Raising Jeffrey Dahmer

We have 3 cats and 2 dogs. I think we could have organized them to do a better re-enactment of Jeffrey Dahmer's childhood than this film. The movie is 100 minutes long; we made it 60 minutes--so, to be fair, I haven't even seen the whole movie. I just couldn't bear it. This looks like a film put together by a group of high school students in a movie-making class. And not even high-achieving students. The acting was awful, although I felt a great deal of pity for the actors in this film. They really never had a chance. Lots of corny flashbacks. Not even sure of the film's accuracy based on other things I've heard and read on Dahmer. I have to say...might be the worst movie I've ever seen. I can't believe this was even in the video store. Please, spare yourself! Avoid this one at all costs!

One would assume that a movie named "Raising Jeffrey Dahmer" would deal largely with his childhood. Instead, the movie begins with his arrest and deals largely with the stress of his parents face trying to deal with the media. There are flashbacks to childhood events, but they are short, stylized, and presented out of chronological order. They are more distracting and confusing than they are enlightening. The step-mother is played in a very distant, emotionless manner that makes it impossible to determine what she is going through and difficult to sympathize with her. The father spends most of the film being shown reacting to discoveries and incidents so we do not have an opportunity to get close to him either. His emotional range was too one-dimensional to get a clear picture of who he really is as a person. The movie is somewhat interesting, but it didn't live up to it's potential. I expected to see Jeffrey raised through childhood complete with all the clues and hints about how he might turn out. I expected to see a film that puts us in the place of the parents and allows us to feel the struggle between a parents unconditional love for a child and reconciling the horrible crimes committed by the child. I would have enjoyed this as a straight documentary or as a revealing, emotional docudrama. Instead, the director chose to focus on being artsy. I didn't hate this film, but I was left very disappointed.

This movie is informative, but too bad it looks like it was made using a $1000.00 camera from 1970. It looks just like a home-made movie. The quality is about on the same level as Blair Witch. If you can get past the cheapness of the film, there are some interesting information to be had in this film. Also the acting is really bad, to the point that it hurts you watching it. Still, you are fascinated by Dahmer or his crimes, or if you want to know what the big fuss is about Milwaukee's most popular serial killer, give this movie a watch.

This film was very impressive in my opinion, I'm a big horror and indi film fan and I look at every aspect of the film when it comes to entertainment value, directors use of lighting and camera work. Givin that this film was directed by and unknown director and featured as a festival straight to DVD limited run, this is a decent docudrama movie IF you realize the amateur and factual value....but be your own judge of it, rent it and give it a watch, I've read a lot of factual films and documentories. I've seen films from a series based on John Wayne Gacy, Ed Gein, and Ted Bundy. As far as facts go this movie is a must see. If your looking for entertainment then this may not meet your standards

I rented this movie with my girlfriend as a late night movie. We haven't seen a scary movie in a while, and I've always been fascinated with serial killers overall.

This movie was laughable.. The acting was a joke. The father made me laugh at him at parts I should have been feeling the shock and fear he was feeling. It did keep me interested with the flashbacks, but the movie would have been so much better if it actually showed what it was titled, Jeffrey Dahmer being raised. It showed it through a series of flashbacks, which were the only interesting parts in the movie.

I knew it was going to be a disappointment, but I saw it in the advertisement the guy at the movie store gave to me. Next time I go with my gut, which this movie should have showed more of.