'Monsters' Actor's Shock Horror Film Role Revealed After His Star Turn in Hit Menendez Brothers Show: Movie Fans Stunned and Sickened by Cooper Koch's Gross-Out Flick — 'It's Drugs, Bugs and Hallucinations!'
Cooper Koch starred in an indie horror film before landing the role of Erik Menendez in Ryan Murphy's 'Monsters.'
Oct. 20 2024, Published 5:19 p.m. ET
His portrayal of Erik Menendez in Netflix's Monsters has garnered huge critical acclaim.
Cooper Koch stared as Benjamin in the 2022 body horror film 'Swallowed.'
RadarOnline.com can now reveal the success of Ryan Murphy's show has led to fans seeking out its 28-year-old star Cooper Koch's previous roles – leaving them shocked when they stumbled across his harrowing turn as Benjamin in the 2022 horror flick Swallowed.
Directed by Carter Smith, the nightmarish movie follows a wild night of drug smuggling gone terribly wrong, intertwining bugs, drugs, and chaos.
The movie received an 82 per cent critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with praise for its intense horror and LGBTQ elements. While critics lauded Koch as the film's highlight, the disturbing body horror has left some viewers uneasy.
Despite its gut-wrenching content, critics appreciated the film’s sharp, chaotic portrayal of outsider lives, noting how quickly things spiral into "sloppy chaos".
One reviewer said: "The body horror in Swallowed is a different kind of disturbing, because, well, you have to get the drugs out of Dom somehow. It’s not for the squeamish."
Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez in Netflix's 'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.'
In Swallowed, Koch plays Benjamin, a young man spending one final night with his friend Dom (Jose Colon) before moving to LA for a career in the adult film industry.
Their celebration spirals into horror after they accept a last-minute drug-smuggling job, swallowing what they believe are drug packets.
Things take a dark turn when it’s revealed the contents are far more dangerous than expected. As the night unfolds, they must survive a gruesome ordeal.
However interesting his start may be, it's Koch's turn as the younger of the Menendez brothers that still has Hollywood talking over a month after the show's streaming drop.
Nicholas Chavez played Lyle Menendez to Koch's Erik in Netflix's 'Monsters.'
Koch said that he was "super grateful" to meet Erik in prison after the series premiered.
"Preparing to play him was, in a way, preparing to meet him at the same time. Because in preparing to play him, I developed such a caring and true — I just care so much for him. I believe him, I think he’s an amazing human being. And so, after playing him, getting to meet him was so rewarding and special and one of the most amazing experiences I think I’ll ever have in my life."
The real Erik Menendez could be set to rejoin society for the first time in over 35 years next to his older brother, Lyle, as new evidence all but confirms Jose likely molested his two sons.
Cooper Koch first gained notoriety in Netflix's 'They/Them' in 2022.
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L.A. District Attorney George Gascón recently shared a screenshot of a letter Erik wrote to his cousin, Andy Cano, eight months before he helped kill his parents.
Erik wrote: "I've been trying to avoid dad. It's still happening Andy but it's worse for me now. I never know when it's going to happen and it's driving me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in. I need to put it out of my mind. I know what you said before but I’m afraid. You just don’t know Dad like I do. He’s crazy!"
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Lyle and Erik were sentenced to life in prison for brutally murdering their parents in 1989.
