10 People Who Copied Movies In Disturbing Ways

6. Blue Crush's Underwater Training Scene Was Fatally Imitated By A Young Boy

The Town
Universal Pictures

Blue Crush is a fairly by-the-numbers sports movie centred on Ann Marie, a young woman who strives to become a professional surfer. As is the case with the vast majority of sports movies out there, it also features numerous training scenes where Ann Marie and her friends catch some waves and hone their surfing skills.

In one of these scenes, Ann Marie takes things up a notch by carrying a heavy rock across the ocean floor in an effort to improve her endurance. It's a great moment in the story, but sadly, a young boy who attempted to mimic this feat in real life ended up paying for it with his life.

In 2003, 13-year-old Anthony Michael Alfonsin tried to copy the scene from Blue Crush, but in a slightly different way. While playing with his friends, he attempted to swim across a 15-foot deep pond with a heavy chain wrapped around his waist, which soon caused him to be dragged underneath the water, where he drowned.

Nearby parents and rescue workers did try to save Anthony, but it all happened so fast that they simply couldn't get there in time.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.