Curious biopic that can't quite decide whether it should be a coming-of-age tale or something more chilling. The confusion unfortunately makes this seem at times sympathetic to the serial killer.
Yes he is obsessed with dead animals and dissolving their remains in acid, but he seems little different from the awkward adolescents of countless other high school movies. Lynch is good and definitely creepy, but not that creepy....
If you're looking for explanations as to why Dahmer went on to murder, necrophilia and cannibalism; this will only partially satisfy you. We see hints that he is becoming isolated and morbidly inclined. He has a strange obsession with a neighbour jogger and is spending too long in the shed carrying out his infernal experiments. And the family background is troubled in the extreme. With a domineering but neurotic mother, and a weak-willed father.
Throughout the film, Lynch always seems to be fighting to keep his demons in check. At one stage it looks as if he is about to murder their pet Labrador, but he pulls himself back. The film constantly make us feel sorry for him. He's a loner trying to fit in, but his dark side eventually overwhelms him. Every time he reaches out to someone, he is rebuffed. As the rejections mount, his behaviour becomes only more erratic.
The film stops just as his murdering career kicks-off. The film lets us make up our own mind about where to place the blame.
My Friend Dahmer
2017
Action / Biography / Drama / Horror
My Friend Dahmer
2017
Action / Biography / Drama / Horror
Plot summary
Jeffrey Dahmer struggles with a difficult family life as a young boy. During his teenage years he slowly transforms, edging closer to the serial killer he was to become.
August 08, 2023 at 07:25 AM
Tech specs
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Growing pains
serial
Future serial killer Jeff Dahmer (Ross Lynch) is a weird high school senior derisively nicknamed Dumber. He likes to pick up roadkills and uses acids to strip away the meat. After his father takes away his work shed and his roadkill specimens, he starts acting out at school. He is befriended by Derf (Alex Wolff) and his friends who proclaim themselves as the Dahmer fan club. Derf uses Dahmer as a prop in his pranks. As Dahmer's home life deteriorates, he becomes more and more disturbed.
My first random complaint is that this needs more period music. It's a bit too quiet except for the prom. Music is always good to pump up the movie and helps to set the time period. Lynch's performance is on point. The movie may be better centering on Derf. He is after all the Me in My Friend Dahmer. Dahmer is one note whereas Derf has a revelation in the end which may work better if he's the protagonist. Overall, these are compelling characters and the movie works well.
Attention seeker
Bubblegum Disney popstar Ross Lynch goes about as far from Austin&Ally as you
can get in portraying a budding serial killer in My Friend Dahmer.
The film is based on a book written by one of his acquaintences from high school
whose character is played by Alex Wolff. Dahmer in his small town high school
kid is seen as a loner and a misfit who would do all kinds of attention gettng
things to try and fit in.
He was also the child of a breaking and then broken home with pparents
played by Dallas Roberts and Anne Heche. Both were wrapped in their own
issues and hd time for him.
This film is a chronicle of observed events, it offers no explanations, no whys
and wherefores. It is a well cast pieceof work though it doesn't seem to have
led to Ross Lynch being offered more serious roles. It may yet happen for him.