American Boogeywoman: Monster prequel stars Peyton List as Aileen Wuornos

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Eighteen years after Charlize Theron turned in an Oscar-winning performance as real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Patty Jenkins' film Monster (watch it HERE), Voltage Pictures has picked up the worldwide rights to a film called American Boogeywoman, which serves as a prequel to the events of Monster. In this film, Wuornos is played by Peyton List of Cobra Kai.

American Boogeywoman was written and directed by Daniel Farrands, who's best known for writing Halloween: The Curse of the Michael Myers and directing the documentaries Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy and Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th. 

Monster was set in 1989 / 1990. American Boogeywoman goes back to 1976 and follows 

America’s most notorious female serial killer in Florida when she marries Lewis Fell, an older wealthy yacht club president only to inflict mayhem within her new family and Florida’s high society. 

List is joined in the cast by Tobin Bell, Lydia Hearst, Nick Vallelonga, Swen Temmel, Meadow Williams, and Andrew Biernat. Deadline notes that Hearst plays Jennifer Fell, the daughter of Lewis. "The character is part of high society and heiress to her father's fortune until she befriends Aileen."

Temmel and Williams produced the film with Lucas Jarach, Luke Daniels, and Daniel Davila.

Jarach had this to say about the project: 

Most Americans know about Aileen Wuornos' infamous killing spree as seen through the Oscar winning film Monster, but what they don't know are the details from her early life and the build-up of events that drove her to commit such horrific crimes. We look forward to bringing a new perspective to this incredible true story that has so much more to give audiences around the globe."

List added: 

We know so little of the early years of Aileen, especially given she was living a very different life to the one we see in Monster. Embodying such a deeply complex and divisive character is what drew me to the project, and I can’t wait to bring context to America's most infamous female serial killer." 

Farrands' last couple movies, The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and The Haunting of Sharon Tate, have been criticized for being in poor taste, so hopefully this is a step up.