Jeffery Dahmer Netflix Series

Five years after the release of feature film My Friend Dahmer Dahmer, Netflix aired its ten episode series, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.  Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the show covers the mind set and methods used by Jeffrey Dahmer; the infamous cannibalistic serial killer, pedophile, necrophiliac, who murdered and dismembered 17 people from 1978-1991.  A lot of the plot takes place from the perspective of different victims, mainly composed of men and boys from marginalized ethnic groups.  The show also takes a look into how the police’s ineptitude allowed Dahmer to get away for long, showing him almost getting caught on 10 different occasions.  The show jumps between Dahmer’s childhood, murders and his eventual arrest, featuring Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer, Niecy Nash in the role of the neighbor Glenda Cleveland, Molly Ringwald as his stepmother Sherri Dahmer, Richard Jenkins playing Dahmer’s father, Lionel, and Micheal Learned as his grandmother Catherine. 

“I am a huge Evan Peters fan and was really excited to hear about his role in this series.  I loved watching him in American Horror Story and cannot wait to see how he tackled this part,” said Junior Holly Sternlicht. 

The series depicts Dahmer’s childhood, giving the audience some background on him as a person.  He was neglected by his parents during his adolescence, with his father, Lionel, always traveling for work, while his biological mother was a victim of depression and addiction.  Eventually, they would divorce leaving little contact between Dahmer and his mother.  Sherri, Lionel’s new wife, would take the role of the stepmother. His father would also teach him to dissect dead animals which would lead to alarming tendencies later in his teenage years. 

The series quickly gained a lot of attention, garnering 701.37M hours viewed in its first three weeks: 196.2M hours in its first week, 299.84M hours viewed during its second week, and 205.33 in the third.  The show became Netflix’s No. 2 English-language TV series of all time, ranking only behind Stranger Things 4. 

“It is so crazy how much traction this show gained. It’s been all over my TikTok and all my friends are watching it,” said Junior Tess Romero.  

Despite its popularity, the show has received a lot of backlash.  While Netflix said the series “will give notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims a voice,” many people have begun to accuse the streaming channel of ulterior motives.  Rita Isbell, sister of 19-year old victim Errol Lindsey, spoke out against Netflix.  “I was never contacted about the show. I feel like Netflix should’ve asked if we mind or how we felt about making it. They didn’t ask me anything. They just did it,” she wrote in a personal essay published through the Insider when discussing an extremely emotional re-enactment the series included of her Victim Impact StatementShe then went on to accuse the streaming company of making the series out of greed, explaining how “I could even understand it if they gave some of the money to the victims’ children. Not necessarily their families. I mean, I’m old. I’m very, very comfortable. But the victims have children and grandchildren. If the show benefited them in some way, it wouldn’t feel so harsh and careless.  It’s sad that they’re just making money off of this tragedy. That’s just greed.”  Many have also accused the series of glorifying Dahmer by casting Evan Peters, an actor who is known for fawned over even in his creepy roles in American Horror Story. Following his performance, Dahmer’s real glasses from his time in prison were sold for $150,000.  People have begun romanticizing the cannibalistic pedophile serial killer which is extremely painful for the victims families and the reality of what happened.

“I am absolutely disgusted that Netflix blatantly ignored the families of the victims in order to feed their own greed.  The idea of people romanticizing Dahmer is disgusting,” said Junior Taylor Schorr.