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Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

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Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story
Promotional release poster
Genre
Created by
Written by
  • Ian Brennan (9 episodes)
  • David McMillian (5 episodes)
  • Ryan Murphy (4 episodes)
  • and 3 others
Starring
Music by
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish[a]
No. of episodes10
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • David McMillan
  • Mathew Hart
  • Todd Kubrak
  • Reilly Smith
  • Lou Eyrich
  • Rashad Robinson
  • Richard Jenkins
CinematographyJason McCormick
EditorStephanie Filo
Running time45–63 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkNetflix
ReleaseSeptember 21, 2022 (2022-09-21)

Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story[b] is an American biographical crime drama limited series created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan for Netflix. It aired for one season on September 21, 2022. Murphy also serves as showrunner[2] and is executive producer along with Brennan. The series is about the life of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (Evan Peters). Other main characters include Dahmer's father Lionel (Richard Jenkins), stepmother Shari (Molly Ringwald), suspicious neighbor Glenda (Niecy Nash), and grandmother Catherine (Michael Learned).

Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story reached the number-one spot on Netflix in the first week of its release.[3]

The series was controversial upon its release. While Peters' performance was praised by some critics, the series has largely received controversy and backlash for the glamorized, disrespectful and exploitative nature of Dahmer and his murders. Dahmer’s surviving victims and relatives of deceased victims have criticized the series for similar reasons, with many calling the series “traumatizing”.[4][5][6] The show has led to a number of people preemptively dressing up as Dahmer for Halloween, which victims have also criticized; eBay has banned all Dahmer costumes from its site.[7]

Synopsis

This television series tackles the motives of Jeffrey Dahmer and how he became one of the most notorious serial killers in America. His murders—which consisted of men and adolescent boys—were executed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Ohio between 1978 and 1991.

In 1991, Glenda Cleveland, Dahmer's neighbor, complained to him about an unpleasant odor and frequent screams coming from his apartment. Despite his reassurances that the smell was just spoiled meat, Cleveland continued to be wary of him. Cleveland had been complaining to the police about her concerns for months, but they were unresponsive. At a gay bar, Dahmer met Tracy Edwards and invited him over for a drink at his apartment. To prevent him from leaving, Dahmer handcuffed Edwards and threatened him with a knife. Edwards tried to distract Dahmer by seducing him with an erotic dance. Soon, while Dahmer and Edwards were lying down together on Dahmer's bed, Dahmer touched Edwards' chest and claimed he would eat his heart. Horrified, Edwards managed to escape Dahmer's apartment after a couple of failed attempts. He came across the police, and they took Edwards to Dahmer's apartment in order to find the keys to the handcuffs. When they arrived, the cops searched Dahmer's drawer after he said the keys were there. They prepared to leave until they discovered horrifying Polaroids of bodies being dismembered and mutilated. The police arrested Dahmer, and as he was being handcuffed, he said, "For what I did, I should be dead."

Throughout Dahmer's childhood, his parents neglected him. His father, Lionel, often traveled for work and frequently argued with Dahmer's biological mother, Joyce, who was a drug addict and suffered from depression, often attempting to commit suicide. When Dahmer was four years old,[8] he underwent double hernia surgery, which led to him becoming depressed and socially withdrawn. As a prepubescent, Dahmer's father taught him how to dissect deceased animals, which intrigued him. In high school, Dahmer would bring home dead animals he dissected in class and masturbate to them. During Dahmer's adolescent years, his parents divorced. His mother moved away and had little contact with him. Lionel later remarried; his new wife, Shari, became Dahmer's stepmother.

Dahmer attended Ohio State University, but due to his alcoholism and subsequent poor grades, he was expelled. His father then enrolled Dahmer into the military, only for him to be discharged because of his drinking. After that, Lionel moved him into his grandmother's house. During that time, Dahmer temporarily worked as a phlebotomist, and ingested his patients' blood samples. He also had sex with a mannequin, and a man later filed a police report claiming that Dahmer intoxicated his tea while at Dahmer's grandmother's house. After an unpleasant smell occurred in her basement, which he alleged was only roadkill animals, Dahmer's grandmother threw him out. At his next residence, Dahmer continued the pattern of drugging victims, killing them, then dismembering them and, at times, eating their organs.

