A murder at an out-of-control house party is being blamed on the teen freakout movie Project X, which would suggest that someone might have actually gone to see Project X. ABC News claims that "a string of copycat parties" have sprung up since the release of the film that from what we can gather chronicles a wildly destructive party that is also probably poignantly takes place on the best night of some nerdy movie character's life. (It garnered a less than stellar 25% "fresh" on RottenTomatoes.com) One party in Houston — which was advertised on Facebook and Twitter and drew between 300 and 1,000 people, depending on who you ask — ended in gunfire with one person being shot and killed as police tried to break up the party.

The story cites at least two other parties that were allegedly inspired by the movie, though we're not sure if any event held in a rented house with off-duty police officers hired to run security can really be blamed on rowdy teens. In either case, Gawker's Max Read probably needs to update his list of the media inspired teenage panics designed to frighten parents into locking up their children forever.

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Dashiell Bennett