EVEN before the opening of the sequel to The Matrix, several killers in the United States had been blaming the first blockbuster film for their unprovoked shootings.

Two have escaped trial for the separate killings of their landlords on the grounds of insanity. They claimed that they had ben driven by attempts to escape the fake reality of “the Matrix”.

Lawyers for a third, who dressed in a trenchcoat similar to the one worn by Keanu Reeves, the film’s star, before shooting his parents are hoping that his similar claim will help to swing the courts away from a death sentence.

In the film, computers create an illusory version of everyday life, known as the Matrix, which is designed to placate their human slaves. While humans believe that they are living a normal life, the machines feed on the essence of human life to strengthen their hold on the real world. The film’s themes of uncertain realities and parallel worlds are derived from age-old philosophical conundrums, but in some cases have appeared to exacerbate psychological problems, lawyers for the killers say.

The 1999 film has also cast its shadow over the Washington sniper shootings of last year. John Lee Malvo, the younger of the two men accused of a series of killings in the suburbs surrounding the American capital, has cited the science-fiction film in writings from his cell. The claims are the latest of a pattern in which suspects, often killers, blame the latest popular cultural fad for their actions.

Warner Brothers, which made the film, denied any connection between their work and the killings. “Any attempt to link these crimes with a motion picture, or any other art form, is disturbing and irresponsible,” a spokesman said.

The film’s sequel, The Matrix Reloaded, broke box office records in the US at the weekend, earning $42.5 million (£26 million) on its first day, more than last year’s record-holder Spider-Man.

Claims about the influence of The Matrix are less direct than those levelled at other controversial films. Josh Cooke, a 19-year-old Virginian, was so obsessed by The Matrix that he believed he was living in the illusory world, according to his lawyers. He dressed in a black trenchcoat, as worn by Reeves’s character, Neo, and bought a 12-bore shotgun. After shooting his father seven times and his mother twice, he calmly reported the killings to police.

Like other crimes in which the killers have mentioned The Matrix, the shooting in February was apparently without motive. Last week Tonda Ansley, 37, from Ohio, was found not guilty by reason of insanity after shooting her landlady, Sherry Corbett. In San Francisco, Vadim Miesenges, 27, was consigned to a mental hospital after a judge accepted his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity for the killing of his landlord in 2000.

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