Overview

Based on the celebrated graphic novel of the same name, My Friend Dahmer takes a strikingly different tack compared to 2002’s Dahmer or any true-crime biography to examine the young life of a serial killer. Set solely while Jeffrey Dahmer is a high school student and prior to his killings, this portrait of his life at home, at school, and when bumming around with friends offers a humanizing and devastating vantage point of violence’s roots. The haunting and true story of its author and well-known artist Derf Backderf, who was friends with Dahmer in high school and relied on his personal history for research, sheds light on how loners and those on the fringe can slip through cracks and into much darker places.

Discussion to follow Thursday screening.