Slasher movie 'Scream' inspires teens
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from July 1999.
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Mario Padilla, 17, received life imprisonment without parole last week, while 16-year-old Samuel Ramirez received 25 years to life. Ramirez was not eligible for the same sentence because he was only 14 at the time of the killing.
The teens were convicted of killing Padilla's mother, Gina Castillo, 37, stabbed 45 times in 1998. The boys admitted they attacked while she was seated at her home computer. Padilla stabbed her and Ramirez held her down.
Testimony showed the boys were obsessed with the movie "Scream" and its sequel, "Scream 2." In the movies, teens are knifed by killers in Grim Reaper costumes.
One of the boys said the slayings depicted were "cool." On the way home from one of many viewings, he told a friend: "It was a perfect way to kill somebody."
In a statement, Padilla described his reactions to TV and movie violence. "The first stage you see a guy's head being blown off you feel compassion," he said. "The second stage you see it again, you feel compassion, but it's not as strong
... the fifth stage, you want to do it but it's just a thought.
The last stage you do it and you want to do it again."
