Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix)

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EXCLUSIVE: Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, a limited series co-created by longtime collaborators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, has been greenlighted by Netflix, with Richard Jenkins co-starring, Carl Franklin (Mindhunter, The Leftovers) directing and Janet Mock (Pose, Hollywood) writing and directing. Production is slated to begin in January.

Monster chronicles the story of one of America’s most notorious serial killers, largely told from the point of view of Dahmer’s victims, and dives deeply into the police incompetence and apathy that allowed the Wisconsin native to go on a multiyear killing spree. The series dramatizes at least 10 instances where Dahmer was almost apprehended but ultimately let go. The series also is expected to touch on white privilege, as Dahmer, a clean-cut, good-looking white guy, was repeatedly given a free pass by cops as well as by judges who were lenient when he had been charged with petty crimes.

Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Jenkins (The Shape Of Water) will play Dahmer’s father Lionel, a chemist, who showed him how to safely bleach and preserve animal bones when he was a child, a technique Jeffrey later gave a sinister twist with his victims. Unlike Murphy’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace, in which he had only one choice for the role of murderer Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss), Murphy and the rest of the producers are casting a wide net to cast Dahmer, with a nationwide search underway for an actor to play the role. The producers also are meeting actresses for the lead female role of Glenda Cleveland, a neighbor of Dahmer’s who repeatedly tried to warn law enforcement of his erratic behavior, to no avail.

Rounding out the writers room with Brennan and Mock will be David McMillan, who will serve as supervising producer for the 10-episode limited series that spans the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s and ends with Dahmer’s arrest in the early ’90s.

Known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, Dahmer murdered and dismembered 17 men and boys from 1978-1991, many of them persons of color and some underage. Most of the murders also involved necrophilia, cannibalism and the preservation of body parts. Convicted of 16 murders, he was beaten to death by another inmate in 1994, two years into his sentence. He was 34.

In 1991, Cleveland sprung into action when her daughter and niece told her they spotted a teenage boy, Konerak Sinthasomphone, fleeing from Dahmer’s apartment and were rebuffed by police at the scene, taking Dahmer’s word that was actually an adult and his lover who had left after an argument. Cleveland called police numerous times and even tried calling the FBI, but got nowhere. Five of Dahmer’s 17 murders, including 14-year-old Konerak, came after Cleveland tried to alert police. She later said in interviews that she believed her being Black played a role in the police not taking her pleas seriously.
 
Murphy and the rest of the producers are casting a wide net to cast Dahmer, with a nationwide search underway for an actor to play the role

so they go with Murphy regular Evan Peters, who's probably exactly the actor anyone (everyone?) would think they'd cast when they hear Murphy's making a Dahmer show :laugh: I mean, they guy's pretty much born to play him, why even bother getting any other actor's hopes up?
 
The first 3 are good and show promise, that is assuming Netflix / Murphy don't drag it out.
It's already going with spreading about potential triggers / causality for his psychoses: from his mother's abuse of prescribed drugs whilst pregnant, an operation as a child in which his dad said he came back altered (I assume oxygen / anaesthetic issues?) and a truly messed up relationship with his mother but more so, his father and his encouraging experimenting on animal dissection as a young boy on.. Then of course, there's the significant amounts of alcohol abuse by Dahmer himself.
The police seem as inept as those for Peter Sutcliffe over here, what with their opportunities to have caught him from the outset to numerous other times along his murderous career, but kept letting him off due to homophobia, cutting him a (white guy) break, racism to witnesses / accusers or, God knows what, really?
The whole thing is both bewildering and horrifying.
 
It's excellent, really good performances, especially Evan Peters.
 
Finished it tonight. Absolutely horrific.

I'd read a fair amount about him but nothing prepares you for seeing it on the screen.

Very highly recommended.
 
What did we learn from all this? Basically; if Jeffrey had been hugged enough as a child or met a hugger, there'd of been no need for any of his abhorrent behaviours and, so we should all hug it out, bitches. Where's Jeremy Piven when we need him. Oh, yeah, cancelled.
 
There's also the question of mum's drug use and the operation he had at 4 was also mentioned.

Although I'm not sure a lot of what dad said could be trusted.
 
There's also the question of mum's drug use and the operation he had at 4 was also mentioned.

Although I'm not sure a lot of what dad said could be trusted.
Being exposed to cutting animals up at such a young age probably didn't help matters either
 
Episode 6 is one of the finest hours of TV I have ever watched.
 
this one's apparently very popular with the staff at our local hospital, according to the 2 nurses that were assisting the consultant with my partner's back treatment yesterday. They were discussing it with her for about 30 minutes before one of the nurses turned to me and said "Have you watched it yet? Sorry... er... spoiler alert"... luckily I'm quite on it as far as my Dahmer knowledge goes from documentaries and a couple of books. By the end of her appointment though it felt like I may as well have been ringside at all of his murders plus everything he did to the bodies afterwards.

But yeah, nurses are really into serial killers, apparently.
 
I wonder if the occupational therapists got Jeffrey a memory mattress and pillow to curb his desires in prison, by making him feel less abandoned?
 
Started this tonight, I only know a bit about Dahmer to be honest so this will be interesting to watch. Wife was not a fan of the 1st episode as she didn't know anything about Dahmer.
 
Interesting that he said he deserved to die. I doubt all the criminologists / psychiatrists / certain behavioural Government police agencies etc. galore out there wanted that.
 
Finished last night. Brilliant and horrific at the same time. Couldn’t think of a better casting than Peters. Not sure I ‘enjoyed’ it, more like fascinated by it.

Main criticism would be the last 2 or 3 episodes were a bit of a mess IMO. Trying to cover too much of the backstory of the political fall out and victims families story. Which is great, it shouldn’t be all about Dahmer, but too many things seemed to be bolted on and it all seemed a bit all over the place, and unfocused. That could (should) have been done better.

I also found it interesting how little was mentioned about his brother, seemed deliberate. Almost as if he was consulted and requested to be mentioned as little as possible.
 
Peters is absolutely brilliant, isn’t he. (He was great in American Horror Story, and really showed his acting ability in Cult, where he played a number of real people).
 
I've been saying this for years but anyone who walks without moving their arms is a serial killer.
 
gave up into ep 3, tedious AF.
 
Episode 10:
He got what he deserved in the end. It's a shame it took so long.

Those two cops wtf! The cops need to stop protecting their own and instead weed out the bad
apples. They were not just negligent but highly incompetent and definitely racist.
 
I think Im ready to give up after episode 7.

Its obviously horrific stuff here and Peters does very well in the role, but the series is dragging a bit for me and quite hard going due to the story.
I heard the last 2-3 episode's are a not quite as good and a bit rushed?

Still 10 episodes could this not have been told in 6 or so episodes.
 

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