Dahmer(film)

Dahmeris a 2002 American horrordrama filmwritten and directed byDavid Jacobson,and co-written by David Birke.Alimited theatrical release,it is based on the crimes ofJeffrey Dahmer,aserial killer,who killed seventeen young men and boys inBath, OhioandMilwaukee,Wisconsinbetween 1978 and 1991. It starsJeremy Renneras Dahmer, and co-starsArtel Great,Matt Newton,Dion BascoandBruce Davison.

Dahmer
Film poster
Directed by	David Jacobson
Written by	David Jacobson David Birke
Produced by	Larry Rattner
Starring	Jeremy Renner Artel Great Matt Newton Dion Basco Bruce Davison
Cinematography	Chris Manley
Edited by	Bipasha Shom
Music by	Christina Agamanolis Mariana Bernoski Willow Williamson
Production companies	Blockbuster Films DEJ Productions Peninsula Films Two Left Shoes Films
Distributed by	Peninsula Films
Release date	21 June 2002(2002-06-21)(Los Angeles)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$250,000
Box office	$148,235

Plot

Jeffrey Dahmeris a shy and socially awkward man living alone in metropolitanMilwaukee,Wisconsin.Troubled by a turbulent childhood and his religious father's denial of hishomosexuality,Dahmer lures attractive young men home, where he conducts experiments on and kills them, trying to create a livingzombiewho will never leave or judge him.

Flashbacks to Dahmer's past reveal that he killed his first victim, a hitchhiker whom he picked up in his hometown ofBath, Ohio,when he was a teenager. The flashbacks also reveal his strained relationship with his father, Lionel, and Dahmer'salcoholism.In the present, Dahmer rationalizes his crimes, which include rape and necrophilia, in Milwaukee over the divorce of his parents and his emotionally isolated childhood.

At a knife shop, Dahmer meets a charismatic young gay Black man named Rodney and invites him home, intending to murder him, but as the night goes on and the conversations get more personal, Dahmer is faced with an emotional crisis; Rodney confesses his romantic feelings for Dahmer, but finds him evasive. During the course of their evening together, Dahmer nearly strangles Rodney with a belt, but Rodney escapes from the apartment.

The film ends with a flashback to Dahmer as a teenager, going to a therapy session at his father's behest. Before dropping Dahmer off, Lionel offers to always listen to his son about anything that he wants to talk to him about. When Dahmer arrives at the therapist's office, however, he turns away from the door and walks off into the woods. Anintertitlethen explains that Dahmer was found guilty of killing at least fifteen men, and was killed in prison by another inmate in 1994 after serving two years of his life sentence.

Cast

• Jeremy RennerasJeffrey Dahmer
• Bruce DavisonasLionel Dahmer
• Artel Greatas Rodney (based on Tracey Edwards)
• Matt Newtonas Lance Bell (based on Stephen Hicks)
• Dion Bascoas Khamtay (based on Konerak Sinthasomphone)
• Kate Williamsonas Grandma Dahmer
• Christina Payano as Letitia
• Tom'ya Bowden as Shawna
• Sean Blakemoreas Corliss
• Mickey Swenson as Officer Phillips
• Julius Branca as Officer Powell
• Pierson Blaetz as Officer Martin
• Lily Knight as Mrs. Dahmer

Production

Writer and directorDavid Jacobsonwas inspired to create the film after hearing an interview withJeffrey Dahmer's father, Lionel, onNPR,and after reading an article which stated, "Dahmer claimed he killed those guys because he was too afraid to lose them."The film was heavily based on bothCourt TV's coverage of Dahmer's trial andA Father's Story,a book written by Dahmer's father, Lionel.Multiple producers were contacted by Jacobson in hopes that they would collaborate on the film, but many of them were disgusted by the explicit content, with the director stating that he had "sent out a 4-page statement on how he truly felt about the film, and what it was about."Jacobson managed to makeDahmerin 18 days.

The film was promoted using the longer titleDahmer: The Mind is a Place of its Own,but it was shortened toDahmerin most cases.

Release

Dahmerwas given alimited theatrical releaseby Peninsula Films on June 21, 2002. On its opening weekend, it played in two theaters, and grossed $16,093. By August 12, 2002 it had expanded to five theaters, and grossed $144,008. Internationally, it grossed $4,227.

Aremasteredversion of the film was released onBlu-raybyMVD Entertainment Groupon August 11, 2020.

