Dahmer By Rick Curnutte Richard A. Curnutte, Jr. is the Editor of The Film Journal. He has studied English and Film at Ohio University and The Ohio State University.

David Jacobson's dynamic vision of the life of the notorious serial killer arrives on home video with little fanfare after an almost non-existent theatrical run, and it's a shame, because it's an incredibly effective piece of work. In a stunning performance, Jeremy Renner portrays Dahmer as a slightly off-kilter, enormously troubled predator, whose transition from disaffected youth into killer is powerful and entrancing.

Switching between "now" and flashbacks, the film depicts Jeffrey's early dabbling in homosexuality (which ultimately leads to his first murder), then shifts to how he began prowling for victims in gay nightclubs, first only having sex with his drugged prey, then ultimately taking them home to play with them, then murder and mutilate them.

There is very little onscreen violence, and I don't recall any cannibalism, though, there is a significant amount of detail on how Dahmer toyed with his victims, getting them to like him, taking advantage of their naivete, fooling himself into thinking he has none of his own.

Renner is truly evocative here, giving Dahmer a rare sense of humanness, without ever making him overly sympathetic or, worse, an anti-hero like Anthony Hopkins Hannibal Lecter. Instead, Renner walks the thin line between sympathy and regret, making Dahmer an almost reluctant participant in his own undoing, even as he obviously gets, if nothing more, a shred of excitement out of the power he exerts. In taking the upperhand in his attacks, he avoids the rejection he is sure to face in normal relationships.

In a truly revelatory scene near the film's end, a young black man (Artel Kayaru) is invited back to Jeffrey's place and commences to lull Jeffrey into exposing more of himself than he ever has to anyone else. Here Jeffrey meets the epitome of what he can never be: carefree, extroverted, full of life. Ironically, this is the victim that is allowed to escape. Whether Jeffrey wants to allow himself to be caught, or has simply attained too much affection for the young man to kill him is unclear. He simply withdraws, retreats and reverts right back into himself, the quiet, lethal predator, alone in the world and ready to pursue, if not pounce.

                                                                 © FILM JOURNAL 2002