My Friend Dahmer (2017) is a captivating film directed by Marc Meyers, which portrays the earlier years of Jefferey Dahmer’s (Ross Lynch) life. With outstanding cinematography and acting, this film gives us an understanding as to why Dahmer ends up being a serial killer, even though his doings are unable to be agreed with. We get a look into his childhood and home life, as well as school life, which can explain (but not excuse) his gruesome behaviors.
Dahmer grew up in an upper-middle-class family in the Ohio suburbs. His father, a chemist and eventually a writer, is able to give the family financial support, but there is a major lack of emotional support. Lionel Dahmer (Dallas Roberts) constantly tries to influence a change in his son and attempts to get him to be a “normal” teenager. This could potentially be emotionally damaging to a child who feels like their parent does not think that they are good enough.
Joyce Dahmer (Anne Heche) also contributes to the toxic living environment that her two children grow up in. Clearly mentally ill but undiagnosed, Joyce Dahmer is constantly acting irrational and picking fights with Lionel. Even though she shows affection to her two children, the hostility that is always surrounding them and her erratic behavior is enough to have severe developmental effects on her children.
To his parents’ disapproval, Jefferey spends countless hours each day in the woods, where he kills small animals and puts them in jars containing acid, in order to let their skin disintegrate. He calls his shed “his lab,” and gets all of his supplies (including the acid) from his father. His parents don’t like this obsession of his, but Jeffery plays it off as an interest in biology. He later admits that he does this because he has a fascination with animals’ insides and bones.
At school, Jeffrey is a total outcast to say the very least. He has one friend whom he doesn’t even like, so he mostly just keeps to himself and seems relatively content in doing so. It isn’t until his senior year that he forms somewhat of a friend group. A few boys find his obscure behaviors and weird mannerisms quite funny and approach him one day with genuine intentions. They decide to start a “Dahmer Fan Club” with Jeffery’s consent. One of the boys, Derf (Alex Wolff) draws funny comics of Jefferey, and they all get him to act deranged in public. Eventually, Jefferey realizes they are beginning to degrade him, and he begins to distance himself from them.
While beginning to isolate himself even more than before, Jeffery picks up his old habits again, while also starting to drink very heavily. He spends hours in the woods, and now even stalks people who jog by on the road. With built up anger and hostility, Jeffery captures a dog and seriously considers killing it. He comes dangerously close, but ends up letting the dog go. Without any prior knowledge of the serial killer, this is the moment where it becomes evident that his issues can actually become pretty vile and inhumane.
Marc Meyers does an outstanding job of putting Jeffery Dahmer’s life into context prior to his killing spree. In order to attempt to understand why a person is capable of acts that are so horrific, you must be able to see the bigger picture, and analyze the psychology of the person. Though this film only touches on the nurture aspect of Jeffery’s upbringing, it is safe to say that there have to be some pretty dominant biological aspects to attribute to his capability of murder and cannibalism. Whether or not Dahmer is actually a psychopath, we know that environment alone could not possibly cause a person to be like this.
Ross Lynch does a phenomenal job of portraying the teenage version of Jeffrey Dahmer. He is easily able to adjust his demeanor to be an odd, hunched-back boy who barely speaks or shows any facial emotions. We are able to grasp a sense of his social differences, and his lack of emotion towards many things. We are also able to see the high that Dahmer gets from mutilating and ripping open animals.
This movie does not attempt to make the viewer feel pity for the serial killer, nor is it biased in any way. The producers do not make any attempts to humanize Dahmer or paint him in a more positive light. The feelings and opinions in which you develop towards him are at your own discretion. The movie attempts to show the psychological traits that this killer in particular exhibited, in the format of a story. Whether or not this look into Jeffery Dahmer’s life shows us the reasons behind his doings, if there are any reasons at all, it shows who this person truly was and what could have led him to do the things he did— Although it is quite clear he always had abnormal tendencies. Whether you are into psychology or just looking for a movie to watch during the spooky season, I highly recommend My Friend Dahmer.