Reception

On thereview aggregatorwebsiteRotten Tomatoes,73% of 41 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.50/10.Metacritic,which uses aweighted average,assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Marc Savlov, in a review written forThe Austin Chronicle,gave the "quiet nightmare" of a film a score of 3/5.The Christian Science Monitorgave the "intelligently directed drama" a score of 3/4.Owen GleibermanofEntertainment Weeklygave the film a grade of B+ and wrote, "To explain a serial killer is to diminish his madness, butDahmerdoes something quietly riveting. It lets you brush up against the humanity of a psycho, without making him any less psycho. "David Noh ofFilm Journal InternationalcommendedDavid Jacobson's visuals,Jeremy RennerandBruce Davison's performances, and how the film managed to generate "nigh-unbearable tension" without showing "any actual gore."

Chuck Wilson listed the "haunting" film as the best 2002 release that he had reviewed forLA Weekly.Writing forThe Oregonian,Shawn Levycalled the film "remarkable" and Renner's performance as Dahmer "stunning" and concluded his review ofDahmerwith, "It's a triumph of the film that it manages to make Jeffrey Dahmer a human being -- at least a member of the species -- without ever bending toward empathy with or excuses for him. A monster is a monster. This one just happened also to be a man."

Bob Strauss of theSeattle Post-Intelligenceralso responded positively:

Dahmeris a thoughtfully considered, well-acted inquiry into what made the infamous, ghoulish serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer tick. And while it doesn't come up with very compelling answers to that question, it does so as non-exploitively as one could imagine a film about a guy who drugged, sexually abused, murdered andcannibalized17 young men (most of them poor minorities) might.

Similarly, Robert Koehler ofVarietywrote, "Rethinking the serial killer movie in every respect, David Jacobson presents a powerfully cool visualization of a gruesome life inDahmer.By de-dramatizing the actions of Jeffrey Dahmer, America's most ghoulish mass murderer, and by refusing to serve up easy psychological motivations or any standard exploiter devices, Jacobson produces a remarkably creepy piece of cinema that disturbs by suggestion, nuance and ambiguity. "Ed HalterofThe Village Voicealso praised the "powerfully unsettling" film, writing, "Jacobson has achieved the unthinkable: He humanizes a notoriously brutalpsychopathand, in the process, leaves the audience with an unwelcome sense of complicity. "

Michael Wilmington of theChicago Tribunefound that while the film was tasteful, intelligent, and well-acted, it was also too subdued and "stripped-down" in its approach to its salacious subject matter, shying away from depicting anything too revolting or potentially offensive and thus depriving the audience of "crucial knowledge necessary for anything more than a superficial understanding of Dahmer's pathology."Andy Klein of theDallas Observercommended the film's performances and its lack of onscreensensationalism,but also felt that its "often-deadpan style" failed to reach the heights of similar works likeHenry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.

While Megan Turner of theNew York Postfound the film to be well-acted and occasionally disquieting, she also disparagingly noted that it was "superficial" and "without any real illumination of his [Dahmer's] psyche."Likewise, while Carla Meyer of theSan Francisco Chroniclefound the film to be occasionally suspenseful, with emotional weight, good performances, and respectful portrayals of Dahmer's victims, she further opined that it had a sensationalist atmosphere and did not delve deeply enough into Dahmer's psychology, ultimately concluding, "David Jacobson doesn't seem to know where to go with his version."

Kevin Thomasof theLos Angeles Timeshad a largely negative response to what he felt was a sluggish, contrived, and "glum" film, writing, "Jacobson is skilled with his small cast and mostly leaves to the imagination the outcome of a number of gruesome sequences. Ultimately, however,Dahmersuffers from a lack of clarity and audacity that a subject as monstrous and pathetic as Dahmer demands. Some bursts of energy and pitch-dark humor could have set off a more revealing portrait of this serial killer. "

Moira Macdonald ofThe Seattle Timesfound that, aside from good performances, the film was little more than "a hellish, numbing experience" that "doesn't offer any insights that haven't been thoroughly debated in the media already, back in the Dahmer heyday of the mid-'90s."Similarly, whileMaitland McDonaghofTV GuidefoundDahmerto be both handsomely photographed and well-acted, she otherwise had a middling response to it, writing, "Ultimately, the film feels a little pointless; if it means only to remind us that every monster comes from somewhere, that's a well-worn observation."

At the18th Independent Spirit Awards,Jeremy Renner andArtel Greatwere nominated forBest Male Leadand Best Newcomer, respectively, while David Jacobson was nominated for theJohn Cassavetes Award.

Kathryn Bigelowcast Jeremy Renner inThe Hurt Lockerbecause of his performance inDahmer.

See also

• The Secret Life: Jeffrey Dahmer,a 1993 film about Jeffrey Dahmer
• Raising Jeffrey Dahmer,a 2006 film about Jeffrey Dahmer
• My Friend Dahmer,a 2017 film about Jeffrey Dahmer
• Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,a 2022 limited series about Jeffrey Dahmer

External links

• DahmeratIMDb
• DahmeratRotten Tomatoes