Have you ever seen a crazy foreign movie? Something like Riki-Oh or Dead/Alive or Suspiria? Movies which just go for broke and don't seem to be playing by any rules other than their own? Every time I watch one of these movies, especially ones which are very well-made, I ask myself, "How come no one in America makes movies like this?" Is it a money thing? Is it a taste issue? When I got the opportunity to review Dahmer vs. Gacy, I thought to myself, "Ah, here's a movie which make break off from the norm and show that we Americans can get a little crazy too." Well, the only conclusion here is that you'd have to be crazy to like this movie.

Dahmer vs. Gacy opens in a secret government laboratory where Dr. Stravinski (Peter Zhmutski) is head heading Project X-13. As he explains to newcomer Dr. Hess (Art LaFleur), the project is a military experiment designed to create the ultimate warrior by creating clones of the most notorious serial killers in history. As the clones are made, Stravinski attempts to isolate the part of the DNA which makes them killers and amplify it. When the lab's computers malfunction Jeffrey Dahmer's clone (Ford Austin) and John Wayne Gacy's clone (Randal Malone) both escape from the facility and go on separate killing sprees. Meanwhile, a man named Ringo (Ford Austin) hears the voice of God (voiced by Harland Williams) ordering him to find the two murderers and take them out. As Dahmer and Gacy up their body counts, Ringo goes on a quest for a special weapon with which to stop them. What will happen when these three maniacs meet?

I would say that Dahmer vs. Gacy is a mess, but that would be an insult to messes everywhere. To be honest, this is of sub-Troma caliber and I had to force myself to finish it. But, the movie is also an oddity. It was directed by and stars Ford Austin, an actor whose resume is a mile long and who is apparently a renaissance man in Hollywood having done just about everything that you can think of. (Oddly, I've never heard of him.) On the one hand, one would assume that Austin has worked in the industry long enough to know that focus is an important part of filmmaking. On the other hand, he's assembled an odd assortment of actors here, and one can only assume that he used his connections in the industry to draw them together. There aren't any huge names here, but you'll recognize Art LaFleur, Ethan Phillips, Bonnie Aarons, and Irwin Keyes from other things. The DVD box does mislead us by listing Harland Williams (who I think is hilarious) as a star, as only his voice is heard in the film.

Also misleading is the notion that Dahmer vs. Gacy is going to be some sort of Freddy vs. Jason showdown. The two do meet in the end for a lackluster fight, but we're never told why they would want to fight in the first place. (Especially since these are their clones.) I never truly expected anything called Dahmer vs. Gacy to fit any sane definition of "good", but I was hoping that it would be an over-the-top gorefest which would leave me asking "Can you do that in a movie?" Instead, I was left to ask, "Why would you want to do that in a movie?" Dahmer vs. Gacy was nominated for multiple awards at the Action On International Film Festival. I can only assume that it was the only movie which played the festival this year.

There's a scene in Dahmer vs. Gacy where two characters are discussing the idea of what is going on at the lab being made into a movie and how that would be a movie that no one would want to watch. This moment was so meta that I almost went back in time.

Dahmer vs. Gacy made me laugh one time, thus the 1/2 star on DVD courtesy of Walking Shadows. The movie has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear, showing very little grain and no defects from the source materials. The movie was shot on HD video, so the image is pretty crisp. The colors look very good, most notably reds and blues, and the image is never overly dark or bright. The outdoors scenes look particularly good. There is some blurring of the image at times, but it's not distracting. The DVD carries a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track which provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The bulk of the audio is acceptable, but it plays through the front and center channels only. There are some OK stereo effects here, but nothing too impressive. The in-film music (provided mainly by Enuff Z'nuff, a band from the 90s) does fill the surround sound speakers, but it's much louder than the dialogue.

There are no extras on the Dahmer vs. Gacy DVD. The menu is simply a static screen which offers a choice of audio tracks, and how about that cover art?