Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is a TV series created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan for Netflix in 2022. Following the true crime trend that has been very popular in recent years, the ten episodes are inspired by the events that really happened to the so-called monster of Milwaukee.

The strangeness of the title of this series is due to the fact that Jeffrey Dahmer‘s is the first of three stories that will be told in an anthology, called Monster.

Jeffrey Dahmer is a well-known American serial killer who, among other things, killed 17 men between 1978 and 1991.

The series has received mixed reviews:
– there are those who say that the show is only a commercial manoeuvre that rides the hype that the true crime genre is receiving in recent years;
– there are those who criticize it because the families of the victims were not consulted before its creations;
– those who appreciate it thanks to its rhythm, special effects and acting;
– those who consider it essential to understand the psychology behind certain actions.

It is undeniable that the series takes advantage of the golden moment of true crime, and that entrusting its realization to one of the geniuses of television horror helped to create a quality product that could lead to a higher income.

The lack of promotion prior to the airing of the episodes makes me think of a sense of guilt on the part of the creators of the series towards the relatives of the victims, or a desire to keep a low profile to avoid complaints that could have postponed the airing of the series. While I understand the point of view of these families, some have in fact said that the series has reopened painful wounds, I do not share their desire to avoid the creation of the series. In fact, that of the victims is a story which, in addition to generating income, can help prevent the same events from repeating themselves. I also believe that evil must be talked about, so as not to forget that it exists and has devastating consequences.

Furthermore, with great respect, the victims and not the killer are placed at the centre of the narrative. In this regard, the best episode of the series should be mentioned, Silenced, in which the point of view is that of one of Dahmer’s victims. Since Tony was deaf, the episode contains no dialogue, and is made up mainly of music and silences.

I find that the purposes of this series are mainly two:
1 – show what were the elements that led this person to commit such heinous gestures, however, without justifying their actions. Probable contamination by psychoactive drugs when he was still a foetus, a dysfunctional family with parents who were unable to read the signs of a profound disorder (many experts state that Jeffrey could have been “cured” if his parents had realized that he needed medical help), alcoholism, paraphiliac disorder and the society that has marginalized and judged him because he is different;
2 – show the racism present within the forces of order (and what better time to bring this issue on stage than the one in which the Black Lives Matter movement exists?) and their discrimination against minorities and women.

Evan Peters with his acting manages to render the nuances of Jeffrey Dahmer‘s character and disorders, while heartbreaking is the point of view of the killer’s father, Lionel Dahmer, played by Richard Jenkins, who in fact shows the difficulties and remorse that a parent can have in a tragic situation like this. On the other hand, the very interesting character of Glenda Cleveland, played by Niecy Nash, is fictionalized, and represents more than a real character, Dahmer’s neighbours, who had noticed that something was wrong in the killer’s flat.

The pace of the narration is slow, and together with the music it manages to create the right atmosphere for the events narrated.

Even if the story of a serial killer is told, his point of view is almost never present or justified. The spectator’s pity is not evoked, not even when, at the end of the narration, a comparison is made between Dahmer, repentant and converted, with John Wayne Gacy, his contemporary serial killer, who never repented of his atrocious actions.

The Life and Crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer: Timeline of Events

I should have stayed with God. I tried and failed and created a holocaust.

• 05/21/1960: Jeffrey Dahmer was born to a mother who took barbiturates, morphine, and phenobarbital while pregnant.
• 1964: Jeffrey undergoes an operation to correct a double scrotal hernia, which makes him become introverted and generates in him a sense of sexual inadequacy and insecurity.
• 1966: The birth of his younger brother causes Jeffrey to feel neglected and to develop a terror of new situations and people.
• 1968: Jeffrey is sexually abused by a neighbour.
• 1978: his parents divorce and both leave the house, where Jeffrey now lives alone. In the same year, the boy graduates and kills his first victim, the hitch-hiker Steven Hicks, strangling him with a gym weight. Subsequently, Dahmer strips the body and destroys the bones. Jeffrey didn’t want Steven to leave him.
  Jeffrey is kicked out of college after one semester and enlists. In the army, he is trained as a medical aid and learns a lot about drugs for drugging people.
• 1981: He is discharged from the army due to his alcohol addiction.
• 1982: Jeffrey is arrested for public indecency.
• 1986: Jeffrey begins to frequent gay clubs, but was exiled from a bath house because he had a habit of drugging his partners and leaving them there.
• 1987: under the influence of drugs, kills Steven Tuomi, and dismembers his body at his grandmother’s house.
• 1988: Jeffrey offers James Doxtator money for nude pictures and strangles him. After this murder, the killer begins to destroy the bodies of the victims using acid.
  Richard Guerrero is a victim of the same pattern.
  Moving to a new flat, Jeffrey tries to do the same with another boy, who however managed to escape and have him arrested.
• 1989: Convicted of sexual assault, Jeffrey serves 10 months in prison.
  Kills Anthony Sears and keeps his skull at his grandmother’s house.
• 1990: Ricky Beeks is killed and Dahmer performs acts of necrophilia on his body.
  Edward Smith was killed in the same year, and the killer enjoys taking pictures during the body dismemberment phase.
  The same fate befell Ernst Miller, whose biceps he kept in the freezer.
  In the same year, David Thomas also lost his life to Jeffrey Dahmer.
• 1991: Curtis Straughter and Errol Lindsey are drugged and killed.
  Dahmer then tries to transform the young Konerak Sinthasomphone into a personal zombie, injecting him with acid into a hole opened in the skull thanks to a drill. The boy manages to escape, but the police, believing him to be drugged and without listening to the pleas of the neighbours, return him to Jeffrey, who had declared that he was just his drunk boyfriend. Once freed from the police, Dahmer kills Konerak.
  The deaf-mute friend, Tony Hughes, is killed in the same year.
  After his killing, Matt Turner is dissolved in acid and his head stored in the freezer. The same fate befell Jeremiah Weinberger. Oliver Lacy suffers a similar fate, but his heart is also preserved and placed in the fridge to be eaten later.
  Joseph Brafehoft is Dahmer’s latest victim, as Tracy Edwards manages to escape and report him to a police patrol. Finally, the killer’s flat is searched and all his macabre souvenirs found.
  Jeffrey confesses immediately.
• 1992: Dahmer is denied insanity, and after ten hours of consultation he is sentenced to 16 life sentences.
• 1994: Dahmer is killed in prison by another inmate, with psychotic delusions, who hits him on the head with a gym weight.