My Friend Dahmer

"My Friend Dahmer" is the true story of a year in the life of the notorious cannibalistic gay serial killer. It's set when Dahmer was a high school senior, and is based on the graphic novel by one of Dahmer's classmates, John Backderf, who actually narrowly escaped being one of Dahmer's first victims. Up to then, Backderf had been the nearest thing to a friend that Dahmer, a strange loner, had.

Dahmer's (Ross Lynch) childhood is unbalanced, to say the least. His manic bipolar mother (Anne Heche, delivering a wonderful performance) is recently out of mental institution, and her violent mood swings are really affecting the whole family. Dahmer's father (Dallas Roberts), a chemist, can't handle her at all, so he spends as much time as possible at work.

Dahmer, left mainly to his own devices, whiles away his time collecting road kill. In his garden shed he immerses the dead animals in jars of acid so that he can watch them slowly disintegrate. His grotesque obsession sends his father into a rage; he destroys the shed and all its contents, insisting that it's time for young Jeffrey to learn some social skills and get some friends.

Dahmer is a complete outsider at school. To draw attention to himself, he fakes an epileptic seizure in the hallway. The ploy works; three of his classmates, led by 'Derf' (Alex Wolff), thinks this is so crazy that it is actually "cool."�They form a Dahmer fan club, and although they all start to hang out together, they are hardly real friends; they encourage Dahmer to repeat his "spazzing out" to achieve notoriety among their peers.

Meanwhile, Dahmer has also acquired an obsession for a lone jogger who runs along the country lane and past his house three times a week.�Discovering the jogger is a doctor, Dahmer seems to be confused as to whether he is sexually attracted to the man, or if he wants to kill him to meet his other needs.

When his parents decide to separate and his father moves out of the family home, an unhappy Dahmer takes to drink. This is not really due to his parents withdrawing from his life, but more about giving himself some "Dutch courage" to think about indulging in the dastardly acts that will take over his life very soon.

Written and directed by Marc Meyers, this compelling movie successfully portrays a unique view of how a disturbed teenager develops into a monster that no one could have imagined.�The talented Lynch delivers an exceptionally powerful performance, playing the good-looking Dahmer as an irritated teenager who goes out of his way not to be noticed. He is brighter than his classmates in ways that he knows very well that they do not understand or like, but he uses his clownish behavior almost as a calling card.

"My Friend Dahmer" rightly doesn't seek to explain away how this nerdish schoolboy turned out as he did -- although it does give us several hints -- but it does remind us of the gruesome horror story that followed.