Everyone knows the story of Jeffrey Dahmer, the notorious mid-western serial killer/boy next door who had a taste for strange sex and human flesh. From his arrest in 1991 to the present day he's remained a fascinating figure, particularly if you're interested in the annals of true crime or the history of serial killers. It's sad then that Rich Ambler's Raising Jeffrey Dahmer, a film that looks at his unusual case from the perspective of those who brought him into this world, falls a little too flat.

The bulk of the story is told from the perspective of Lionel Dahmer (Scott Cordes), Jeffrey's father, but we also see things from the point of view of his stepmother, Sheri (Cathy Barnett). From their take, we take a look at what went wrong with the young Dahmer before it all hit the fan and he started killing people. The film examines his younger days at home, his family life, his social life, and attempts to piece together what makes someone like Jeffrey Dahmer (played by Rusty Sneary) do what he did.

Dahmer talks to the authorities about what he did and we're allowed to flash back to certain key events in his life that may (or may not) explain his behavior a bit but the film skips around quite a bit as far as its timeline is concerned and it isn't too difficult to get confused. This tends to happen in stages for some reason and it hurts the structure of the film quite a bit. A more linear approach probably would have helped the film immensely.

As far as the performances are concerned, there's not too much to get excited about here. While no one stands out as completely awful, neither does anyone stand out as particularly remarkable either. Cordes brings some interesting nuances to his take on Jeffrey Dahmer but doesn't quite have a strong enough physical resemblance to make the role work all that well. Scott Cordes makes for a fairly sympathetic lead and he carries the film well enough, but he isn't support by enough to help the picture all that much.

On saving grace for the film, however, is the presence of the inimitable Bo Svenson, who is cast here as Detective Amos. Svenson may not have the same kind of career as he did in the seventies where he played Buford T. Pusser in the Walking Tall sequels and television series and starred in action films like The Inglorious Bastards and Breaking Point, but the man still has some palpable screen presence. He makes for a very welcome addition to the cast and one can't help but leave the picture thinking that maybe he was underused just a bit.

In the end, Raising Jeffrey Dahmer is, unfortunately, a misfire. It's heart is definitely in the right place and you've got to give the writer and director credit for attempting to explore a serial killer's life through the eyes of his parents - a unique and very worthy concept. Hampered by a low budget, some awkward acting and unappealing visuals, however, this one just doesn't work as well as it needed to.

Video:

Raising Jeffrey Dahmer arrives on DVD in a 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, sadly interlaced. The image shows some grain and noise but these are mild issues. There are definitely some issues with softness and muddy detail levels throughout the movie, however, and a lot of the picture looks like it's been intentionally bleached out resulting in a pretty bright image. A few mild compression artifacts creep into the darker scenes but color reproduction looks reasonably accurate and there aren't any serious problems with edge enhancement or alising to discuss.