This was reported to be the first time in Maine’s history that someone was charged with bottle deposit fraud.
#17: The D.C. Sniper
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“The Matrix” (1999) Funnily enough, the “Matrix” Defense is a real thing. And yes, it has worked. A variation of the insanity defense, this one claims that the defendant believes they’re in the Matrix, and therefore, their crime didn’t technically happen. In their view, their victims are still alive in the “real world.” Back in 2002, Lee Boyd Malvo and John Allen Muhammad committed the D.C. sniper attacks, killing seventeen people and injuring a further ten. Malvo has made continuous references to “The Matrix,” like yelling “Free yourself from the Matrix!” and telling FBI agents to watch the movie. Delusional or not, Malvo pleaded guilty to seven killings and was sentenced to life in prison.
#16: Various
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“Breaking Bad” (2008-13) Thankfully, most people don’t watch crime shows and get inspired. But with a show as popular as “Breaking Bad,” you know there will be some exceptions. In fact, “Breaking Bad” seems to have inspired a whole crime wave. Back in 2010, Kansas City Chief of Police Darryl Forte claimed that a strain of blue meth was circulating through the city. In 2012, police in Alabama reported on a fifty-five-year-old meth dealer going by the name of “Walter White.” In one case, a man named Jason Hart tried disposing of his dead girlfriend’s body in sulphuric acid. And perhaps most astoundingly, the show was brought to life with Stephen Doran, a bald and cancer-stricken teacher who was arrested for selling meth.
#15: Teens Start Sucking Blood
“Twilight” (2008) In certain respects, marketing a vampire story to young teens was not a great idea. Around the height of “Twilight” mania, there were reports of teenagers biting each other to draw blood in some sort of pseudo-intimate act, and it worried a lot of blood specialists on the grounds of transmitting diseases. Things got pretty serious in Des Moines, when an unnamed middle school student bit eleven different classmates. His father blamed “Twilight” and claimed that his son never meant any harm by the bites. The authorities weren’t having any of it, and the young teen was sent to a juvenile correctional facility.
#14: Russian Roulette
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“The Deer Hunter” (1978) Widely touted as a masterpiece, “The Deer Hunter” contains very famous sequences in which the main characters play Russian roulette. Needless to say, they don’t go well. Unfortunately, the movie inspired a huge number of copycat deaths, as people all around America began dying in Russian roulette accidents. Most of these occurred in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, when the film was still fresh in the public consciousness. While it’s hard to count the true number of deaths, the National Coalition on TV Violence claimed that twenty-five lives had been lost as of 1981. This was just three years after the movie’s release.
#13: Copycat Killers
“Money Train” (1995) This relatively unknown action comedy features Chris Cooper as a serial killer known as “the Torch.” In one scene, the Torch sprays gasoline into a subway token booth and lights a match, threatening to burn the attendant alive if she doesn’t hand over the money. She does, but the Torch sets the booth on fire anyway, implying he was in it for the violence itself. Shortly after the movie was released, a group of male teenagers re-enacted the scene in a Brooklyn subway and burned the clerk; he died of his injuries two weeks later. Three teens were found guilty of the attack, and two were sentenced to life in prison.
#12: Akasha Makes a Demand
“Queen of the Damned” (2002) In 2002, a film based on Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Chronicles” called “Queen of the Damned” was released. In the film, the late Aaliyah plays a powerful vampire named Akasha. This female vampire allegedly visited a young Scottish man by the name of Allan Menzies, promising him immortality in exchange for blood. Menzies listened to this fictional figure and killed his long-time friend. Menzies claims that he felt paranoid around his friend, believing that he was going to kill him, so he took action in the worst way. Menzies was subsequently committed to a psychiatric facility and claimed that Akasha was still visiting him and asking for blood.
#11: Robbing a Few Ideas
“The Town” (2010) Ben Affleck wrote and directed this high-octane heist film, which is about a group of Boston criminals who decide to rob Fenway Park. In 2012, a group of three criminals undertook a robbery that bore striking resemblances to “The Town.” The three black robbers wore latex masks to make them appear white, just as the robbers in the film at one point use latex nun masks to disguise themselves. The criminals also robbed a few fancy tricks from the movie. They too dressed as police officers, they too doused the crime scene in bleach to remove DNA, and they too threatened an employee with personal information. The men initially walked away with $200,000, but were eventually caught.
#10: Becoming Patrick Bateman
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“American Psycho” (2000) Christian Bale plays quite a convincing psychopath. Patrick Bateman has become one of cinema’s greatest villains, but that hasn’t stopped some from identifying with him. Back in 2004, a fourteen-year-old named Michael Hernandez killed his classmate in cold blood. According to an expert for the defense, Hernandez wanted to become a serial killer and was modeling his actions after fictional villains like Patrick Bateman. Hernandez tried pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, but was rejected by the jury and thrown in prison for life. He died behind bars in 2021 at the age of thirty-one.
#9: The Dexter Killer
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“Dexter” (2006-13; 2021-22) Dexter Morgan really isn’t the type of character to turn into a role model. Canadian man Mark Twitchell was a huge fan of “Dexter” and began modeling his life after the titular serial killer. In October of 2008, Twitchell catfished a man on the dating website Plenty of Fish and lured him to his house. Twitchell then took him to a “kill room” he’d set up in his garage and proceeded to go full Dexter Morgan. The media subsequently labeled Twitchell the “Dexter Killer,” as his intense interest in the show was repeatedly brought up during the trial. Unlike Dexter, Twitchell didn’t go live as a lumberjack; he was sent to prison for life, and rightfully so.
