Editor’s Note: This review originally ran during the 2012 SXSW Film Festival (when the film was titled Jeff), but we’re re-running it now as the film opens in limited theatrical release. Documentary director Chris James Thompson would like us to remember that even serial killers have neighbors, or ride the bus, or go the pharmacy. Of course, they also kill and maim and even eat their victims or get caught, but they still have some of the same needs as everyone else. In Thompson’s Jeffrey Dahmer documentary, The Jeffrey Dahmer Files, the filmmaker attempts to take us inside the mind of both Dahmer and a handful of those who surrounded him during his crimes and their aftermath. Unfortunately, the film lacks any sort of suitable or satisfying entry point for the uninitiated, and might still prove to be a bit obtuse even for those who know what they’re getting into.