In 1978, at age 18, Dahmer committed his first murder while living at his childhood home in Bath Township, Ohio. It would be nine years before he murdered again. From 1987 to 1991 in Milwaukee, he is known to have committed 16 additional murders. Many murders involved cannibalism as well as necrophilia. In 1994, Dahmer was beaten to death by a fellow prison inmate.

Cast

Main

Recurring

Soundtrack

The score for the series was composed and performed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. The soundtrack album was released the same day as the series.[15]

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
1"Bad Meat"Carl FranklinRyan Murphy & Ian BrennanSeptember 21, 2022 (2022-09-21)
In 1991, Glenda Cleveland, a woman who lives in the Milwaukee apartment next to Jeffrey Dahmer's, has concerns about the noises and smells coming through their shared vent. Dahmer courts his next potential victim, Tracy Edwards, in a bar and takes him home, but Tracy manages to escape and flag down police. Dahmer is arrested and gruesome discoveries are made in his apartment.
2"Please Don't Go"Clement VirgoRyan Murphy & Ian BrennanSeptember 21, 2022 (2022-09-21)
Dahmer's life as a pre-teen and adolescent, living with a drug-addicted mother and an oft-absentee father, is explored. The youngster starts to exhibit great interest in dissecting dead animals, with encouragement from his father. In 1991, an adult Dahmer buys alcohol for 14-year old Konerak Sinthasomphone and brings him to his apartment under the guise of paying the teen for lewd photographs. Dahmer drugs the teen, then experiments by using a power drill to drill into the boy's skull. While Dahmer goes out to buy more alcohol, Konerak awakes and tries to escape but only makes it to the stairwell where Glenda and her daughter find him. Glenda is concerned about the boy's age, and calls police, but the police take Dahmer's word that the boy is an adult and is Dahmer's boyfriend. The police escort Konerak back inside, and Dahmer kills him after they leave. A real 1991 recording between Glenda and one of the Milwaukee police officers (discussing Konerak Sinthasomphone) is played in the ending credits.
3"Doin' A Dahmer"Clement VirgoRyan Murphy & Ian BrennanSeptember 21, 2022 (2022-09-21)
As a high school senior in 1977–78, Dahmer continues to show interest in animal dissection while also becoming fully aware of his sexual preference for men. After his father and mother divorce, his father moves in with his new girlfriend and soon after his mother moves away with Jeffrey's younger brother. Jeffrey is left alone in the house to fend for himself. He begins drinking heavily, lifting weights, and fantasizing about having a male companion in the house. He later picks up a hitchhiker named Steven Hicks and invites him to drink beer and work out. When Steven rejects Dahmer's sexual advance and uses a gay slur, Dahmer hits him with a barbell and then strangles him to death. Two police officers stop Jeffrey when they see his car swerving, but let him off with a warning despite seeing several garbage bags in the car's back seat.
4"The Good Boy Box"Jennifer LynchRyan Murphy & Ian BrennanSeptember 21, 2022 (2022-09-21)
Lionel returns to the Dahmer residence after three months, surprised to hear his ex-wife moved out, and discovers Jeff's drinking. Jeff attempts to talk to his father about his homicidal thoughts, but is interrupted by Lionel planning to send him to Ohio State University. At OSU, Dahmer is expelled for attendance issues, causing his father to enlist him in the Army in another attempt to get his son's life on track. In 1981, Dahmer is honorably discharged due to alcohol abuse. Lionel sends him to live with his grandmother, Catherine. At his grandma's suggestion, Dahmer goes to a state fair, where he gets drunk and is arrested for indecent exposure. He takes a job as a phlebotomist, where he steals blood bags and drinks from them. Dahmer later begins going to a gay bathhouse, but is soon banned for spiking drinks. In 1987, Dahmer accidentally drugs himself in a hotel room with another man, then wakes up the next morning to discover he had murdered him. He takes the body back to his grandma's house to dismember it in the basement. He seals the man's head in a bag and places it in a lock box his grandma gave him.
5"Blood On Their Hands"Jennifer LynchIan BrennanSeptember 21, 2022 (2022-09-21)
In 1987, Dahmer takes a job at a chocolate factory. He begins to seek out victims with the conscious intention of killing, beginning a cycle of bringing men to his grandma's house, drugging them, strangling them to death, and dismembering them in the cellar. Dahmer's family becomes aware of the smells coming from the cellar. Jeffrey invites a man struggling with his car to his grandma's house in an attempt to drug and kill him. Dahmer's grandma interrupts after the victim falls unconscious, and forces Jeffrey to put him on a bus. The police question Dahmer and his grandma after the victim speaks to the police, but find no evidence to arrest him. Dahmer is later arrested after another victim, Somsack Sinthasomphone, escapes. Jeffrey is found guilty of sexual assault and sent to jail. Lionel writes a letter to the judge, asking him to put Jeffrey in a treatment program for alcohol abuse, but the letter is ignored and he is released from custody a year later.
