Sooo when I found out that Netflix’s would be making a ten- episode series on the Murderers of Jeffrey Dahmer, I was intrigued to check it out once it was released. On September 21st this series was released with its first-two episodes on Netflix.
This series starrs Evan Peters (“American Horror Story”), Richard Jenkins (“Nightmare Alley”), Molly Ringwald (CW’s “Riverdale”), Michael Beach (“Law & Order”), just to name a few. This series was directed by Jennifer Lynch (“American Horror Story”).
Onto the premise: Story of the Milwaukee Monster told from the perspective of the victims and police incompetency that allowed the Wisconsin native to go on a multiyear killing spree.
In episode one, After throwing his neighbor off the stench coming from his apartment, Jeff heads to a local bar, where a stranger takes him up on a tempting offer.
This episode and series in general is definitely one for the weak hearted with it’s disturbing scenes..
I didn’t know much about Dahmer.
I was not expecting much of the series, but the acting on Jeffrey Dahmber by Evan Peters is absolutely sublime! He really manages to give off an ‘uncanny’ feeling just walking around.
The episode is kind of slow-paced, but that really does help in conveying the ‘serial killer feel’ he is supposed to give off. Featuring only two characters, really, and being shot in two places, the episode did manage to keep me hooked for the enitre time and all characters, though few, were very well written!
This episode had me so anxious. I felt like i couldn’t breathe for the first half and my heart was pounding the whole time. The atmosphere is so creepy. The acting from all people involved is so so good, i felt like i was watching the real people.
To think this actually happened is truly horrifying. Evan Peters is fantastic in American Horror Story but in Dahmer he is has knocked it out of the park!
This is a must watch for all true crime buffs. I can’t wait to watch the rest of the series.
In episode two, A young Jeff contends with troubles at home and school. Years later, his strange behavior evolves into murderous deeds that slip past the police.
If you have ever seen an interview with Jeffery Dahmer you can see how much of a weird dead robot he is, and evan peters pulled it off perfectly.
This episode focuses more so on the life of Jeffery Dahmer both as a kid and as a adult. It establishes how Jeff acted around both, family, and strangers. And as anyone can imagine he acted strange and creepy. As this episode is another unsettling one it also leaves me to wonder why he got away with the murder for as long as he was committing them. I mean he usually just walks up to one person in a group of people, tells them his actual name, and says he wants to party at his apartment. Feels like they should have caught him earlier. But still another good episode that Evan peters makes as thrilling as the last one.
In episode three, Left to live alone after his parents’ turbulent divorce, high school senior Jeff breaks routine when he invites a hitchhiker into his home.
In episode four, From high school to the Army, Jeff struggles to find stability. While living in his grandmother’s house, Jeff begins targeting young men at gay bars.
In episode five, Jeff’s list of victims grows longer without a full police investigation. An encounter with a teen lands him in jail. Later, he gets his own apartment.
In episode six, Aspiring model Tony moves to Madison and meets Jeff at a bar, beginning a relationship through handwritten notes that takes a dark turn.
In episode seven, A prominent activist meets with Glenda, who recounts her harrowing experiences living next door to Jeff and how her concerns went largely ignored.
In episode eight, As Jeff awaits trial, his father deals with his own demons, the Milwaukee police try to save face and the victims’ families share their stories.
In episode nine, Glenda, the victims and their families do their best to move forward despite haunting memories, while Jeff attracts fanfare from behind bars.
In episode ten, In prison, Jeff’s newfound fame makes him a target. His parents seek closure and Glenda pushes for a memorial on familiar grounds to honor the victims.
This episode is a slow-burn and kinda boring until the 35:00 minute mark…
Because then he lures a hitchhiker back to his place… my biggest issue with this one is that this episode is supposed to be an extremely important episode in the serial killing life of Jeffrey Dahmer, in fact it’s THE most important as it’s his first kill… but Evan Peters plays Dahmer as such a freak all along, and the non-linnear approach having shown him kill plenty already, makes the first time mean close to nothing…
It’s not a discovery like it’s supposed to be, which turns into something like Dahmer becoming Dr. Frankenstein, basically…
If everything’s weird, nothing is entertaining just weird… Also there was a scene at high school, when Dahmer was making his schoolmates laugh, which really happened… But again, Evan Paters plays it like a performance of a freak TRYING to be funny…
That sex scene with the corpse of a certain person made very uncomfortable.
