IFC Midnight has acquired all North American and UK rights to director Chris James Thompson’s documentary The Jeffrey Dahmer Files, which premiered at SXSW in Texas earlier this year under the title Jeff (pictured).

The distributor is planning an early 2013 release for the doc, which looks at serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who in 1991 was arrested in Milwaukee and sentenced to 957 years in prison for killing 17 people and dismembering their bodies.

The film explores the city of Milwaukee by meeting those close to Dahmer during and after his killing spree, blending talking head interviews with recreations. Jonathan Sehring, president of Sundance Selects/IFC Films, said: “Chris James Thompson has made one of the creepiest documentaries of the year that lingers in the mind long after the film has ended.

“He’s approached the well-known subject of Jeffrey Dahmer in a new and inventive way that managed to completely unnerve us. It also promises you will never eat a sandwich quite the same way. We look forward to working with Chris as well as the entire team that made this film.”

Thompson added: “I couldn’t be more proud of this film and everyone from Milwaukee to Bombay that helped mold it from a four-year meandering experiment into the fresh cinematic oddity it is today.”

The deal was negotiated by Arianna Bocco, senior VP of acquisitions and productions for Sundance Selects/IFC Films, with Josh Braun of Submarine Entertainment acting on behalf of the filmmakers.

The doc was produced by Thompson and Jack Turner, and co-written by Thompson, Andrew Swant and Joe Riepenhoff, with Chris Smith and Barry Poltermann exec producing the project.