YMMV / My Friend Dahmer

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Jeffrey Dahmer is surprisingly subject to this in Real Life. Many see him as either...
  • A severely neurologically-messed up young man with a blend of severe loneliness and severe Borderline Personality Disorder who was never purposefully malicious nor a Sadist. A guy who was simply driven by sexual impulses so insatiable and uncontrollable that he was basically driven to kill and expressed genuine disgust and remorse over his actions. Even many of the people in law enforcement (including Det. Patrick Kennedy, who interrogated him) and forensic psychiatrists have this interpretation of Dahmer. For many, he was truly an anomaly among serial killers, one who seemed sympathetic, humble and expressed regret.
  • An absolute sociopath who put on a false front of being pitiful and remorseful and who, while pretty upfront about what he did, may still have lied about details concerning his mindset, motivations or even details about his life concerning what he did with animals.
  • Somewhere in between the two above examples. Backderf's narration states that while he believes that Dahmer was a tragic character, he wasn't always a sympathetic one.
• Creepy Awesome:
  • In-universe and perhaps out of it, Jeff in high school, surprisingly (though Derf insists that he lost, and should lose, all sympathy once he actually murdered someone). He becomes an eccentric cult figure to Derf and his friends after he begins pulling fake fits of cerebral palsy to prank the teachers (especially the librarian). Derf's friends begin a fan club for Jeff, and organize a final "Command Performance" where he wanders around freaking out customers at the local mall. Derf also includes Jeff as a character in all of his high school sketches, including one published in Revere High School's 1978 yearbook.
  • During a field trip with classmates to Washington DC, Jeff uses a payphone and talks an aide into letting him and Neil visit the Vice President of the United States.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Yup; Even "THE MILWAUKEE CANNIBAL" gets this...Mostly due to his (occasional) good looks ^note Which would either waver between somewhat-ruggedly handsome◊ to a bespectacled◊ dork, somewhat quiet & shy demeanor in interviews. See Alternate Character Interpretation, above.
• He Really Can Act: Ross Lynch as the titular Jeffrey Dahmer from the 2017 film perfectly captures the balance of making Dahmer simultaneously sadistic, creepy and off-putting and incredibly tragic, making him both a villain and a young man who desperately needed help he never got.
• Jerkass Woobie: Derf notes that Jeff was not completely sympathetic. Case in point is Jeff's hysterical amusement when a classmate slips in a puddle and injures his shoulder.
• Misaimed Fandom: Addressed by Derf in the foreword. He wants nothing to do with Loony Fans who idolize and are romantically attracted to serial killers, which regrettably exist, so if they're reading the book because of that, he'd prefer they not ^note It's bound to get worse considering a bona-fide Pretty Boy like Ross Lynch plays Dahmer in the movie version.
• Moral Event Horizon: The murder of Steven Hicks. It's at this point where Derf considers Jeff beyond redemption.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The very idea that your troubled classmate could be a deeply broken human being who thirsts for death and murder.
  • The mutilated dog. Even though Derf draws the carcass in the same cartoony style as the rest of the book, his drawing of the dog's skull on the stake is just as unsettling as pictures of the real thing◊.
  • Jeff's fantasies of the neighborhood jogger lying dead on his bed. Arguably worse is Jeff's attempt to act on that fantasy.
  • Mike's final encounter with Jeff, driving him to his house in the dead of night. Derf notes he was probably only a couple of feet away from the remains of Steven Hicks at that point, completely unaware.
• Paranoia Fuel: That shy, awkward but generally harmless kid in your class? The one you might even become friends with after getting to know him? He could be a monstrous serial killer in the making.
• Realism-Induced Horror: The central premise of the comic book is that your awkward classmate is suffering genuine psychological problems that make him a dangerous threat to the people around him, with no one realizing anything is wrong until it is too late.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Lloyd Figg in the movie (but not in the comic).
• The Woobie:
  • Jeffrey Dahmer, for much of the story, until he takes a turn for the sinister and then murders Stephen Hicks ^note It helps that he's played by the sweet, adorable Pretty Boy, Ross Lynch in the movie. Oliver along with the awkward, ever-henpecked, Lionel Dahmer and maybe Jeff's kid-brother, David would be straighter examples.
  • Mr. Burlman, during Derf and his friends prank call of him. Derf and his friends are understandably ashamed of this.