Keri Russell (“Felicity”) stars in Lightning Entertainment’s ripped-from-the-headlines thriller Grimm Love. The film is based on the true story of Armin Meiwes, a German homosexual man who was sentenced to life imprisonment after slaughtering and eating Bernd-Jürgen Brandes, a willing victim he met in an internet chatroom.

Take a look:

Meiwes met Brandes in 2001 after the latter answered Meiwes’ internet posting seeking out a male to be cannibalized. After numerous email exchanges, the deranged duo met on Christmas day to consume Brandes’ penis. Meiwes, who had fantasized about eating friends since the age of 12, has stated that he viewed the act as a form of communion, a manner in which to keep someone close.

But, back to the penis eating. It never actually happened because Meiwes ended up burning the member. Brandes, weakened by the loss of blood, swallowed pills and booze to numb the pain and was put in a tub.

Meiwes finally grew impatient waiting for Brandes to die, and stabbed him to death. He then hung Brandes on a hook and sliced him up into chunks. He videotaped the entire ordeal.

For the following 10 months, he fed on Brandes meat.

Meiwes was initially convicted for manslaughter and sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in 2004. However, after a retrial in 2005, he was convicted in 2006 to life imprisonment for being a sick fuck.

Meiwes has since become a vegetarian.

Grimm Love retells Meiwes story, but adds Russell character to make things less gay.

This is the film’s official synopsis:

Katie Armstrong, a young American woman studying Criminal Psychology in Germany finds herself inexplicably drawn to a murder case which would soon become the subject of her thesis. The psychology behind Oliver Hartwin, a homosexual cannibal killer who advertised on the Internet for a lover willing to be murdered and devoured as the ultimate act of love and self-sacrifice. As a woman whose past relationships have all failed, Katie doubts her own ability to find love and becomes obsessed with understanding their relationship.

While researching Oliver, Katie becomes entrenched in his life, and begins delve deeper and deeper into his past. She explores his childhood and the childhood of his victim looking for any clues as to what made him become what he is today. Piece by piece she fleshes them up by retracing both of their lives systematically. Their homes, their jobs, their relationships. From children into adulthood, she begins to lose herself in their story. With every new discovery, her emotions begin to get the better of her. Katie lets herself go, compulsively plunging into a deeply alienated lifestyle. This downward spiral culminates in the discovery of the video-tape made by Oliver recording the final moments of his victim’s life. Witnessing the courtship between the two men, and the final atrocity of the killing, Katie hits rock bottom. At the base of her own emotional sanity, she discovers the inner strength to pick herself and begin the smallest steps to rebuilding her life.

Grimm Love will be available on DVD, VOD, and digital download in the fall. The film costars Thomas Kretschmann (Wanted) and Thomas Huber (Aeon Flux) as cannibal and entree, respectively.