*THIS MOVIE REVIEW DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS*

Written and directed by Marc Meyers, the biographical drama “My Friend Dahmer” does a great job playing with your emotions. This movie is a captivating psychological thriller that is guaranteed to keep your eyes glued to the screen.

The movie is all about Jeffrey Dahmer (played by Ross Lynch) becoming the notorious serial killer he is known as today. The movie is set in 1978 when Dahmer slowly succumbs to his powerful urges to sleep with unconscious men and kill them. The movie does an amazing job of taking the actual history and events that happened in Dahmer’s life and portraying them in the film. Anyone who knows about Dahmer and his history will be able to tell from the film that everything that happens in it is factual.

The movie starts off with Jeffrey riding the school bus home. On his ride home he is captivated by the neighborhood jogger; this scene is very important to the rest of the film as it it involves his first plans to act on his urges. Jeffrey comes home everyday from riding the bus to his parents fighting. He blocks out his parents constant bickering by going out to look for roadkill to later dissolve in acid in his shed, where he keeps all of his previous projects. As a young teen he would spend most of his time alone in his shed, as he had no friends. One day his dad came home to him cooped up in his shed once again and threw almost all of Dahmer’s creations/projects away and later demolished his shed. This leads Dahmer into facing the darkness that is already engulfing him.

Jeffrey was called the “social outcast” of the school; people usually avoided him and if they weren’t avoiding him, they were bullying him or using him as a mascot. In the movie, and real life, Jeffrey started to throw fits mimicking someone with down syndrome. He did this in the middle of the halls, classes, and even the mall. Jeffrey’s first “show” gets the attention of a group of students who think he is hilarious and ask him to have lunch with them one day. At this point in the film we see young Jeffrey connecting with fellow students, though Jeffrey doesn’t know that they are just using him as their mascot.

As the film progresses Jeffrey’s “friendship” with the group of other students comes to an end, his urges grow too strong, and he starts to drink heavily. He comes to school drunk everyday to numb himself, to stop the urges for even just a little bit. As his senior year comes to an end, the prom is coming up and Jeffrey decides to ask a sophomore named Brooke. They go together, but halfway through the dance Jeffrey disappears and leaves his date stranded at the dance.

At this point in the film Jeffrey’s dad has left his mom to live in a hotel and divorce papers had been filed. When the divorce is final Jeffrey’s mom takes his little brother and moves back to Milwaukee leaving Jeffrey alone in the house.

The day of Jeffrey’s graduation his dad gave him a car as a way to say ‘well done.’

As the film comes to an end viewers are left with Jeffrey picking up a hitchhiker by the name of Steven Hicks and driving off toward his empty house. Steven Hicks was the first victim of  seventeen.

The actors in the movie all did amazing, Marc Meyers (director) did a fantastic job of portraying Jeffrey’s young life and sucking his audience into the film. The film gives an interesting feeling to the audience as you are stuck between feeling sorry for Dahmer and mad at his family and friends. This film is currently being shown in Thornton and  Fort Collins at The Lyric, tickets are $7 for students and $9 for adults.