-By John DeFore
For movie details, please click here.
Achieving an almost trance-like intimacy by paring its array of
voices down to the essentials, Chris James Thompson's
The
Jeffrey Dahmer Files stands apart from the true-crime pack. Its
restraint likely limits theatrical prospects, but the doc should
have legs on video.
Focusing almost exclusively on the moment at which serial killer
Jeffrey Dahmer's bizarre crimes were discovered, the film
interviews only three people, all with first-hand knowledge: the
detective who interviewed Dahmer (Pat Kennedy), the medical
examiner (Jeffrey Jentzen) who explored what he left behind, and a
neighbor (Pamela Bass) who will always be haunted by the gruesome
crimes committed under her nose.
Each adds a different flavor to the narrative, but while Bass and
Jentzen may supply the most shocking imagery (Bass, who found
Dahmer to be a friendly and generous neighbor, is horrified to
think what might have been in the sandwiches he gave her), Kennedy
is the most engaging viewer surrogate—a big, mustachioed fella
forced to befriend the killer during the long process of
identifying his victims.
While Kennedy and Bass sketch the event's macabre aftermath, full
of curious tourists and psychological trauma, Thompson approaches
the period just before Dahmer's capture differently: In atmospheric
vignettes scattered through the film, he uses actor Andrew Swant to
envision Dahmer's calm, polite movement through the workaday world.
He gets his eyes checked and drinks beer, shops for pet fish and
for hardware that is sinister only in retrospect. We witness scenes
before and after one hotel-room murder, but not the thing
itself—Thompson's goal is never titillation.
He doesn't appear to be after psychological insights either, though
Swant's performance is eerily convincing. Instead, the two halves
of the film combine to produce a powerful you-are-there effect,
stripping Dahmer of evil-icon stature and unsettling us by showing
how closely the unthinkable can lurk alongside the mundane.
—
The Hollywood Reporter
Film Review: The Jeffrey Dahmer Files
Doc about Jeffrey Dahmer pairs reenactments and well-chosen interviews to calmly chilling effect.
Feb 14, 2013
-By John DeFore
For movie details, please click here.
Achieving an almost trance-like intimacy by paring its array of voices down to the essentials, Chris James Thompson's
The Jeffrey Dahmer Files stands apart from the true-crime pack. Its restraint likely limits theatrical prospects, but the doc should have legs on video.
Focusing almost exclusively on the moment at which serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer's bizarre crimes were discovered, the film interviews only three people, all with first-hand knowledge: the detective who interviewed Dahmer (Pat Kennedy), the medical examiner (Jeffrey Jentzen) who explored what he left behind, and a neighbor (Pamela Bass) who will always be haunted by the gruesome crimes committed under her nose.
Each adds a different flavor to the narrative, but while Bass and Jentzen may supply the most shocking imagery (Bass, who found Dahmer to be a friendly and generous neighbor, is horrified to think what might have been in the sandwiches he gave her), Kennedy is the most engaging viewer surrogate—a big, mustachioed fella forced to befriend the killer during the long process of identifying his victims.
While Kennedy and Bass sketch the event's macabre aftermath, full of curious tourists and psychological trauma, Thompson approaches the period just before Dahmer's capture differently: In atmospheric vignettes scattered through the film, he uses actor Andrew Swant to envision Dahmer's calm, polite movement through the workaday world. He gets his eyes checked and drinks beer, shops for pet fish and for hardware that is sinister only in retrospect. We witness scenes before and after one hotel-room murder, but not the thing itself—Thompson's goal is never titillation.
He doesn't appear to be after psychological insights either, though Swant's performance is eerily convincing. Instead, the two halves of the film combine to produce a powerful you-are-there effect, stripping Dahmer of evil-icon stature and unsettling us by showing how closely the unthinkable can lurk alongside the mundane.
—
The Hollywood Reporter
