When it comes to special effects, The Matrix is one of the most influential films ever made. Unfortunately, this sci-fi flick has also inspired quite a few criminals. Take Lee Boyd Malvo, for instance. Known as the D.C. Sniper, this guy committed a series of terrifying murders in 2002, and he was supposedly so obsessed with the Wachowski film that his defense attorneys incorporated the movie into Malvo's insanity plea. He reportedly identified with Neo and instructed FBI agents to watch The Matrix if they wanted to understand his motives. He even scribbled lines referencing the film in his prison cell, including, "Free yourself from the Matrix."
It wasn't the only time the so-called "Matrix defense" would come up in court. In 2003, a 19-year-old dressed in Neo-like gear proceeded to murder his parents as a sort of grisly homage to the movie. As the killer himself put it, "I just kinda looked over at my Matrix poster, and then I looked over at my gun. I guess you know the rest." And in 2000, a Swiss exchange student believed his neighbor was putting off evil vibes and might suck him into the Matrix, so he slaughtered and dismembered the poor woman.
But while the Matrix defense sounds pretty ridiculous, it actually worked in 2002, when a woman shot her landlady at point-blank range. So why did she pull the trigger? Well, the killer claimed her dreams had been infected by her victim, and oh yeah, that "they commit a lot of crimes in the Matrix." As she further elaborated, the Matrix is "where you go to sleep at night, and they drug you and take you somewhere else." Yeah, that sounds pretty crazy, and evidently, the court agreed because it accepted her insanity plea. But as for Warner Bros., the studio issued a statement separating its fictional series from reality, saying, "Any attempt to link these crimes with a motion picture . . . is disturbing and irresponsible."
