Before I dive into this review, I must admit that I am friends with one of the screenwriters (SS pal and occasional contributor Chris Watson) and the director (Ford Austin, who's directed about half as many micro-budget movies as he's acted in). That being said, I want to be honest about the film, warts and all.

From the title I suppose you can figure out what the movie is about, but how Dahmer comes to fight Gacy is the beauty of the project. Chris Watson and Andrew Rausch set up a sci-fi solution that doesn't quite work, but that seems to be the point. A military base somewhere in East LA (or so it seems) is busy cloning the worst of the worst serial killers. But something happens off screen and Dahmer and Gacy manage to escape the compound. The first to die is Watson playing an out-of-shape soldier and Del Howison, the owner of Dark Delicacies in Burbank, CA. After this promising start, the film falls prey to lazy editing and plot details that seem to cloud the issue. We came to see Dahmer vs. Gacy, but instead we get interminable news reports of their combined aftermaths, which left me wanting more because, frankly, I was disappointed that I didn't get to see the killings.

Then we get introduced to a hillbilly who gets messages from God through his radio to go and kill Dahmer and Gacy. The hick is played by Ford (who also plays Dahmer), and does an admirable job at both. Ford could be a serious Hollywood actor, but the lure of the micro world must be seductive...or at the very least it's easy like a drunk chick at a party. The bulk of the movie features the hick talking to God (who is voiced by comedian Harland Williams) and these scenes seem to go on far too long. It was at the point that the hick fights ghost ninjas that I felt the movie totally jumped-the-shark, but as Chris explained to me that was the point. I don't want to give the ending away, but we finally (FINALLY!!!) get Dahmer and Gacy in the same room and they do indeed get to fight. However their fight is cut short when X-13, a man composed of all the best (or worst) traits of all the serial killers at the army's disposal, shows up to fight the both of them. X-13 is played by Ethan Phillips, who was Neelix on Star Trek: Voyager, but then again you probably already knew that. The hick finally shows up and finds that his character is as unnecessary as we all figured he was. The ending is a mixed bag of gore and slapstick, but I guess that was the point.

The real fun of the movie is in the casting. This film features so many damn cameos that my hand would start bleeding from typing if I were to list them all. Go to the film's IMDB listing for further details, but I will mention my favorites. Art LaFluer (who was great in the Trancers series) appears in the beginning of the film as the new head of the military cloning operation. Irwin Keyes (who was creepy in House of a 1,000 Corpses and everything else he did) shows up later as the next in command after Art makes a sloppy exit. Randal Malone's work as Gacy is effective, but there is not much of him on screen and the film suffers a bit because of it. The guy's in the title but he barely fits into the overly-complex script. Harland Williams' much-touted appearance on the poster is really just posturing since his role is only vocal, but shit if this were my movie I would have done the same thing. My big complaint is the lengthy gay blowjob scenes that for my money could have been trimmed or excised for that matter, but Ford has a thing for guys...or at least on screen he does.

In the end, Dahmer Vs. Gacy is not interested in being an Oscar-contender. It is solely interested in entertaining the shit out of you and making you laugh as hard as it possibly can. Not everything works, but by the close of the movie you will have been on an exhaustive ride that leaves you surprisingly satisfied. This is the perfect example of a b-movie. It may not be flawless, but it is wild, irreverent, hilarious, gory, ridiculous, and just plain old-fashioned fun. Could have used some boobies though, and there were so many golden opportunities, too! How's that, Ford? Got enough stuff there for your poster?

- Jose Prendes