#8: Slashers as Role Models
“Friday the 13th” (1980-) & “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984-) Franchises Daniel Gonzalez was a very disturbed boy. Born in Surrey, England, Gonzalez showed some talent in school but was reportedly very troubled and required serious psychological aid. By 2004, Gonzalez was twenty-four years old, unemployed, and an avid watcher of horror movies. That September, Gonzalez went on a violent spree and killed four people in three days. He used knives to slay his victims, and in one case he even wore a hockey mask like Jason Voorhees. He also personally believed that he was similar to Freddy Krueger. He soon became known as the Freddy Krueger Killer and was committed to a psychiatric hospital. Gonzalez took his own life in 2007.
#7: Joker Stuff
“The Dark Knight” (2008) Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker is iconic, but it’s also given rise to many unfortunate copycats. In 2009, a female high school student in Clinton, Indiana painted and cut her face to look like the Joker. She then tried attacking a teacher with a kitchen knife. Luckily, no one was physically harmed. The student was then taken into custody and placed in the care of a psychiatric facility. Another offense occurred in 2020. St. Louis man Jeremy Garnier conducted a livestream in which he dressed as the Joker and threatened to commit a public bombing. He was thankfully arrested before the livestream even ended.
#6: More Vampiric Acts
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“Interview with the Vampire” (1994) People really can’t help themselves when it comes to vampire movies. Two days after watching “Interview with the Vampire,” Daniel Sterling stabbed his girlfriend and reportedly drank some of her blood. Luckily, she survived her extensive wounds. Sterling directly referenced the film while in jail, saying he was “influenced by the movie.” It was later reported that Sterling attempted to kill his girlfriend in an act of revenge for dating another man. Sterling was charged for the attack, and the jury dismissed his insanity defense. He was instead found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
#5: Personal Project Mayhems
“Fight Club” (1999) The first and second rules of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club. But no one said anything about starting your own. Perhaps unsurprisingly, numerous underground fight clubs began popping up following the movie’s release. States like Texas, California, and even Alaska began reporting the clubs, and membership ranged from high school students to Silicon Valley techies and Princeton Ivy Leaguers. Unfortunately, things also got a bit more serious, as some teenagers began acting out their own Project Mayhem. Luke Helder planted numerous mailbox bombs and attempted to make a cartographical smiley face out of his chosen locations. And then there’s teenager Kyle Shaw, who tried blowing up a Manhattan Starbucks after starting his own fight club in Central Park.
#4: Ghostface Copycats
“Scream” (1996) Even though it was meant to satirize the slasher genre, “Scream” still somehow managed to inspire a few prospective criminals. Back in the late ‘90s, two teenage cousins by the names of Samuel Ramirez and Mario Padilla were convicted of killing Padilla’s mother. Preliminary hearings during the trial made repeated mention of their love for the “Scream” movies. A more obvious copycat crime occurred in Belgium, when twenty-four-year-old Thierry Jaradin killed a teenager while wearing a Ghostface costume. Jaradin later confessed that the crime was premeditated and inspired by the “Scream” movies; obviously, considering his attire. Another copycat occurred in France in 2002, when a teen known only by the name of Julien killed his teenage neighbor while wearing a Ghostface mask.
#3: Alex’s Real-Life Droogs
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“A Clockwork Orange” (1971) Stanley Kubrick’s bizarre film is now considered a masterpiece, but it’s also one of the most controversial films ever made. It was originally given an X rating in the United States, and the Kubrick family received loud protestors outside of their home. It also didn’t help that numerous crimes were pinned on the movie. This includes the random killing of an elderly man, the death of a teen at the hands of their classmate, and a sexual assault in which the perpetrator sang a crude rendition of “Singin’ in the Rain.” As a response to the heated controversy, Kubrick withdrew the film from British release, and it was unavailable in the region for the next twenty-six years.
#2: Numerous
“Natural Born Killers” (1994) Just as “Natural Born Killers” was inspired by the story of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, so too did it inspire its own crime sprees. Countless incidents have been linked to the film, including some of the most notorious crimes of the century. Multiple school shootings have been blamed on the movie, including Columbine. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were said to be fans, and Harris repeatedly mentioned the film in his journal. It also inspired the crime spree of teenagers Sarah Edmondson and Benjamin Darras, along with the Richardson family murders. The latter bore a striking resemblance to a scene in the film, and the perpetrator even said that he would “[go] ‘Natural Born Killer’ on [the] family.”
#1: John Hinckley Jr. Goes Full Travis Bickle
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“Taxi Driver” (1976) The genius thing about “Taxi Driver” is that it doesn’t predict anything. It merely observes and comments on what’s already there, and what’s already there are lonely people with troubling thoughts. Sometimes, these people tip over into violence. This is exactly what happened with John Hinckley Jr. Hinckley dealt with severe emotional problems and developed an obsession with Jodie Foster after watching “Taxi Driver.” He began stalking the young actor and was resolved to kill the president in a deluded attempt to impress her. On March 30, 1981, Hinckley attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan. He failed, but wounded four - including Reagan himself - and Press Secretary James Brady died decades later as a direct result of the injuries.
