| My Friend Dahmer | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Marc Meyers |
| Screenplay by | Marc Meyers |
| Based on | My Friend Dahmer byJohn "Derf" Backderf |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Daniel Katz |
| Edited by | Jamie Kirkpatrick |
| Music by | Andrew Hollander |
Production companies |
|
| Distributed by | FilmRise |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 107 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1.4 million[1] |
My Friend Dahmer is a 2017 Americanbiographicalcrimedrama[2] film written and directed byMarc Meyers about Americanserial killerJeffrey Dahmer. The film is based on the 2012graphic novel of the same name by cartoonistJohn "Derf" Backderf, who had been friends with Dahmer in high school in the 1970s, until the time Dahmer began his killing spree in 1978. The film starsRoss Lynch as Dahmer,Alex Wolff as Derf,Dallas Roberts as Lionel, Jeffrey's father, andAnne Heche as Joyce, Jeffrey's mother.
The film premiered at the 2017Tribeca Film Festival and was released in the United States on November 3, 2017, byHulu.[3] The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its historical accuracy and Lynch's performance, but was abox office bomb, grossing $1.4 million worldwide.
In 1974,Jeffrey Dahmer is a high school freshman living inBath, Ohio, with his parents, Lionel and Joyce, and his younger brother Dave. Jeffrey develops an obsession with a male jogger he sees every day from his school bus. As a hobby, he collects dead animals that he dissolves to the bone using chemicals from his father, who is a chemist. This hobby is initiated by his obsessive interest in how animals are "fitted together".[4]
In 1978, Lionel trashes Jeffrey's collection of bones and orders him to make friends at school. During school, Jeffrey imitates the speech and gestures of his mother'sinterior designer (who hascerebral palsy), catching the attention of aspiring artistJohn "Derf" Backderf and his friends. Jeffrey inspires Derf to draw him in various situations; drawings that would later be incorporated into Derf's graphic novelMy Friend Dahmer. Derf and his friends form the "Dahmer Fan Club," using Jeffrey for a variety of pranks (known as “Doing a Dahmer”) such as sneaking him in every yearbook photo, and conning their way to a meeting withVice PresidentWalter Mondale during a school field trip toWashington, D.C.
Joyce starts relapsing into chronicmental illness, leading to increasingly bitter fights between her and Lionel. To cope, Jeffrey turns todrinking heavily, and begins killing animals. The jogger with whom he is obsessed turns out to be Dr. Matthews, thephysician of one of Derf's friends. Jeffrey fakes a cold so that he can get an appointment with him, and he can examine Jeffrey naked. Dr. Matthews becomes uncomfortable when he notices that Jeffrey has an erection. At home, Jeffrey masturbates to the incident and fantasizes about having sex with Dr. Matthews' corpse. He startsstalking Dr. Matthews with abaseball bat, but never goes through with attacking him.
Jeffrey's father moves out. Jeffrey makes attempts to stay connected to his friends but ultimately drifts away from them. At graduation, Lionel hands Jeffrey the keys to the familyVolkswagen Beetle which he would later use to commit his first murder. Unbeknownst to Lionel, Joyce leaves Ohio to live with relatives inWisconsin, taking Dave with her and leaving Jeffrey completely alone.
That evening, Derf spots Jeffrey walking home with blood on his fingernails. Derf offers him a ride, finding him living alone with no plans for the future. Derf tells him that he is leaving for college and offers him his drawings of Jeffrey, which Jeffrey declines. Jeffrey invites Derf inside for a beer, but he turns him down. As Derf walks back to his car, Jeffrey pretends to strike him with a baseball bat but puts it down. As Derf drives home, he notices the bat. Jeffrey never has contact with his high school friends again.
Two weeks later, Jeffrey picks uphitchhiker Steven Hicks. The closing credits note that Hicks was never seen again and Jeffrey Dahmer admitted to killing 17 men when he was finally arrested in 1991.
The script appeared on 2014'sBlack List.
Ross Lynch was cast as the teenage Dahmer in 2016.[5] Lynch had previously been employed as a teen actor by theDisney Channel, most notably starring in the showAustin & Ally.John Backderf, the author of the graphic novel, was enthusiastic about this castingagainst type, stating that Lynch's performance would make viewers "uncomfortable because it's so familiar".[6] Later in the monthAlex Wolff,Vincent Kartheiser andAnne Heche joined the cast, with Heche playing Dahmer's mother.
Filming took place inBath, Ohio, andMiddleburg Heights, Ohio. Scenes depicting Dahmer's home life were filmed in Dahmer's actual childhood home in Ohio.[7] Actors in the movie said that it was very strange to be in the home where the serial killer lived. They also mentioned that the house is where Dahmer's pathology began.[8]
In comparison to the comic, Derf is added into scenes in the movie that he was not actually present at, including the fishing scene, the DC trip, and the prom. It was also Derf, not Neil, who felt bad about the mall incident. Most prominently, it was Neil who gave Dahmer the final ride home, not Derf, and it was likely right after Hicks’ murder, not before.
My Friend Dahmer premiered at the 2017Tribeca Film Festival on April 21, 2017.[9] On May 15, 2017,FilmRise acquired distribution rights to the film, planning to release it in the fall.[10][11] The film was released in limited theaters on November 3, 2017, with a wider release the following month.[12][13]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film has an 86% rating based on 105 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "My Friend Dahmer opens a window into the making of a serial killer whose conclusions are as empathetic as they are deeply troubling".[14]Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally-favorable reviews".[15]
My Friend Dahmer was a failure at the box office, grossing $1.4 million on a budget of around $1.5 million.[16]
