My Friend Dahmer (2017)
Story overview
This biographical drama explores the teenage years of Jeffrey Dahmer, who later became one of America's most notorious serial killers. The film focuses on his high school years, depicting his social isolation, family dysfunction, and the early signs of his disturbing psychological transformation. It portrays how his classmates both befriended and exploited his odd behavior, while he grappled with emerging violent fantasies and a troubled home life.
Parent Guide
This film contains intense psychological themes about the development of a serial killer. It includes disturbing content, strong language, and mature situations. Not suitable for viewers under 18 without serious parental consideration and discussion.
Content breakdown
While there are no graphic murder scenes, the film includes disturbing implications of violence, animal cruelty (dissecting roadkill), and psychological menace. There are scenes depicting Dahmer's violent fantasies and disturbing behavior that create strong tension.
Extremely disturbing psychological content. The film focuses on the mental deterioration of a future serial killer, including his fascination with death, isolation, and emerging violent tendencies. There are unsettling scenes of animal dissection, implied violence, and psychological horror that may be deeply disturbing to sensitive viewers.
Includes some strong language (f-words, s-words) typical of R-rated films. The language reflects the high school setting and tense family situations.
Some sexual references and innuendo among teenagers. Brief scenes of implied sexual situations but no explicit nudity. There are discussions of sexuality and awkward teenage interactions.
Frequent underage drinking and smoking among high school students. Several party scenes show teenagers consuming alcohol. Parental substance abuse is also depicted.
High emotional intensity throughout. The film creates a sense of dread and psychological unease as viewers witness a troubled teenager's descent. Family dysfunction, social isolation, and mental health struggles create sustained emotional tension.
Parent tips
This film is NOT appropriate for children or most teenagers. It deals with extremely mature themes including the psychological development of a serial killer, family dysfunction, and disturbing behavior. The R rating reflects intense content that requires parental guidance for mature viewers only. Consider this film only for mature adults who can handle psychological horror and true crime themes.
Parent chat guide
Parent follow-up questions
—
—
—
- What did you find most disturbing about Jeffrey's transformation in the film?
- How do you think his friends and family could have helped him differently?
- What responsibility do we have when we notice someone struggling with mental health issues?
- How does this film handle the balance between explaining behavior and making excuses for it?
🎭 Story Kernel
The film is less a true-crime origin story and more a profound study of social failure. It expresses how a potential monster is created not by sudden evil, but by a slow, collective erosion of empathy. What drives the characters is a desperate, universal need for connection—Dahmer seeks it through grotesque attention-seeking, his friends through morbid curiosity, and the adults through willful ignorance. The tragedy lies not in Dahmer's eventual actions alone, but in the ecosystem that observed his disintegration as a spectator sport, then looked away. It's a chilling autopsy of the bystander effect, where cruelty is often just the absence of care.
🎬 Visual Aesthetics
The visual language masterfully mirrors Dahmer's dissociation. Director Marc Meyers employs a muted, almost sickly color palette of 1970s browns and yellows, creating a nostalgic yet oppressive atmosphere. Static, observational camerawork often frames Dahmer at a distance, isolating him within the composition, making the viewer a passive witness like his classmates. The most disturbing moments are shot with a mundane, matter-of-fact clarity—the roadkill dissection, the drunken spasms in public—denying sensationalism and making the grotesque feel like just another part of a bleak suburban landscape. It's a visual essay on the banality of emerging evil.
🔍 Details & Easter Eggs
💡 Behind the Scenes
Ross Lynch, known for Disney Channel roles, underwent a dramatic physical transformation, losing weight and wearing prosthetic teeth and colored contacts to embody the young Dahmer. He reportedly immersed himself in the role to an intense degree, which affected him psychologically during filming. The movie was shot on location in Ohio, near Dahmer's actual childhood haunts, including replicas of his high school and home. Derf Backderf, the cartoonist and author of the graphic memoir the film is based on, was a real high school classmate of Jeffrey Dahmer and served as a consultant, ensuring an authentic, ground-level perspective of their shared adolescence.
Where to watch
Choose region:
- Netflix
- Amazon Prime Video
- fuboTV
- AMC Plus Apple TV Channel
- AMC+
- Netflix Standard with Ads
- Amazon Prime Video with Ads
- The Roku Channel
- Pluto TV
- Amazon Prime Video Free with Ads
- Tubi TV
- Amazon Video
- Apple TV Store
- Google Play Movies
- YouTube
- Fandango At Home
Trailer
Trailer playback is unavailable in your region.
