It feels so genuinely real, and perhaps that makes it all the more impactful. Currently you are able to watch My Friend Dahmer streaming on Hulu, Sundance Now, Hoopla, DIRECTV, Spectrum On Demand, AMC Plus or for free with ads on. The film does not really revel in any particular aspect of Dahmer's life.
I think this movie really succeeds because it is not an apologist piece, a macabre stint into the grotesque, or the usual trapping some of these films fall in to. This film does a great job of sharing a glimpse into the impulses, motivations and spiral of events that molded one of history's worst. You watch this movie naturally tense, this sort of subject matter always starts with an uneasy sense of place and time. My Friend Dahmer lives in that space for a full hour or more. This is that moment before you fall, get caught or whatever nightmare you want to insert here.
Disney’s Ross Lynch stars as the awkward, adolescent Jeffrey Dahmer before he became one of America’s most infamous serial killers. I suspect most people have a memory / feeling of that moment when they are dreaming and the austere sensation hits where their dream shifts into something more sinister. Start your free trial to watch My Friend Dahmer and other popular TV shows and movies including new releases, classics, Hulu Originals, and more. Ross Lynch also does an excellent job in the role, and had a highly competent supporting cast. This is a very difficult subject matter to tackle, but Marc Meyers does an excellent job picking the right tone and frame of reference to study one of America's most notorious serial killers. Although the gore level is low (the bloodiest thing is a fish Dahmer stabs), a sense of unease is present.An excellent character story about a truly awful character. I liked the artowrk, which reminded me of a Seth and Chester Brown and it does make the reader understand that Dahmer was a seriously troubled person. Quite an accurate assumption.Īs a book I thought it was good. This is not a sympathetic picture but it does lay out the hallmarks of psychopaths: a lack of love, abandonement from society, an urge to control and an obsession with killing animals (although Dahmer only focused on roadkill) By the end of the book, Backderf reunites with his gang and muses that Dahmer probably became a serial killer. Backderf traces Dahmer’s roots from his fascination with preserving dead animals, his parents’ constant bickering, repressed homosexualiy, alcoholism and leading up to his first kill. Some of the information here is from first hand experience, others are from his interviews in the 90’s. The author did actually hang out with Dahmer in the early days as they shared some classes and Backderf’s gang were fascinated by his bleating and purposeful jerky movements.
However the book does not go into those details, rather My Friend Dahmer traces the roots and what led to him committing such acts. Plus I felt like reading a graphic novel.įor those who do not know Jeffrey Dahmer was a serial killer, whose brutal methods are still uncomfortable to read about today : injecting the brain with acid, eating his victims and creating an altar out of their bones are just a few of the things he did. However I did watch the film a couple of weeks’ ago and I wanted to read the source material. Whether it is writing style or a subject that I am uncomfortable reading about, I know I need to test my boundaries. I’ve always felt that I have to challenge myself as a reader. I have not done this in a while so I’m glad that this occasional series is back.