THE SECRET LIFE: JEFFREY DAHMER

Made less than two years after Jeffrey Dahmer’s arrest -- and inspired by Dahmer’s own highly-publicized confessions -- David R. Bowen’s brutally intense indie has the half-starved aesthetic of a snuff film, and a no-holds-barred lead by writer/actor Carl Crew as one the 20th Century’s most notorious serial killers.

A case study not just into one monumentally sick mind, but in how much more incredible a film can be just by sticking to the true story. Over a thousand hours of research went into this creepy-ass biopic, and the facts are presented without affectation like a courtroom reenactment or industrial training film. What really tips the meter into the red is the incredible voiceover. Seamlessly collaged from actual Dahmer quotes and set to a muted synth score, the VO counterpoints and transform the visuals of Dahmer’s murder spree at various times into Barry White-like love rhapsodies, macabre Hallmark cards, and the maudlin diary entries of a depressed teenager.