Appropriately chilly and distant, "My Friend Dahmer" is an origin story about the makings of one of the most infamous serial killers in history. Written and directed by Marc Meyers - from the graphic memoir by Derf Backderf - the movie is a quiet and moody exploration of Jeffrey Dahmer before his life of crime.
What the movie does effectively is try and take us into the mind of Dahmer before he descended into a life of murder and cannibalism. Ross Lynch (a former Disney Channel star) plays Dahmer. He doesn't have any friends because he chooses to stay withdrawn from social life and his family. His parents (Dallas Roberts and Anne Heche) are going through a separation; his father can't take his mother's constant berating and substance abuse anymore. Like everything else, this is just background noise in Dahmer's eerie oasis of solitude.
Dahmer walks the halls of his high school getting stares and hearing whispers about him because he is obviously not your normal teenager. Dahmer chooses to play into his critics and creates all kinds of scenes in the halls and classrooms, which finds a few fans in the crowd. A couple of boys, including John Backderf (Alex Wolff, who plays the author of "My Friend Dahmer") bring Dahmer into their inner circle, mostly for their sheer amusement.
"My Friend Dahmer" chronicles the notorious killer's life before any murders were committed, so the movie never shocks you with any kind of violence (aside from Dahmer's fascination with dismembering road kill). Instead, it gives a glimpse into the troubled and deranged psyche of someone who lived in his own world and operated by his own set of rules, which would ultimately cost 17 men and boys their lives.
"My Friend Dahmer" is a mood piece rather than salacious cinema, and while it can occasionally seem uneventful, this approach is ultimately more effective. Lynch does fine work as the eponymous character, taking us on a journey with this young man's internal demons.
The movie ends on the perfect note that will send chills up your spine and boldly punctuates everything that came before it. It makes no case to defend its character but peels back the curtains of how he arrived at such a sick place.
| Movie title | My Friend Dahmer |
|---|---|
| Release year | 2017 |
| MPAA Rating | R |
| Our rating | |
| Summary | Appropriately chilly and distant, "My Friend Dahmer" is an origin story about the makings of one of the most infamous serial killers in history. |
