“Dahmer – Monster” Miniseries Review *SPOILERS*
Dahmer is easily one of the most intriguing shows created in the last year. It’s a short docuseries on one of the most infamous people in the last century or so: Jeffrey Dahmer. The show starts off in a weird way by showing Dahmer getting arrested. This may seem like an odd way to start a show, but to many people, including myself, it was pretty interesting. It made me wonder what was going to happen next, and it begs the question, how did we get here? It was a perfect hook to the show. The rest of the show goes over Jeffrey’s past and what experiences made him become the monster that he truly was. Evan Peters does a fantastic job at depicting the maniac that was Jeffrey Dahmer. His disturbing aura and his strange body language really sent chills down my spine as well as other viewers’ spines. Peters is no stranger to playing psychos playing multiple deranged roles in American Horror Story. Yet still, Peters himself said that playing Dahmer was one of the hardest things he’s ever had to do. For many, the show was very hard to watch due to its violent nature and disturbing stories. The gruesome and unsettling depictions of the stories of Dahmer’s victims such as Konerak, the 14-year-old boy who Dahmer assaulted and murdered, could leave viewers with a bad feeling in their head, keep in mind it isn’t a show for casual watchers.
Along with Evan Peters’ performance, Niecy Nash did a great job at playing Glenda Cleveland. Her emotional performance really put the perspective of living next to a deranged serial killer in the audience’s mind. Seeing how she was frequently ignored and scared for her and her daughter’s life made viewers feel extreme sympathy for her. Overall, Dahmer was a fantastic docuseries that I feel did a great job of accurately portraying the horrors of Dahmer as well as his background. Though I do think that it didn’t represent the emotions of some of the other important people in his life, specifically his father who has spoken out about his belief that he was improperly represented in the series. I’d recommend it to those who enjoy true crime media and are also comfortable with sensitive subjects and violence.
