Jeffrey Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys in the Midwest United States between 1978 and 1991 before being captured and incarcerated. He would become one of America’s most infamous serial killers. This is the story before that story. Jeff Dahmer (Ross Lynch, in a breakout performance) is an awkward teenager in suburban America, struggling to make it through high school with a family life in ruins. He collects roadkill, fixates on a neighborhood jogger (Vincent Kartheiser), and copes with his unstable mother (Anne Heche) and well-intentioned father (Dallas Roberts). He begins to act out at school, and his goofball antics win over a group of band-nerds who form The Dahmer Fan Club, headed by Derf Backderf (Alex Wolff). But this camaraderie can’t mask his growing depravity. Approaching graduation, Jeff spirals further out of control, inching ever closer to madness. Based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Derf Backderf, director Marc Meyers‘s MY FRIEND DAHMER offers a thought-provoking, chillingly human portrait of the young Dahmer in at a time when his bizarre, ultimately telling behaviours and tendencies emerged- slowly transforming him as he edged closer to the serial killer he’d become.

Monday, December 18
Doors 8:15 pm | Movie 8:45 pm
Tickets $10 advance HERE | $12 at the door

Friday, December 29
Doors 7:45 pm | Movie 8:15 pm
Tickets $10 advance HERE | $12 at the door

*Must be 19+ w/ID for bar service and main floor seating. Minors permitted in the balcony.
*Rio Theatre Groupons and passes OK! Please redeem at the door.

“A warped wonder of a movie about a cannibalistic serial killer’s awkward teenage years-it takes twisted to areas few have investigated.” (Rolling Stone)

“Writer-director Marc Meyers turns Backderf’s celebrated book into an absorbing, dramatized portrait of casual cruelty and teenage desperation, equal parts ‘The Virgin Suicides’ and ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’.” (Time Out)

“It’s a nuanced and sad high school movie, a portrait of lonely, damaged youth that only gradually reveals itself as the origin story of a psychopath.” (NPR)

MY FRIEND DAHMER (Marc Meyers, 2017 / 107 mins / PG) Before Jeffrey Dahmer became a notorious serial killer, he was a shy, alcoholic teen who never quite fit in. Based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Derf Backderf, this is the true, haunting story of Jeffrey Dahmer in high school.