If what you're looking for is a slasher movie, The Jeffrey Dahmer Files is not for you. Director Chris Thompson is not interested in showing you actual scenes of blood, severed heads, or other grizzly images. If that's what you're into, you won't like this movie.
If what you're looking for is a smart, insightful, and unique look at three people who's lives were forever changed by Dahmer's deeds, this is the ticket. Pat Kennedy, the detective handling Dahmer's case, Jeffrey Jentzen, the medical examiner called in to deal with the bodily remains, and Pamela Bass, a neighbor who had befriended Dahmer tell their incredible stories with chilling detail. Thompson is a brilliant interviewer knowing just what questions to ask of these three unique individuals who have never been asked what their personal experiences were, instead having been barraged with questions about the gory details they witnessed only for purpose of media sensationalization. In Thompson's film they are allowed to spill their guts which is a chilling experience for the viewer.
Throughout the film, the intense testimonies of Kennedy, Jentzen and Bass are intersected with short docudramas of Dahmer going through his daily life being played by Andrew Swant. At first these seemed a bit amateur and even annoying, but with time they gave this viewer a moment to catch her breath - much needed after the chest-tightening details of Dahmer's murders. Swant plays Dahmer as the seemingly dull and uninteresting man he actually was which seems so contrary to the horrific actions taken behind his apartment door. You will witness Dahmer buying fish at an aquarium, a large blue barrel and taking it home on a bus, and bleach at a grocery store, all in a sort of daze. Of course we know what he will use the barrel and bleach for and we would expect Dahmer to be creepy. But instead he looks like a regular guy who is somewhat slow and disinterested in the world. After a couple of these dramas I began to relax and enjoy the break they provided.
I would recommend this movie to anyone who is interested in personal stories of people experiencing something none of us are every likely to experience. Kennedy, Jentzen, and Bass will walk you through their harrowing personal life-changing experiences of knowing Jeffrey Dahmer.
Thompson's story will leave you with lot's to think and talk about. Can't recommend it enough.
