Review of Dahmer (2002) by Kevin R — 13 Sep 2009

This film was surprisingly heart-felt. More of a snapshot into the life of Jeffrey Dahmer than a complete biopic. It did well capturing the loneliness and alienation that must have plagued Dahmer, portraying him as a human being rather than some sort of 'monster'.

I am not a huge Dahmer scholar so I am unsure how much of this film is based on the reality of the man's crimes. I do know that Dahmer did in fact drug and operate upon a young Asian man and that the young man escaped but was returned to Dahmer by the police, who considered the whole event to be some sort of lover's quarrel.

This is the incident that the film spends the most time with and it is able to capture, all at the same time, the pathology of Dahmer's predatory nature as well as his pathetic loneliness.