My Friend Dahmer, Finally Getting the Film Treatment it Deserves from Director Marc Meyers, Starring Ross Lynch!

Jeffrey Dahmer utterly fascinates me.  Always has done.  His story is so sad and tragic, so lost and desperate, and so completely horrific, that for 25 years I have been a wee bitty obsessed!  I have always  looked behind the face of the monster, and researched to death what could have made him turn out the way he did.

When David Jacobsen's Jeremy Renner starring Dahmer was released in 2002, I fell so much in love with it that even I realised how kinda nuts I was!  :)  What I loved so much about this film, and what made it all the more horrific, was that it DIDN'T focus on all of the gorier details of his story....quite the opposite.  It was just a really melancholic film....and worse...one I could totally relate to so much of.  I think that's why so many people hated it....it scared them because it showed him as a human being.  

 What infuriates me most about his story was the shocking lack of help he received throughout his life.  Dahmer is the ultimate story of an individual who constantly slipped through the cracks of society.  A man so riddled with loneliness and guilt at being different, he lost himself completely.  And this cost 17 young men their lives!

My Friend Dahmer was originally published in a shorter form in 2002.  2002 being a VERY good year to be a Dahmer fan FYI, haha.  Author/artist Derf Backderf wasn't happy with it though....knowing there was so much more to be told to this story.  So he literally went back to the drawing board and in 2012 he released his full graphic novel to a mass of critical acclaim.

Like David Jacobsen's Dahmer,  My Friend Dahmer is a coming of age tale...just one with a horrific outcome.  But one I think we can ALL relate to in some way....even if we don't like to admit to it!  

Playing Dahmer is 20 year old Ross Lynch.  I had never heard of this Disney star/musician before, but after checking him out, I can totally see him having the potential to play a really special part.     

Looking at the kind of films director Marc Meyers has previously made, I still need to check them out but he really seems to  have an incredible grasp on coming of age melancholy, which is EXACTLY what we need for this project.  

Checking his films out are one of my top priorities this week when I actually have a well deserved week off! :)   Needless to say....I am super psyched about this film! 

Past Dahmer blogs I have written - 

Interview with Christina Agamanolis of Siren Music Productions - Dahmer Score

20 Year Anniversary of Dahmer getting caught 

Tragic life of Tracy Edwards

Most beautiful film endings - Dahmer

A Great Week for Serial Killers

WOW!!!  Ok, so the past week has been a super massive geekgasm for serial killer movies.  First the stupidly awesome James Franco takes on the role of not only playing Richard Ramirez, it is also going to be his directorial debut.  Ooh and to add to the awesomenss, Chris Cornell is producing!!!  How awesome is that!?!!!!  *insert super rad picture of James Franco playing Dungeons and Dragons as Daniel Desario <3 in Freaks and Geeks. *

Anyhoo, after that awesomeness I didn't in a million years think that I would get even more totally radder than rad awesome serial killer movie news and then I get told that Dominic West is playing Fred West!!!!!!!!!!!  I mean, guh yuh!!!  It's like my sick twisted McNulty fantasies from The Wire Season 5 are coming to fruition.  *insert McNulty pic just for fun ;) *

So yay, lots of super squeeeee'ing and thinking that this is going to be a very good year for zee serial killer movie!!!! <3

  

Idris Elba's BBC Serial Killer Drama - Luther

To say that I’m partial to a good bit of murder is an understatement.  Add to that an obsessive detective/FBI agent storyline, one who shall stop at nothing to stop a serial killer or mass murderer; I’m all ears and eyes.  Obviously still attached to my own body, those story lines can be saved for another time, mwah!  This being the case, whilst checking out what Idris Elba had been up to lately, I came across the BBC show Luther.  Luther is the story of DCI John Luther, a detective working in the serious crimes unit. 

“He is dazzling, obsessive, possessed - and sometimes dangerous in the violence of his fixations. But Luther has paid a heavy price for his dedication; he has recently suffered a mental breakdown following the traumatic investigation into child serial killer Henry Madsen. On his return to duty, Luther struggles to balance the psychological demands of his work at the same time as trying to save his marriage to his wife, Zoe.”

This description alone leaves me wanting for more, I mean what’s not to love!?!  The added bonus comes with the fact that Luther is played by the wonderful and downright gorgeous Idris Elba.  Now I had seen him in loads of stuff before and really liked him but it wasn’t until The Wire that I became rather fixated with him.

Playing Stringer Bell, the drug lord who used his intelligence and perception to realise that after some time, property was the way forward in a game that was constantly changing.  Despite all of his flaws there was something incredibly charming about him.  I loved Detective McNulty’s obsession with catching him out and sending him down for life, both Elba and Dominic West played off each other brilliantly.  The same could be said for Stringer Bell’s interaction with Michael K. Williams character Omar Little.  Absolutely cracking TV writing, some of the best ever, without a doubt!!!

Anyhoo, in the time that I have sat writing this it has just come to my attention that the great man has actually been nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance in Luther!!!  He's up against Al Pacino which is no mean feat, so hells yeah to Idris for being part of Team Awesome UK in this years Globes!!!

This has made me even more excited about seeing Luther, I've asked my sister for the DVD for my Christmas so here's looking forward to some obsessive Elba killer action, mwahahahahahaha.  And you can be sure that I shall let y'all know what I think once I've seen it.  Expect lots of potential gushing, haha. 

Most Beautiful Film Endings of All Time - Dahmer

So I have decided to compose a series of what I consider to be the most beautiful film endings of all time.  Now me being me, obviously they are not going to be to everyone's taste however, hi di ho, they're mine!!!  So here I start with one of my ultimate most favourite EVER, the surreal, gorgeous and stupidly underrated Dahmer!!!

Dahmer - The scene where we see him walking through the woods at the end - having given up on help before he'd even really started to receive it.  What made this such a perfect place to end the movie was that where this should have been a time in his life where like any young man, he was looking forward.  But knowing what was to come, and cutting out at that moment...it left you with such a feeling of empty hopelessness.  Of haunting melancholy and great sadness, the kind that I love so dearly in my movies.  I can honestly say I have seen this film pretty much more than most other films ever...not sure what that says about me but what the hey, I love Jeff!!!  Dahmer is proof that Jeremy Renner is without a shadow of a doubt one of the single greatest actors of all time.  It just took the rest of the world a little bit longer to realise this. 

To complete the perfection of this ending you add the music….one of the most gorgeous songs of all time.  It’s perfect; it’s haunting and so beautiful that I can’t imagine any other song replacing it.  On so many occasions I can remember watching the movie and then afterwards when it went back to the title screen, I would just sit and listen to Blue Theme, the song from the end credits.  By Siren Music Productions who did the whole score, it’s perfect.  I was so in love with it I went out of my way trying to get hold of it.  I finally came across the girl’s website through a link on the Dahmer movie page.  I emailed them and soon heard back from Willow Williamson who told me that you couldn’t actually buy the CD but if I purchased one of the bands albums, she would send me a copy of it.  Instantly I purchased not one, but two copies of the self-titled This Side of North album.  One for myself, and one for my dear friend Nia.  I can honestly say that this is one of the best things I ever did.  The album is flawless and I love it dearly.  I swear that when I die, I want this album in my coffin.   It’s that good.  And it pains me to say how seriously underrated the band are, and indeed each member individually.  I have spoken to Christina Agamanolis on a number of occasions and she is adorable.  I hope that somewhere our paths shall cross as she is a true inspiration to me, plus I’d LOVE to see her play live!!!