dahmer

A gripping film about Jeffrey Dahmer -
the serial killer - the cannibal - the gay
misfit. A horrendous tale told with a
minimum of gore (but some
eye-shielding may be needed for the
more squeamish of you boys and
girls)..

REVIEW

Meet Jeffrey Dahmer, the person. Sure
we've all read about how he cut gay
men up, ate their body parts and
stored them in the freezer in hefty
bags. But here is the story of what was
going on in his brain. Like In Cold
Blood, Dahmer is more of a mind-trip
than a gore-fest - but viewer beware -
there are some pretty disgusting
scenes nonetheless.

Jeremy Renner is brilliant as Jeffrey
Dahmer, a tortured gay man whose life
is shrouded in secrecy, even from his
domineering father (Davison)and
bewildered grandmother. While still in
high school he picked up a wrestling
star who Jeffrey killed when he refused
to have sex with him. Jeffrey stored the
saran-wrapped head in a box his
bedroom. He graduated to picking up
gay men in a Milwaukee bar, poisoning
and raping them. The bar scenes are
a dark and mysterious portrayal of a
man out of place in the gay scene. The
bar is foreboding, the men even more
so in Dahmer's eyes. After he was
thrown out of the bar, he started
bringing men home and performing his
infamous handiwork. Special emphasis
is placed on the Asian man who ran
out of Dahmer's apartment in his
underwear after being drugged and
having a hole drilled in his brain. The
cops simply thought it was two fags
having a drunken fight and left Dahmer
to finish his work.

There are scenes of necrophilia
(nothing explicit, but it's pretty obvious
what's going on) and all kinds of other
bizarre forms of sexuality. Altogether
an appropriately dark and oddly sexual
film. Renner plays the character so
well, it doesn't feel like acting , but we
have one question - was Jeffrey
Dahner as sexy as the actor Jeremy
Renner who portrays him?
Scott Cranin