Which real life murderers have been inspired by on-screen fictional killers?

Question

I know about Cho Seun-Hui's Oldboy inspiration, and there's the case of a man called Jason Moore who made a Freddy Krueger glove to attack his friend, but have there been any other cases reported in the press?

Answer 1

I remember, when the movie "Money Train" came out, there was a copycat killing (attempted at least) from that movie.

In the movie, a psycho uses a tube and gasoline to extort the people working in the ticket booths. He would push the tube thru the little window and then pour gasoline into the booth. It was difficult to get out of the booth fast enough so the person was stuck there. The guy would then demand the person hand over all of the money or else he would light up the gasoline and kill the person.

After the movie came out, someone tried this. They badly burned a person working in a booth.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,991110,00.html

I would not be suprised to see other movies that had murders (or attempted murders) that were copied in real life.

Answer 2

The guy who drove his truck into a Luby's restaurant in Killeen, Texas and shot a bunch of people eating lunch in the early 1990's might have been inspired by "The Fisher King". The same thing happened to Robin Williams' character and he lost his wife in the shooting. They found the movie ticket stub in the guy's coat pocket (The real guy, not the movie guy).

Answer 3

I remember hearing about some kids recreating the scene from Reservoir Dogs with the ear getting cut off

Answer 4

mike myers