A drama student has been charged with attempted murder and assault after allegedly stabbing his classmates while re-enacting a violent movie scene.

University of Hartford student Jake Wascher was working on a group project with two other students in a dorm room on Sunday afternoon when he took the class assignment too far, Hartford Police said.

At around 1:30 pm, officers responded to a call of a two people stabbed. When they arrived, they found two young men with stab wounds.

Authorities said the 19-year-old victim from South Windsor suffered puncture wounds to his chest and back while a 21-year-old victim suffered a puncture wound to his chest and four to his back.

One was listed in critical, but stable condition and the other was listed in stable condition, the force added.

Wascher was arrested two hours later in a wooded area south of the university after the institution was placed on lockdown.

He is said to have told officers he was “curious what it would be like to stab someone”.

Police said the 21-year-old was a commuter student from San Diego and currently pursuing a BFA in acting at The Hartt School.

According to The Hartford Courant, the trio were re-enacting a scene from Ashton Kutcher’s 2004 sci-fi thriller, The Butterfly Effect.

A spokesperson for the University of Hartford said was “deeply saddened” by the “frightening and unsettling” and would be offering counselling services to members of the campus community.