Nevertheless Evan is amazing not just in his acting but his embodiment of the character. Like I said before, it’s scary how well he is embodying the real Jeff Dahmer.
My biggest issue with this episode was that it was too dark at times, color-grading wise.
Development of the victims story could have made this more interesting and less disturbing, but more importantly made this about telling the victims story. Sensationalize story wasn’t necessary and missed an opportunity for original storytelling from the victims perspective and the impact Dahmer had on so many lives beyond just those he murdered. Dahmer’s story is not even about sexuality which seems to be the focus. He was a very mentally disturbed person who craved power and control.
This episode was hard to watch from the start, because you know how Tony’s story is going to end. It’s obvious when you start a series about Dahmer it isn’t going to be sunshine and rainbows, but the way this episode goes so far to show Tony was an actual person and not just a “statistic” of Dahmer, with a personality, family and friends, dreams… it was so well done. Horrible, but well done.
I’m apparently quite a few characters short of the required amount, so I’m just going to babble on to get to the character limit a bit here. Truly a great episode in very good series, I’m still in shock at how well done it was.
Glenda Cleveland (Jeff’s neighbor), was a warrior, the amount of effort and time she spent trying to get the police attention , to get him caught or at least investigated is amazing.
This episode isn’t much about race as it’s of the authorities failure, it shows how this case was the neglected and if someone just listened to Glenda once, things could have ended sooner and innocent lives would have been saved.
I can’t even imagine the horrors she overheard and the trauma experienced. And the sandwich thing !!!!!
Shoutout to her and I hope she managed to get over this traumatizing experience!
i’m totally hooked on this show right now. The acting is top notch, Evan Peters and Richard Jenkins are on top of their prime.
This episode is mainly seen through the eyes of the family’s victims and most of these scenes are really heartwrenching to look at.
Like I mentioned before, its all about the acting! Richard Jenkins shines and eventually admits that he is the who’s responsible for all the bad things that happened in his past and eventually led to one of the most notorious serial killers in the US.
That scene was powerful and for the first time ever in this series, I actually felt sorry for the guy. Immediately I felt guilty for feeling some sympathy for this horrific monster.
This episode, like the sixth episode, these two episodes are the best one because they tell the story of Dahmer, whose mental illness was not about sexuality, but his need for power and control, and the tragedy inflicted on hundreds on people beyond those he killed.
The Sinthasomphone family story is the biggest story because they had two sons victimized. While one brother escaped, the other was brutally assaulted, escaped and return to Dahmer by the police when he told them it was his boyfriend. Glenda Cleveland fought for Konerak and told police he was a child. That fell on deaf ears and he was then murdered.
It never should have happened. An immigrant family was not important to police.
Glenda Cleveland who tried repeatedly to get police to listen to her was a poor black woman who wasn’t important to police. There were five murders that never should have happened because people of color didn’t matter. This is the story that should have been told!!
Again they have to lie to give Christopher Scarver an excuse for killing Dahmer, and he doesn’t need an excuse… Scarver did something for all of us, and he was great for doing it: but here they show Dahmer, a wimpy white dude, as acting like the bully.
Overall, this is a kind of halfway serial killer movie, and another part is a Civil Rights movie… That’s show biz, but overall, while interesting and while pulling you in, it’s far too long… In conclusion, this show is great and hats off to Evan Peters!
Evan Peters as Dahmer plays the same droning creep from the beginning when he was picking up gay guys as he does here in prison. When you watch the Stone Philips 1994 interview with Dahmer, you can see that the most ironic thing is how “normal” Dahmer seems. Almost boring. But he doesn’t act like he’s a cardboard cutout psycho from an old movie, like Peters makes him out to be…
There’s a scene before Dahmer meets his end, and he’s lying down, reading the bible… This is probably the most real moment Peters could conjure…. As truth is stranger than fiction. Which MONSTER mostly is.
Overall I really enjoyed the first two episodes even if I was terrified and anxious. I’m still very excited about the upcoming episodes.
Stay tuned for more reviews and listen to this week’s podcast episode for a deeper review.
Movie reviews with ceren 