6"Silenced"Paris BarclayDavid McMillan & Janet MockSeptember 21, 2022 (2022-09-21)
In 1991, Tony Hughes makes a life for himself despite his deafness. He lands a job in Madison, but returns to spend time with his family in Milwaukee on weekends. One weekend evening, he dances at a bar and catches Dahmer's eye. Dahmer thinks about spiking Tony's drink at the bar, but reconsiders. Tony and Jeffrey say they like each other, and they meet again the following weekend. Dahmer invites Tony into his apartment, where he again considers drugging him but resists. The two sleep together, and the following morning Tony says he has to leave for work. Dahmer gets a hammer, but lets Tony go. However, when Tony returns for his keys, Dahmer kills him with the hammer. Tony's mother contacts police when her son has not checked in and missed work. They seemingly do nothing, so she posts "Missing Person" signs all over Milwaukee. As she does, she notices many other "Missing Person" signs near the gay bars.
7"Cassandra"Jennifer LynchIan Brennan & Janet Mock & David McMillanSeptember 21, 2022 (2022-09-21)
After Dahmer is arrested and news of his victims becomes public, there is widespread outrage with police among the victims' families, and particularly with Glenda Cleveland. She is most upset over the murder of Konerak Sinthasomphone (whom she tried to help before police returned him to Dahmer's apartment) and has been severely traumatized by listening to the noises (screams and power tools) coming from Dahmer's apartment. Dahmer's building is considered hazardous due to the chemicals he used to dissolve body parts. The tenants are evacuated, forcing Glenda to get a motel room. Jesse Jackson takes an interest in the case due to the large number of black and brown victims, and he meets with Glenda, who tells him of the horrors she witnessed — including a time when an angry Dahmer served her a sandwich made with (possible) human remains. Disgusted, Jesse Jackson vows to hold the Milwaukee Police accountable for their oversights.
8"Lionel"Gregg ArakiIan Brennan & David McMillanSeptember 21, 2022 (2022-09-21)
Lionel Dahmer is horrified by Jeffrey and what he has done. With his wife, he deals with his demons - alternately blaming himself and his ex-wife, Joyce. Jesse Jackson continues working on behalf of the victims' families. The two officers who were suspended over Konerak Sinthasomphone's case are reinstated. Jeffrey goes to trial after his insanity plea is denied. After he is sentenced to 15 life terms and victim statements are heard, Jeffrey is given a chance to speak. He says he knows he is mentally ill, and apologizes to the families. Lionel finds writing a book about being Jeffrey's father is therapeutic.
9"The Bogeyman"Jennifer LynchIan Brennan & David McMillan & Reilly SmithSeptember 21, 2022 (2022-09-21)
Family members of Dahmer's victims are dealing with grief, fear, sleeplessness and nightmares. After convincing Tony Hughes's mother to sue Lionel Dahmer (over the profits of his book), lawyer Joe Zilber brings a $14 million lawsuit against the City of Milwaukee on behalf of the victims' families. Lionel learns that any profits from his book will be paid to victims' families. In prison, Dahmer begins receiving "fan mail", with several people sending him money in exchange for autographed items. He obliges and sends them back.
10"God of Forgiveness, God of Vengeance"Paris BarclayIan Brennan & David McMillan & Reilly Smith & Todd KubrakSeptember 21, 2022 (2022-09-21)
After attending a church service in prison, Jeffrey asks to be baptized, near the same time as John Wayne Gacy's execution. The $14 million lawsuit is settled out of court for less than $900,000. Joe Zilber, angered that people plan to profit by selling items removed from Dahmer's home, offers the dealers double their asking price. He then gives every victim's family a share of what he paid, saying all the items will be destroyed. An inmate named Christopher Scarver kills Dahmer and another inmate Jesse Anderson with a metal bar, saying of Dahmer that God told him to commit the murder. Jeffrey's body is cremated, per his own wishes to have no funeral, but his brain is kept for scientific research. Lionel insists that the brain also be destroyed, while Joyce wants it to be studied. Lionel explains that he just wants closure and that the victims' families deserve closure. He argues that keeping the brain just delays healing. The judge sides with Lionel, and the brain is cremated. As Milwaukee residents watch, the Oxford Apartments are destroyed. The photos and names of Jeffrey Dahmer's victims are displayed in the closing titles.

