The true story serial killer film is a difficult type to get right. It's all too easy to be seen as condoning rather than condemning. And when you're making a film within a year of the trial and probably competing with other filmmakers to be the first to tell The Untold Story – bonus no-points if you get the reference there – that risk is all the greater.
Yet, before we dismiss The Secret Life: Jeffrey Dahmer out of hand, its worth also remembering John Water's distinction between 'good' and 'bad' bad taste and the broader notion that there is no such thing as good or bad genres, only good and bad films within those.
And, as it turns out, this is one of the better ones, more Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer than Ted Bundy or The Hillside Strangler .
Indeed, but for some awkward supporting performances and a lower level of directorial ambition on the part of David Bowen, The Secret Life: Jeffrey Dahmer is almost on a par with John McNaughten's masterwork. What's crucial, though, is that it doesn't enagage in copycat crime and instead establishes its own modus operandi.
Whereas McNaughton's film takes an observational approach, showing us a serial killer's activities but denying us insight into what makes him the way he is, Bowen's takes a confessional one, showing us the killer's crimes accompanied by his his own voice-overed understanding, apparently drawn from actual testimony, of why he was compelled to commit them.
Likewise, while McNaughton has always denied that his film is a biopic of Henry Lee Lucas, Bowen's explicitly sets itself up as a case study. If the cynic might question his and producer/writer/performer Carl Crew's motives in departing from the absolute truth at certain points, as stated in the opening preamble, at least their willingness to provide this allows us to understand the parameters within which they are operating and judge them accordingly.
Part of one's positive judgement stems from the fact that they do actually maintain a consistent tone throughout, employing the same low-key, quasi-documentary approach as Dahmer's crimes become ever more incredible and he progresses from simple murder to necrophilia, cannibalism and – most bizarre of all – attempts to turn his still living victims into zombies under his total control through power tool brain surgery. (What's all too credible, alas, is the ease with which Dahmer could continue his depredations against gay black street hustlers, their being the sort of people no-one really missed or was particularly bothered about.)
More important, however, is Crew's performance. Different but equal to Michael Rooker in Henry, he exhibits the same ability to be utterly compelling and utterly terrifying. You could almost call it the madness of the method, except for that he obviously didn't re-enact Dahmer's crimes for real. At least you hope not… maybe that explains why he doesn't seem to have capitalised on this to move onto bigger things.
There isn't really much to say about Prism Leisure's Region 0 PAL DVD of The Secret Life of Jeffrey Dahmer: its an adequate budget price presentation, full frame and sourced from a print that's seen better days, of a film that probably never had much to offer in terms of spectacular A/V to begin with. A commentary would have been nice, but its absence is hardly a surprise.
In sum, it's better than you might think and worth a look.
Copyright © K H Brown 2002-2005
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