After the release of Rick Rosenthal’s 1981 slasher horror film Halloween 2, society was faced with the inescapable ideology that sometimes life imitates art with a real crime. Nearly a year after it released, Richard Delmer Boyer went on trial for murder after he stabbed an elderly couple to death. According to documentation of the trial, Boyer claimed that Halloween 2 influenced him to commit his crimes.
John Carpenter’s original 1978 film, Halloween, introduced the slasher icon Michael Myers, who wears a pale, human-like mask and is fueled by his unstoppable desire to kill. The film spawned an expansive franchise that includes sequels, prequels, and video games. Rosenthal’s sequel was the first to follow the critically acclaimed Carpenter original. It immediately picks up where the first left off with Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) making a reappearance. After narrowly escaping Michael, Laurie is taken to a hospital to recover from her brutal encounter with the boogeyman on Halloween night.
Michael quickly discovers her location through a news report. The film includes details of Michael’s mental instability and the psychiatric care needed for his psychosis as well as his hunt for Laurie by the masked assailant. It culminates in Laurie shooting Michael in the eye, then setting him ablaze. The ending finds her at a new hospital, as she has been transferred to ensure her safety. Halloween 2 is a classic film in the franchise, but the crime that was reportedly committed due to its contents is nothing short of disturbing and perhaps even more horrific than the film itself.
The True Crime Inspired By Halloween 2
On December 7, 1982, Richard Delmer Boyer stabbed Francis and Eileen Harbitz to death with a knife. With a total of 43 stab wounds shared between the elderly couple, the El Monte, California resident went to trial for his crimes in 1989. The trial, People v. Boyer, discussed the effects of violence portrayed in media and its impact on young men and women. During Boyer’s defense, he claimed he suffered with hallucinations brought on by Rosenthal’s film, Halloween 2. He told the jury that he watched the film while under the influence of a variety of drugs, some of which include PCP, marijuana, and alcohol.
Due to inebriated state he watched the film under, Boyer believed his hallucinations were a result of it. When the jury and a psychopharmacologist (a person who studies the effects of drugs on the brain) watched the film, they recognized similarities between various scenes and the defendant’s description of his visions. Boyer was ultimately found guilty for his crimes, and was sentenced to death. The jury found Boyer’s claim that Halloween 2 caused him to kill was unlikely and saw it as an improbable defense, though violence in media has been blamed for numerous other real crimes since then, and other horror movies have been used as a defense for violent crimes committed as well.
Ultimately, there is no further explanation as to why he was at the residence, how he knew the deceased, or what brought him to Fullerton. The murders seemed premeditated and planned. Today, the incident is known as the “Halloween II Murders”, and has been featured on major horror websites and television shows. Halloween 2 is a horrific film in itself but the murders that were supposedly inspired by watching it create an additional layer of terror in the franchise.