Dahmer (2002)

The film "Dahmer" is a well made crime biopic about Jeffrey Dahmer, showcasing scenes where he tries to rationalize his killing motives as well as his interactions with his victims before he kills them. This movie is not about the killings themselves although it does include three noteworthy moments; his first killing, his victim that he drilled a hole in his head and who later was found wandering the streets before Jeffrey found him and took him back home, and the man who was almost a victim but got away and later turned Jeffrey in to the authorities. The film has two distinct time lines, a current time line going forward and flashbacks that steadily go further in to his past and up to his first killing and the aftermath. Once you realize that the flashbacks are going further into Jeffrey's past, the more sense it makes. The names of the victims have been changed for the film but I did pick up on the details of the three victims after looking up the real victims.

Jeremy Renner gives an amazing performance and it's amazing to see his earlier work. He looks like Jeffrey Dahmer did and this just adds to the believability of the film. The movie does have a slower pace than a typical horror movie, but this film allows the slower pace for Renner really develop the character that he is playing.

The ending itself is different than what I, and probably most people were expecting. The ending is a flashback showing Jeffrey being dropped off by his father to see a therapist about his teenage drinking problem. Jeffrey goes up to the office, stares at the door for a few moments but returns outside. He has a smoke and notices a forest on the other side of a concrete barrier. He climbs over the barrier and walks through the trees. The end. Does the forest represent the wilderness of his true emotional state? That he would rather walk freely through the wilderness than settle for the "social programming" that he spoke of with his first victim? Could be...

An intense scene where Jeffrey is trying to keep his father from finding the human skull he has been keeping in the wooden box.