Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022)

One of America’s most notorious serial killers is largely told from the point of view of Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims and dives deeply into the police incompetence and apathy that allowed the Wisconsin native to go on a multiyear killing spree. The series dramatizes at least 10 instances where Dahmer was almost apprehended but ultimately let go.

A DARK TWISTED STORY IN TRUTH TELLING

Jeffrey Dahmer’s body of work has been retold several times in the latest 30 years. Mostly depicts and tries to analyze his gruesome, macabre crimes that seem to not cause much trouble initially but exploded like a can of soda once it was recognized. Dahmer was conviction resulted in 941 years in prison. People are still talking about a serial killer that was active in 1978 and 1991, a gay mental unstable killer that targets young teens and black guys. A cannibal that sought his victims with the most horrible imaginable intention.

What Netflix’s story about Jeffrey Dahmer tries to tell is backstory from his childhood, his first killings and his love of the road kills, necrophilia, and child molestation, among other careful thought-out crimes against young men. The series tells the story from several sides, shifting within its compulsory flashbacks to the crimes. There’s no saying in this series what’s the present time. This jump between different years is a major flaw in an already intense subject. It tries to tell the backstory of Dahmer, the reaction of the parents, the neighbour and the community. One thing that it would be better to focus on is one at each time instead of jumping back and forth between everyone’s perspectives.

Evan Peters and Ryan Murphy create an irreplicable character that haunts every character along the way. Despite the crimes his character commits, there’s something soulful in his performance. He makes it watchable and understands whatever he’s doing. He has a charm that is relentless, and much is probably thanks to his long-time collaboration with Murphy that shapes his monster-shaped human.

He’s backed up together with Richard Jenkins and Molly Ringwald that makes flawless performances as his father and stepmother. Their emotional despair in the series’ progress goes beyond any other performance as parents. Niecy Nash makes a good performance as well even if she gets double screen time compared to Evan Peters. This dark, unsettling, series would have the grave dangerous feeling on the spot if it wasn’t for the camera work. The cinematography by Jason McCormick and John T. Connor helps to get that bleak yellow tone that is significant to the horror this series tells.

Ian Brennan and Ryan Murphy distinctly have created a series that is both disturbing, humane, and horrifying. That it’s a true story makes it even worse. A lot of the mature content is partly a third of each episode, others a filled with Jeff hunting for victims, victims’ families, civil rights issues and other problems Dahmer caused along the way. It’s implied that the community didn’t react in time and that the city provided more help for Dahmer than the victims, which is probably why he could make such crimes for so long times.

The music adds to it as well, just like the art and prop department to make the scenes as authentic as possible. This is a that’s chilling to the bone but loses up the tension in the last two episodes, as Jeffrey is arrested and causes trouble in prison.  It’s a series that is a lot to take in, but I do think it’s important to recognize the victim of the monster than the killer behind it.