Reception

Audience viewership

The series rose to the number-one spot on Netflix in the first week of its release.[3] In the second week of its release, Netflix announced that Dahmer was its ninth most popular English-language TV show of all time, with 56 million households having viewed all 10 episodes.[16][17]

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 58% approval rating with an average rating of 6.3/10, based on 24 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While Monster is seemingly self-aware of the peril in glorifying Jeffrey Dahmer, creator Ryan Murphy's salacious style nevertheless tilts this horror story into the realm of queasy exploitation."[18] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 45 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[19]

Kayla Cobb at Decider said the show "isn't just well directed, written, and acted. It's rewriting what a crime drama can look like if we stop glorifying murderers and start focusing more on systematic failures."[20] Caroline Framke of Variety argues that the show "simply can't rise to its own ambition of explaining both the man and the societal inequities his crimes exploited without becoming exploitative in and of itself."[21] Dan Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter praises episode 6 ("Silenced") as "easily the best episode of the series, an uncomfortably sweet and sad hour of TV that probably should have been the template for the entire show [and]...in placing a Black, deaf, gay character at the center of the narrative, the series is giving voice to somebody whose voice has too frequently been excluded from gawking serial killer portraits."[22][23]

On September 23, 2022, Netflix removed the series' "LGBTQ" tag after backlash on social media.[24][25]

Reactions from friends and family of Dahmer's victims

Dahmer has been criticized by some of the surviving family members of Dahmer's victims. For example, Eric Perry, a cousin of Dahmer victim Errol Lindsey, tweeted that his relatives did not find out about the series until September 21, when it was released on Netflix. Perry also asserted that the series re-traumatized the loved ones of Dahmer's victims.[26] Lindsey's sister Rita Isbell, who is depicted in the series yelling at Dahmer in a courtroom scene, described the show as feeling "harsh and careless" in an article published by Insider.com.[27][28] Shirley Hughes, the mother of Tony Hughes, who was killed by Dahmer, criticized the series both for inaccurately depicting the events surrounding her son's murder and for not contacting her or other surviving loved ones of Dahmer's victims during the production process. She told the Guardian that "it didn’t happen like that", adding: "I don’t see how they can do that. I don’t see how they can use our names and put stuff out like that out there."[26]

Errol Lindsey's 31-year-old daughter Tatiana Banks, who was born six months after her father's death, stated that she only knew at age four about her father's death, and she gradually got knowledge of Dahmer's crimes as she grew older. She commented that after seeing the series' depiction of her father's murderer and her aunt's impact statement, she kept getting nightmares of Dahmer, and the series renewed her grief of not knowing her father and of his brutal murder at the hands of Dahmer.[29]

Notelist

  1. ^ With some dialogs in Lao and American Sign Language
  2. ^ Stylized as DAHMER with its only "season" being named Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story [1]

