Killer faces 30 years for torture-murder 'based on Aussie film' AN Englishman has been jailed for life for torturing and killing a man in a way that mimicked an Australian film. Gary George, 41, was sentenced by the Chester Crown Court to a minimum 30 years' jail for what judge Elgan Edwards described as "a cruel and vicious attack" based on the final scenes of the 2009 Australian film, The Loved Ones, starring theTwilight saga's Xavier Samuel. George was obsessed with witchcraft and horror films, the court was told. He beat his victim, Andrew Nall, whom he later described as "his best friend," and inflicted 49 separate knife wounds and poured salt into one wound in his stomach, an act with "chilling similarity" to the film. The prosecution also noted a "creamy substance," thought to be cleaning fluid, was found in the victim's eyes. "I am satisfied that in behaving in the way you did, you were aping the conduct in a film with which you were obsessed, namely The Loved Ones," said Justice Edwards in sentencing. Neither the film's producer Mark Lazarus or director Sean Byrne would comment on the incident. But a senior executive close to the film said they were "shocked" and "saddened" by the murder stemming from their "comedy." "Filmmakers are not responsible for people taking their ideas," he said. At the same time you're appalled that someone would take what you've done so literally. It's very sad. The teen revenge comedy is dark and increasingly ridiculous as it accelerates to its unlikely and bloody climax. It features a dysfunctional schoolgirl (played by Robin McLeavy) with a mad plan to exact revenge on the cool boy Brent (Samuels) who spurns her invitation to the school ball. The film's Australian distributor had high hopes for the film, releasing it on 89 screens and mounting an intense social media campaign at its target market. But the film fizzled at the box office, barely earning more than $250,000 in Australia. Nall's body was discovered lying in a pool of blood in his bedroom at his flat in Liverpool Road, Chester, on August 30 last year. George has been described as "a homeless alcoholic." He initially denied the murder but changed his plea to guilty as the three-week trial came to a close. Prosecutor Ian Unsworth QC earlier told the trial George had a keen interest in witchcraft and watched horror films, in particular The Loved Ones. In a chilling precursor to what befell Andrew Nall, one scene depicts a man being stabbed on multiple occasions, his chest having a letter carved into it before salt was thrown on to the wound.