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When you’re watching a movie, it’s nice to say, “Man, I really
know what that guy/girl is going through.” You get a warm
feeling and smile a knowing grin that says, “Hey brother/sister,
I’ve been there.” However, there are times when identifying
with a movie character can be a bit disturbing, to say the
least. Especially when said character is Jeffrey Dahmer,
serial killer extraordinaire. In the new film, Dahmer,
directed by up-and-coming filmmaker David Jacobson,
the man, not the myth, of Jeffrey Dahmer is explored. The
movie uncovers not a raving psycho or a freak, but merely
a tragically lonely man who toyed with, then killed, those
like him. Light on gore and heavy on nuance, Dahmer
paints what can only be called a still life of a man who really
isn’t so different from any of us, other than the homicidal
streak, of course.
The movie focuses on Dahmer’s adulthood, leaving any childhood
scars to be inferred and pondered. We first see Dahmer at
work in the epitome of a crap job, candy wrapper in a chocolate
factory. In many ways, the images of him at work or sitting
in a cafeteria by himself are the most frightening things
in the movie. They punctuate Dahmer’s existence with a silent
scream, letting us sink into the airless void that surely
surrounded him at all times. Outside of the factory, we see
him slink through the Milwaukee nightlife. He prowls the seedy
bars where other lonely souls dwell, and believe me, “prowl”
is the only word for it. He’s not just looking for love here;
he’s hunting for prey. And that’s the one thing that makes
this movie so much more than a killers-need-love-too exercise
in empathy. No matter how much you feel for Dahmer (and yes,
you will feel for him), the movie never lets you forget for
one second that he was, first and foremost, a serial killer.
Walking the finest of lines, the film lets us see both sides
of one of America’s most notorious murderers, the fragile
and the brutal. It’s in that that we get what may very well
be the most complete portrait of serial killer since… well,
Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer.
Of course, the movie would be nothing with out a strong actor
in the titular role and thank the independent movie gods,
they found one in virtual unknown Jeremy Renner. Renner
is terrifying, plain and simple. He imbues Dahmer with a multi-layered
solemnity, a rainbow of somberness that matches glower for
glower every kid in your high school who dressed up like The
Cure and wouldn’t talk to anyone. It’s that every-loner
attitude that makes Renner’s performance, and by extension
Dahmer himself, all the more frightening. A facade of normalcy
can, in many ways, be scarier than a hockey mask or ghoulish
make-up. Jeremy Renner really is a find. I hope this movie
gets him much notice because I have a hunch this kid is on
the verge of great things. Elsewhere in the movie, Bruce
Davidson shows up as Dahmer’s clueless-to-a-fault father,
giving a well-mannered performance as a man who really wants
to understand his son, but is unequipped, emotionally, to
do so. Also worth mentioning are the actors who play Dahmer’s
victims. They all take throwaway roles, what could have been
nothing more than living props, and turn them into their own
mini-masterpieces. I think that speaks to David Jacobson’s
skill as a writer and director, allowing people to make the
most of what I’m sure were tiny parts of his script.
It’s interesting that Dahmer should come along now,
on the heels of another great work of serial killer biography
known as Ed Gein. Both films are low-budget dramas
about real, terrible men, and both are quite good in their
own ways. However, Dahmer in particular is a movie
you’ll be thinking about days later. Like any serial killer
worth his salt, Dahmer is quiet, keeps to itself, and
on the surface appears very docile. But when you go into its
metaphorical basement, you see it for what it really is: A
shocking revelation that is more real than you could ever
possibly want.
—Clinton Davis
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While we would never encourage anyone to destroy a video... 
