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Does anyone else think this movie is brilliant?

posted 11 years ago by MozartsMuse
3 replies | jump to latest

From all the negative reviews I've read, there seem to be two main reasons why people hate this film:

1) They are horror/slasher fanatics who were disappointed with the lack of gore and violence, so they complain about the movie being "boring."
2) They have already read about or studied Jeffrey Dahmer extensively, so they complain about how this film is an "inaccurate portrayal" of Dahmer's life, personality, appearance, crimes, etc.

In my opinion, Dahmer is a brilliant film. It honestly is one of the most perfect films I have ever seen. The score, the cinematography, the script, the acting, and the ending scene all combine to make the film disturbing and haunting, while at the same time, beautiful and mesmerizing. I can't think of any other film that accomplishes this.

In order to really appreciate this film, you have to understand that it is a low-budget, understated character study; it wasn't meant to be an exploitative slasher. The other thing is, it is still just a movie, so of course, some scenes/elements are fictionalized. It helps if you view the film as being based on Dahmer's life and crimes, without expecting it to be an entirely factual account of them. I'm no expert on Dahmer's life, but from what I've read and the interviews I've seen, it seems to me like the movie actually does do a very good job of sticking to the facts. Plus, you can't deny how incredible Jeremy Renner's performance is in it.

Finally, it just really frustrates me how Dahmer only has a 5.6 on here, while Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer has a 7.1, and it's even ranked #52 in the Top 100 Horror Movies on Rotten Tomatoes. Why does Henry have all of this recognition while Dahmer is extremely underrated and unknown?

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[–] MultiSanity 11 years ago

I just finished watching it and while I am a fan of Renner I don't think that really biased my feelings toward the film.

I did like it, the acting from Renner was a breath of fresh air in a lot of ways and I wish that he would stick to these independent type flicks instead of selling his soul to the abysmal action-packed summer Blockbusters (though I undertand, you take those roles for the money so that you can do roles in movies such as these).

I think the film is largely underrated for both of the reasons you stated which is unfortunate because while the dialogue may be lackluster Renner's performance was subtle and quite effective. I don't know if his portrayal was a proper rendition of Dahmer's personality but I so know the movie didn't really follow in line with actual events?for the sake of storytelling though, I think this doesn't matter. By exercising the freedom in which they did they created while I won't go so far as to say a sympathetic character for all the obvious reasons, they did create a story that didn't fall in line with portraying horrific people in the standard way we are used to having them presented to us in cinematic form.

Everything was understated so a lot of times you forgot that you were watching a story about a horrific killer?until he lashed out against his victims. It was a good film and it's certainly one I will enjoy coming back to look at if for Renner's performance alone.

[–] Killingforcompany 11 years ago

Dahmer is one of my favorite movies. I have been saying that for years now. I think that this film is finally starting to find its audience after all of these years. I first saw this movie after I rented it from Blockbusters back in the early 00's. I went through that whole adolescent phase of being fascinated by serial killers, so I rented every serial killer movie that I could get my hands on and this movie stuck with me.

David Jacobson did another movie that isn't too bad either called 'Down in the Valley' with Edward Norton. It's not as good as Dahmer, but I would still recommend it. It reminds me a bit of a cross between Paris Texas and Taxi Driver. I haven't seen it in quite some time, but I remember it being good.

[–] MozartsMuse 11 years ago

It's funny that you mention Down in the Valley because I was just recently looking up David Jacobson to see what other films he has done, and I thought that one sounded interesting. I should definitely watch it sometime.

It's too bad that Jacobson hasn't directed more films!

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