After spending the day drinking beers and watching on-screen serial killers slash through scores of helpless victims, Luke William Woods set out into the night with a "taste for blood".
With the kitchen knife he had nicknamed "Stanley" in tow, Woods hopped into the back of Neal Kent's taxi and directed the 71-year-old driver to a quiet residential car park in Sydney's Surry Hills.
"How much do I owe you?" he asked at the end of the journey.
But before Mr Kent had a chance to reply, a knife had come down into his shoulder.
Woods, 36, has been convicted of the attempted murder of Mr Kent, who was stabbed 13 times on December 30, 2013.
"Mr Kent was lucky," Judge David Arnott told Downing Centre District Court on Friday in his judgment of the judge-alone trial.
Mr Kent survived the attack despite serious wounds to his neck, shoulder, head and hands, and was in hospital for 17 days.
A doctor's assessment found eight of the 13 stab wounds were potentially fatal, the court heard.
In recounting the facts, Judge Arnott said Woods drank 12 beers and watched six horror films in his bedroom leading up to the stabbing.
Woods told police in an interview after the attack that the horror movies he watched included The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Friday the 13th parts one, four and five, and Wrong Turn 4.
He said the violent movies made him feel like murdering someone.
Woods, who was then under public guardianship, attacked Mr Kent with a 30cm kitchen knife he sometimes kept under his pillow.
He told police he threw the knife into a bin after fleeing the scene, went to a convenience store to buy some milk and then returned to his room.
Woods pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The court heard a psychiatric assessment found Woods, who was abused as a child, may have committed the act as a cry for help in the hope he would be institutionalised.
However, Judge Arnott believed Woods formed an intention to kill while he was in the taxi, and convicted him of wounding with intent to murder.
He will be assessed by state disability services before returning to court for sentencing in September.
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