Just when you thought we’d won the debate over whether or not horror movies can cause people to do bad things, another story comes up about how some misguided people saw a horror movie and decided that it was time to turn fiction into reality. There’s just no teaching some people.

About a year ago, just under, three people from near Great Yarmouth in the UK were able to grab and abduct 17 year old Simon Everitt, and take him out to the woods. Once out there, the horror movie influences took over, and I’m sure some will already have anticipated how.

The picture above is a still from the movie Severance. The prosecutor described the crime in fairly gruesome detail:

“[Simon was] bundled into a car, taken to a forest or wooded area. He was then tied to a tree with blue nylon roping. Petrol was poured on to him and into his throat. He was then set on fire whilst tied to that tree. The rope burned through. He was still alive. He stepped from the tree a short distance, still alight, and there he was to die,”

All three suspects deny that it was murder. The case is still being decided in court.

One thing this could spark, especially if the suspects are convicted of murder, is the age-old debate of whether horror movies should be allowed, or whether they are tearing at the moral fabric of our society. Personally I’ve always thought horror films were little more than entertainment, but when it is played out in reality, with victims who didn’t want to be involved, it does give one pause.