Tonight's movie was another documentary from IFC, "The Jeffrey Dahmer Files" (2013). Do you really wanna hear about it? You do? Man, you are gruesome. But that's okay, because so am I, haha, in the clinical sense of course. You know that one of my alter egos is a homicide cop, and I tackle the grimmest cases. Somebody's gotta do it. I discovered this film while watching "My Amityville Horror" (and somebody had to do that one, too). IFC designs their dvds so you can't skip the previews. If you hit "menu", a blue bar appears, reading "operation prohibited". You can't fast forward 'em, either. I learned how to beat these endless previews (and I've had dvds that contained 20 minutes worth) by pressing the "scene change" button. I don't know what you call it, but it skips over what you are watching to the next encoded scene. That doesn't eliminate the previews in one fell swoop, but it gets rid of them one at a time. Before I knew of this method, I saw the preview for "The Jeffery Dahmer Files" on the "Amityville" disc. It looked intriguing, and though - like yourself I suspect - I already knew everything there was to know on the Dahmer case, I figured it was worth a watch.
It was very well made as these things go, the trouble was that the filmmaker only had three sources to work with - just three interview subjects. Now, these three were some of the biggest players in the case, the lead detective, the chief medical examiner and Dahmer's next door neighbor in his Milwaukee apartment complex. Each told a long and ghoulish story, and in the case of Pamela Bass (the neighbor), you really felt for her because she'd befriended Jeffrey Dahmer and even had lunch with him on occasion (ahem!). You need to see the movie yourself to hear her tale, but her relationship with Dahmer scarred her badly and affected her life in other ways too. For one thing, she was hounded by Dahmer groupies and lookie-loos for years, wherever she went.
The detective, Pat Kennedy, is a linebacker-sized guy with a friendly nature. He's a natural storyteller whose animated eyes and large, moving mustachio accentuate the details of his night on the scene at Dahmer's apartment, when the grim discoveries were made. He tells you about things like opening the refrigerator in a matter-of-fact way, as if you yourself might have done it. Everybody's opened a fridge in their life, haven't they? Kennedy's eyes bulge and his mustache spreads out as he breaks into a grin. He does this a lot, as if to put an ironic and darkly humorous exclamation point on each statement. Like Pamela Bass, he also became friendly with Dahmer. Kennedy was Jeff's sole confidant from law enforcement during the investigation and trial.
The third witness is Jeffrey Jentzen, the Milwaukee county medical examiner who was called to the scene that night to handle the remains, in a situation that was unprecedented not only for his department and that of the Milwaukee police, but in all of American history. Yes, Wisconsin had also been the home state of Ed Gein (yikes! sorry, Elizabeth....), but Gein had a big house and barn to use as a workplace. Dahmer was working out of a one bedroom apartment in a crowded complex. Jentzen speaks methodically as he lists what was found, not only in the refrigerator, but in closets, drawers and the infamous Blue Barrel. He tells of the difficulty in putting it all together to determine the number of casualties and the identity of each victim.
Details from the witnesses are numerous and very specific, and you are given the crux of the matter by perhaps the three people closest to the crimes. My only complaint is that I'd have liked to see some interviews with more peripheral figures; folks on the sidelines who maybe knew Dahmer from his job at the chocolate factory, or remembered him from high school. I think it would've filled the story out a little more, but it might have been the director's intention to simply "go for the throat" and get to the meat of the matter, to use an appropriate metaphor. Or maybe he didn't get the consent of other desired interview subjects, I dunno. It's still a worthwhile documentary, and the filmmakers include re-enactment scenes - not of the murders, thank goodness - but of a Dahmer lookalike walking around town, going to the liquor store, buying his Blue Barrel from a supply yard and lugging it home on the bus. He uses a taxi to cart home a mannequin he's stolen from a boutique. Public transportation works well for Jeff, as does a local hotel he uses for one night stands. He likes it because no one asks questions, no matter how many times he goes up and down the stairs with his suitcase.
I'll give "The Jeffrey Dahmer Files" Two Thumbs Up and I'll also recommend it, but only for case-hardened folks like you and me. Watch it if you followed the story back in 1991. The rest of you should skip it, most definitely. ////
That's all for now. It's Monday afternoon. We had good singin' in church yesterday, but the Rams lost to Pittsburgh and they're gonna have to win five of their last seven games to have any chance of making the playoffs. Can they do it? (oh please don't tell me, I don't wanna know).
I'm off to the store for avocados and then back to Pearl's. See you tonight at the Usual Time!
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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