Jeffrey Dollmer (2026) Review
Jeffrey Dollmer (2026) Review
In 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer discovers a doll and performs a sinister ritual in an attempt to transfer his spirit into it, only to be captured before completing his plans. The doll subsequently spends decades locked away in police evidence before eventually being discarded and finding its way back into circulation. Fast-forward to the present day, and its dormant spirit is accidentally summoned, attaching itself to a young model who bears an uncanny resemblance to its former owner. When she travels to a remote photo shoot, the possessed doll follows, transforming the isolated location into a killing ground as it begins picking off fellow competitors and co-workers.
Directed by Mark Savage (Purgatory Road), JEFFREY DOLLMER stars Charlie Trepany (Sick Girl), Chey Crieger, Juliana Destefano (Shark Season), Adam Huss (Power, General Hospital), Eva Hamilton (Death Kiss), Mariah Justice, Scott Asmar, Jabarri Bush, Jane Xi, Tom Parnell (12 to Midnight) and Sean Michael Conway (Popeye the Slayer Man). Brian Joseph Mange portrays Jeffrey Dahmer, while Jeffrey Reddick, creator of the Final Destination franchise, makes a cameo appearance.
Make-up effects artist Koji Ohmura (Dexter: Original Sin) delivers the gory goods, with some pleasingly effective kill sequences, while cinematographer Kody Newton (The Death of Snow White) provides crisp camerawork that is considerably better than one might expect from a lower-budget production. The cast also acquit themselves reasonably well, but there’s a rather obvious question hanging over the whole enterprise: why make the possessed doll the spirit of real-life serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer? The Child’s Play franchise demonstrated long ago that an entirely fictional killer could inhabit a child’s toy without needing to drag an infamous real-world murderer into the equation.
Unfortunately, the storytelling is less convincing. There’s little in the way of narrative substance, and what story there is feels decidedly stop-start rather than flowing naturally, which does little to help maintain interest. Nevertheless, despite its questionable association with Dahmer, JEFFREY DOLLMER is considerably better than you might initially expect. Some decent gore, inventive kills and surprisingly competent production values help it along, although there’s not quite enough here to elevate it beyond the realms of average entertainment.
Adding an extra layer of weirdness, those involved in the production have allegedly reported a series of unexplained incidents, including a producer becoming violently ill during pre-production, cars refusing to start, mysterious flat tyres, doorknobs falling off, watches stopping exactly an hour out, and fake blood inexplicably appearing on someone’s clothing. Even the doll reportedly had a habit of turning up in places where nobody remembered leaving it. Whether there’s anything genuinely sinister behind these stories or simply a case of overactive imaginations is anyone’s guess, but it’s certainly an entertaining bit of publicity for a film that could do with a little extra mischief.
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