“Jeff” Tries, Fails To Humanize Jeffrey Dahmer

Austin, Texas — “Jeff” premiered at South by Southwest this past week; it is a documentary film that concentrates less on the horrendous actions of Jeffrey Dahmer himself, and more on the impact of his actions on the Milwaukee community he resided in during his unforgettable, unbelievable and unforgiveable serial murders in the early 1990s. The film is the freshman effort of director Chris James Thompson and it focuses on interviews with three people who were caught in the grip of Dahmer’s murderous lunacy, namely Pamela Bass who was his neighbor and friend, Dr. Jeffrey Jentzen who happened to be the pathologist who handled the Dahmer case, and Patrick Kennedy, who was the detective who got the initial confession from Dahmer himself. Andrew Swant plays Dahmer in fictional recounts of “day in the life” scenarios.

The Good: The idea is a fresh one told with a new spin — following those who were closest to Dahmer. Detective Patrick Kennedy is a natural-born story teller who chronicles how Dahmer made his son’s shirt the most infamous blue striped shirt ever worn. He details how this case went on to ruin his marriage — and almost his life. Pamela Bass makes you sympathetic to her story. The hysteria around Dahmer led to her, and the occupants of the apartment building where Dahmer committed his crimes, relocation to the projects after the building was condemned.

The Bad: The reenactments of Swant playing Dahmer are completely unnecessary; they make the film drag. Perhaps I would feel differently if I lived in Milwaukee and the Burger King where I get my coffee was the same one Dahmer would get his Whopper. However I do not live in Milwaukee, and therefore I remain unaffected by the places where Jeffrey Dahmer completed his errands.

For example, there is a scene where Dahmer goes to the optometrist; it simply goes nowhere. I understand that the intent was to show us that, although Dahmer did some gruesome things — like attempting to make his own zombies — he was still human enough to go to the pet store.

Audience reaction: The audience seemed to be perplexed by the Dahmer scenarios, most questions seemed to relate to that. Because it threw a curve ball that everyone seemed to swing at but continuously missed: it seemed that the over-saturation of media coverage that began with the O.J. Simpson chase and trial, but I like pointing to this one as the granddaddy of them all. This film would be more interesting if it did a better job at looking at its feet, so it would not trip all over them.

For a while, Jeffrey Dahmer seemed to be the monster that replaced both Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy; we looked under our beds to make sure he was not there. This movie tends to portray Dahmer as a scared misfit who did what he did because he was not caught early enough. I cannot recommend this film, although Kennedy shines through and reminds us that there might be a possibility that there might be a reason to keep checking under that bed.