I feel like a large subsection of true crime fans are also horror fans. It just makes sense. We love the scary, creepy, and downright disturbing, fact or fiction. When my adoration for the chilling was growing I was in late middle school. So naturally, I fell into shows that very much fit the adolescent’s desire for scary. Shows like Supernatural and true crime documentaries were always in my cue. But one stood out from the rest, one show was the all-star that I could rerun and never get tired of…American Horror Story. And one actor from that series took my heart immediately. So, as you can imagine, this new series was on my calendar as soon as this Evan Peters-loving, criminal psychology-obsessed gal heard about it.
Yesterday, Monster: The Jeffery Dahmer Story was released on Netflix, and here’s everything you need to know about the first two episodes.
The show is told from a few very unique perspectives. I think it was a very interesting approach to make the first episode a recounting of the night he was caught. The series opens up in Glenda Cleveland’s apartment. Played by Niecy Nash, Cleveland was Dahmer’s neighbor in the apartment building where most (and the most gruesome) of his killings took place. She complained to him about the smell and odd sounds she could hear from his place often, indicating that this was a recurring problem. We find out later that she had been contacting the building and police about Dahmer’s suspicious behavior for over a year. Her talk with him in the hall is the first time we get a feel for the awkward demeanor of her neighbor. We also get our first full-body shot of Peter’s portrayal of Jeffrey Dahmer. And I just have to say…Wow. I thought that they did amazing at transforming Ross Lynch for My Friend Dahmer, but this was a whole other level of eerily accurate. He’s got everything from the clothes, to the posture, to the manner of speaking down perfectly. As he does with almost every role he plays, he went from acting as the character to being the person. We see this in the next few scenes where he goes to a nightclub and works his way to taking Tracy Edwards, played by Shaun Brown. This is when the episode goes from creepy to actually scary. The ordeal Edwards goes through in Dahmer’s apartment gives us insight into how off-kilter Dahmer actually is. He’s controlling Edwards’ actions by holding him at knifepoint and the things Dahmer tells Edwards were enough to turn my stomach. After a disturbing interaction, Edwards manages to escape and bring the police into Dahmer’s apartment. Knowing the true story, we all know that this is the end of Dahmer’s heinous acts. The policemen find the polaroids that Dahmer took of his victims and make their arrest. Another thing I found quite interesting is that I believe the pictures used in the show were real images that the real Dahmer took. The episode ends with his father being contacted and told what happened. Between the news reporters speaking, as he was arrested and the police talking to his father, we really get every single gruesome detail of what they found inside the apartment. I’ll spare you those details and let you just watch for yourself.
The second episode is a decent bit of exposition done very well. It gives brief explanations while leaving room for more in later episodes. Personally, I am a fan of time jumps. This episode is full of them. It starts out with Dahmer getting taken into interrogation. When he begins explaining, the episode proceeds to bounce around between 1966 (when Dahmer was 6), 1981 (21), and 1991 (31). We see his troubled childhood due to his parents’ unstable marriage and his being seen as an outcast in school and the early signs of what was to come. He took an extreme interest in roadkill and dissecting it. Perhaps perpetuating his antisocial behavior, it is heavily indicated that his father tried to be there for Jeff but couldn’t create the bond he may have needed. The episode then cuts to 1981, after Dahmer got out of the Army. He had moved to Miami but was very clearly struggling with being alone and having no social skills as well as raging alcoholism. His father agrees to move him to his grandmother’s if he can shape up and stop drinking. Indicating a very positive relationship together, the time at his grandmother’s is seen as very comfortable for him. Until she starts talking about him dating… dating women. He never shows any anger or depravity towards her, but you can tell he is uncomfortable. His stay ends when she finds something he stole from a clothing store. A mannequin. You’ll see why he took it. After she finds it in his bed, the scene cuts to 1991. Now in his apartment in Milwaukee, and given the time frame of his crimes, he had a few victims already. He lures Konerak Sinthasomphone to his apartment. If you know anything about Dahmer, you know that Konerak is not only the brother of an escaped victim, Somsack Sinthasomphone, but he is also the young boy that escaped after being tortured only to be escorted back to Dahmer’s apartment by police after they believed Jeff’s lies. We end with more concern from Glenda Cleveland and a cliffhanger of what happened to Konerak.
If you can’t already tell, this series is absolutely my newest obsession. Evan Peters once again displays his endless talent and vast acting range. His skills will never stop amazing me. I will be binging this show, and I suggest you do the same.