The very title conjures feelings of dread and scenes of graphic blood and gore throughout and, given the nature of the serial killer genre film, most if not all viewers will go into this expecting something substantially nasty in the process.
Well, get ready for a surprise – My Friend Dahmer is actually surprisingly subdued in its analysis of the life of one of the most notorious murderers in American history and focuses instead on the backstory and the context leading up to Dahmer’s dispersal of seventeen men from 1978 until 1991, described in the production notes as ‘the story before the story’
Director Marc Meyers has adapted Derf Backderf’s critically acclaimed 2012 graphic novel of the same name, as well as his own 2014 Black List script. My Friend Dahmer is as much about perception as perceptiveness of individuals and friends who seemingly enter and exit our lives. One would not expect anything remotely shocking and graphic here, although the set-up of the film to the circumstances will have viewers wondering when the first brutal moment is about to happen.
Compared to Peter Jackson’s acclaimed 1994 murder drama Heavenly Creatures, which revealed Kate Winslet to the world and proved that Jackson could make a solid human drama against the grain of his earlier gore fests Dead Alive (Brain Dead in the UK) and Bad Taste, this solely focuses on the dark thoughts of Dahmer and his interaction with his fellow high school students, who see him as a figure of fun.
Jeffrey Dahmer (Ross Lynch) is a troubled individual, compounded by the impending breakdown of his parents’ marriage. He seeks solace in a shed, where he keeps roadkill and dead cats in jars, subsequently pouring acid on them to dissolve the remains. However, his father Lionel (Walk the Line’s Dallas Roberts) puts his foot down and destroys the shed, offering dumbbells as an alternative focus and hoping girls will take more of an interest in him. His mother, Joyce (Anne Heche, virtually unrecognisable and excellent), has her own problems and hospitalisation issues and doesn’t appear to take much interest in him or his younger brother.
In a desire to make new friends, Jeffrey decides to simulate epilepsy and spasms in the school corridors, leading his fellow peers to create a perverse fan club in his honour. However, the ruse only temporarily disguises the dark emotions that are beginning to manifest themselves…
Director Meyers has certainly confounded expectations with this reasonable effort, although one would have expected a brutal moment or two à la Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, which is inevitable given the context of what we about to see at the outset. Lynch is very convincing as Dahmer and the young ensemble acquit themselves convincingly with good all-round performances.
Overall, this is more in keeping with more mainstream high school dramas, but doesn’t have the vicious comic tone of films like Heathers and Mean Girls, both of which hit the mark in their respective ways. On balance, though, it is rare that a film focusing on a notorious real-life murder subject would restrain itself and the audience expectations from relying on strong bloody violence.
MY FRIEND DAHMER / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: MARC MEYERS / STARRING: ROSS LYNCH, VINCENT KARTHEISER, ALEX WOLFF, ANNE HECHE, DALLAS ROBERTS / RELEASE DATE: JULY 30TH
