Dahmer – Monsters: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story TV Review

Plot: Between 1978 and 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer cruelly took the lives of seventeen innocent victims. DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is a series that uncovers these ruthless crimes and revolves around the underserved victims and their communities affected by the systemic racism and institutional police failures that allowed one of America’s most notorious serial killers to commit his Killing streak in focus for over a decade.

Review: The awkwardly titled DAHMER – Monsters: The Story of Jeffrey Dahmer is simultaneously one of the best and one of the worst series of 2022. As Ryan Murphy’s mega deal with Netflix progresses, this true crime drama seeks to offer a unique look at one of the most disturbing figures of the 20th century. As he handles the most gruesome elements of Dahmer’s crimes from the perspective of his maimed victims, monster is at the same time a well filmed and structured series that manages to be extremely difficult to sustain. While the subject itself is difficult to process, monster also manages to move so slowly that it’s difficult to focus on the story being told.

The ten-episode series hasn’t received a preview for critics, which usually doesn’t bode well for the quality of the production. Reuniting Ryan Murphy with his longtime producing and writing partner Ian Brennan, who was a co-creator ratchet, and Halston, monsters attempts to combine elements from the FX series American crime thriller with a different perspective than the countless documentaries and films about Jeffrey Dahmer. The first half of this series’ episodes, moving from Dahmer’s arrest in the first episode to flashbacks to his various murders, tries very hard to personalize the dead and not sensationalize Dahmer himself. The second half of the season focuses on Dahmer’s trial and imprisonment, with much time devoted to how the media circus has affected not only the Dahmer family but the families of his victims as well.

Frequent Murphy actor Evan Peters cools off as Dahmer and does an amazing job mimicking the serial killer’s idiosyncrasies, speech patterns, and almost robotic dispositions. When I first started watching the first episode of the series, I couldn’t tell if Peters would take this performance in a similar direction to his work American Horror Story and play the role a little broader, but the actor is very reticent. Surprisingly, the entire series is understated compared to much of Murphy and Brennan’s work. There are moments of violence and blood monster but most are shown afterwards. The series refrains from showing many of the murders itself, instead showing us scene after scene as Dahmer punishes himself for his actions and regrets his loneliness. The series struggles here to keep us from sympathizing with Dahmer despite spending so much time trying to figure out why he did what he did.

The supporting cast surrounding Peters give their best in their roles, most notably Richard Jenkins as Lionel, Jeffrey’s father, and Molly Ringwald as stepmother Shari. Niecy Nash is quite good as Dahmer’s neighbor who notices his strange behavior and the horrible smell coming from his apartment. We also get a solid twist from Penelope Ann Miller as Dahmer’s mother, Joyce, along with several other familiar faces throughout the series. The challenge in telling such a disturbing story is balancing humanity with inhumanity. Although the crimes aren’t explicitly shown, the focus is heavily on Jeffrey Dahmer, who grapples with his homosexuality and ingrained societal homophobia. The dialogue often feels cliche and ponderous as we are asked to analyze Dahmer’s crimes and the crimes committed against him as a gay man in the 1980s.

While Ryan Murphy only helped write the first four episodes, co-creator Ian Brennan shares credit for every episode but one. The ten-part journey this series takes often feels like it could have been cut in half and still got the same result. With five directors helming the series, Murphy and Brennan selected all of the filmmakers to be either black, female, gay, or a combination thereof. Veteran television director Paris Barclay directed two episodes while Carl Franklin tackled the first, with indie filmmakers Greg Araki directing one and Clement Virgo directing two. Jennifer Lynch has done the brunt of the work here, as she is directing four episodes of the series. The diverse talents behind the camera bring quality to the series’ visual range, awash with night shots and heavy shadows. A lot of things about the series reminded me of the movie Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer in the restless framing and the very calm, almost music-free large part of the series.

Dahmer – Monsters: The Story of Jeffrey Dahmer Premieres just about a month before Netflix reveals their latest Conversations with a Murderer Season dedicated to the same crimes. Something about Dahmer’s story feels wrong to be told in a dramatized format and should be left to documentary filmmakers. It’s a shame as Evan Peters delivers a haunting performance and both Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan have created one of their strongest series yet. It’s just a shame that the topic feels wrong. Everyone involved with this show does an admirable job trying to tell this story in a way that isn’t offensive, but rather informs. The end result is just too slow and uncomfortable and not worth checking out.

Dahmer – Monsters: The Story of Jeffrey Dahmer is stream now on Netflix.

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