References

  1. ^ "DAHMER". Netflix. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  2. ^ Budowski, Jade (October 4, 2022). "Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story becomes Netflix's 9th most popular series of all time". Snugglefish Media. Primetimer.
  3. ^ a b Andreeva, Nellie (October 8, 2022). "Ryan Murphy Scores TV-Film #1 On Netflix With 'Dahmer' & 'Mr. Harrigan's Phone'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  4. ^ "Netflix's 'exploitative' new series Jeffrey Dahmer is reopening victims' wounds". Independent.co.uk. September 29, 2022.
  5. ^ "Dahmer: When True Crime Dramas Cross the Line of Exploitation". October 15, 2022.
  6. ^ "Netflix's Dahmer is Shamelessly Exploitative and Exhausting".
  7. ^ "EBay bans the sale of Jeffrey Dahmer Halloween costumes". The A.V. Club.
  8. ^ "Inside the Mind of Jeffrey Dahmer – Beautiful Minds". sites.psu.edu. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
  9. ^ VanHoose, Benjamin (June 9, 2021). "Evan Peters Transforms into Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer in First Set Photo from Upcoming Series". People. Archived from the original on January 14, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  10. ^ Gajewski, Ryan (June 9, 2021). "See Evan Peters Become Jeffrey Dahmer in First Photo From Netflix's Monster". E! Online. Archived from the original on January 14, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  11. ^ O'Connor, Roisin (March 26, 2021). "Ryan Murphy's Jeffrey Dahmer series has found an actor to play the notorious serial killer". The Independent. Archived from the original on January 14, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  12. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (March 23, 2021). "'Monster': Evan Peters, Niecy Nash, Penelope Ann Miller & More Join Netflix Series From Ryan Murphy & Ian Brennan". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 16, 2021. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  13. ^ Hipes, Patrick (March 31, 2021). "Michael Learned Joins Cast Of Netflix's 'Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story' From Ryan Murphy And Ian Brennan". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on January 23, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  14. ^ Rai, Aditi (September 23, 2022). "Dahmer Episode 6: Silenced is a Beautiful and Heartbreaking Story of a Man's Stolen Dreams". Leisure Byte. Archived from the original on September 25, 2022. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
  15. ^ "'Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story' Soundtrack Album Details". Film Music Reporter. September 20, 2022. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  16. ^ Bell, BreAnna (October 4, 2022). "Jeffrey Dahmer Series 'Monster' Is Netflix's Ninth Most-Watched English-Language Series of All Time". Variety. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
  17. ^ White, Peter (September 27, 2022). "'Dahmer: Monster – The Jeffrey Dahmer Story' Locks Up Netflix's Biggest Audience Since 'Stranger Things' Return". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 8, 2022. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
  18. ^ "Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 21, 2022.
  19. ^ "Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story: Season 1". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  20. ^ Cobb, Kayla (September 21, 2022). "'Dahmer' Netflix Review: Stream It or Skip It?". Decider. Archived from the original on September 25, 2022. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
  21. ^ Framke, Caroline (September 21, 2022). "Netflix's Jeffrey Dahmer Series 'Monster' Marks a Grim, All Too Predictable Addition to Ryan Murphy's Oeuvre: TV Review". Variety. Archived from the original on September 25, 2022. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
  22. ^ Fienberg, Daniel (September 23, 2022). "'Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story' Review: Ryan Murphy, Netflix, Rinse, Repeat". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on September 23, 2022. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
  23. ^ "Netflix's Jeffrey Dahmer drama attracts huge ratings and strong reactions". BBC News. September 30, 2022. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  24. ^ Del Rosario, Alexandra (September 28, 2022). "After fans dismiss it as 'pretty gross,' Netflix drops LGBTQ tag for 'Dahmer' series". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 8, 2022. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  25. ^ Sharf, Zack (September 28, 2022). "Netflix Removes LGBTQ Tag From 'Dahmer' After Backlash From Viewers: 'Not The Representation We're Looking For'". Variety. Archived from the original on October 8, 2022. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  26. ^ a b Vargas, Ramon Antonio (October 10, 2022). "Mother of Dahmer victim condemns Netflix series: 'I don't see how they can do that'". The Guardian. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  27. ^ Strause, Jackie; Strause, Jackie (September 28, 2022). "Jeffrey Dahmer Victim's Family Speaks Out About Netflix Series". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  28. ^ Vlamis, Kelsey (September 26, 2022). "My brother was murdered by Jeffrey Dahmer. Here's what it was like watching the Netflix show that recreated the emotional statement I gave in court". Insider. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  29. ^ "The daughter of one of Jeffrey Dahmer's victims says she hasn't been able to sleep since the Netflix show came out: 'I don't deserve this. None of the victims deserve it.'". Insider. October 16, 2022. Retrieved October 18, 2022.

Further reading

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