THE SECRET LIFE (1993)

 After watching so many documentaries and other bio-dramas about Jeffrey Dahmer it's hard to keep them all straight in my head. I think I had seen this one at least once before but they all kind of blend together after awhile. This might be the most graphic one out there though. You get ol' Dahmer drilling a head to try and make a zombie, sticking a guy(feet first!) into a vat of acid while he's still alive and chopping up his victims with a circular saw among other gruesome scenarios. If you know the Dahmer story this one will have no surprises except for maybe the level of gore shown. It all gets pretty repetitive after a while but hey at least it's better than this version.
 I was shocked to learn that this was actually shot on 35mm film because it looks pretty dreadful and low-budget and I just assumed it was 16mm at best. 

DAHMER (2002)

 There was a whole slew of these serial-killer bio-pics released in the early 2000s. I'm pretty sure all of them were released direct-to-DVD and like most every other horror movie made in that time period they mostly all sucked. This one is no exception. It at least gets many of the facts of Dahmer's life right with a reenactment of his very first killing, mummified heads in boxes, arguments with his dad  and some gay-bar rape shenanigans. At the same time it omits pretty rudimentary stuff like cannibalism and Dahmer's big vat of acid he used to dispose of body parts. For a movie about some pretty gruesome murders there is very little blood or gore in this thing and plays more like some 90s indie drama about a lonely weirdo looking for some gay love. It also has a mostly sappy boring soundtrack that makes me want to take a nap. To be fair I've only viewed the R-rated disc of this movie and there's apparently an unrated version out there which might make things at least a bit juicier if not any more exciting.

 There is what is supposed to be a way better, and way gorier, Dahmer flick called THE SECRET LIFE OF JEFFREY DAHMER (1993) which I unfortunately have never seen but I will have to rectify that soon.