neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Dahmer
	David Jacobson Jeremy Renner, Bruce Davison, Artel Kayaru, Matt Newton, Dion Basco 2002		The sheer dread evoked by the unimaginably vile acts of real-life serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer somehow dissipates over the course of this docudrama. Sure, the phrase "banality of evil" suggests that depravity can be commonplace or trite. But that doesn't mean a film about a man who embraces murder, necrophilia and cannibalism can get away with being dull, even if the actual Dahmer was regarded as a bland, quiet loser. Jeremy Renner is believable as the Midwestern factory worker who lured young men back to his apartment, then killed and dismembered them. Yet "Dahmer" is never as gory as the true story is made out to be, and it's short on tension. For all of the flashbacks peppered throughout, it doesn't hone in on why and how the psycho misfit came to be. If you want to watch a movie about a serial killer and get access to the fear and horror such a fiend can summon, you'd be better off watching "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" or "Silence of the Lambs." With Bruce Davison as Dahmer's dad.