Review of Dahmer (2002) by Dickie L — 27 Feb 2010

Ah, Jeffrey Dahmer, poster boy for the gay movement. Not! The obvious route to take with a biopic on Mr Evil Personified would of course be to go for a splatterfest, but this is way creepier and effective than that. Mostly devoid of violence, but by no means bloodless, pic focusses more on Dahmer's attempts at seducing his prey, rather than the kill itself. The details that unnerve are not the obvious ones. Instead of seeing the gore of a victim being slaughtered, we cut to the sight of the average looking Dahmer in a chocolate splattered white coat at work the next day, going through his daily routine.

Its interesting to see Jeremy Renner pre-The Hurt Locker playing Dahmer. He's excellent, in keeping with the tone of the film, he avoids any of the cliches of playing a role like this. We are left to interpret for ourselves what could make a man do the things that he does.

This was never going to be a heart warming outing, but its certainly unexpected take on a gruesome subject.