Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is a limited true crime drama coming soon to Netflix, marking the latest adaption of the serial killer’s story. Dahmer was an American serial killer and sex offender, who was convicted of murdering 17 boys and men. He received 16 terms of lifetime imprisonment for his crimes, and died in prison after he was assaulted by a fellow inmate. The sheer horror of his crimes has garnered high fascination from true crime enthusiasts. This is evidenced by the many books, movies, and countless TV shows that have tackled Dahmer’s story.
Few can comprehend the shocking nature of Dahmer’s crimes and how he managed to evade discovery and capture for so many years, with his murders taking place between 1978 and 1991. Meanwhile, his grisly murders involved rape, necrophilia, cannibalism, and dismemberment. Much of the media based on Dahmer’s story, attempts to examine his history and past, trying to fit the pieces together of how a seemingly ordinary man was living a grisly double life unbeknownst to most. The Jeffrey Dahmer Files, released in 2012, utilizes recollections from medical examiners and detectives on Dahmer’s case, as well as from his neighbors, to delve into his story.
Other works, like Raising Jeffrey Dahmer and My Friend Jeffrey Dahmer, focus more prominently on Dahmer’s childhood and adolescent years, delving into his home life and high school friends. While Dahmer’s story has been adapted many times, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is offering a more unique take on it, by telling it from the perspective of Dahmer’s victims. The 10-part series promises to be shocking and horrifying, as it dives into each of Dahmer’s murders. Here is everything we know about Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story release date
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is set to premiere on Netflix on September 21, 2022. All 10 episodes will be released at once on the streaming service.
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story trailer
The trailer for Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story was released on September 16, 2022, and is about as unsettling as a trailer can get.
The trailer gives us a good look at Evan Peters in the lead role of Dahmer and just a few short minutes are enough for him to terrify viewers as a serial killer. The soulless expression on his face is unsettling as he lures a victim into his apartment or stalks a nightclub. The trailer also shows how one woman, Dahmer’s neighbor, Glenda Cleveland (Niecy Nash), tried to alert police about her suspicions of Dahmer. However, as she cries out in the trailer—the police were too late. A slew of disturbing shots also appear of bodies, blood, terrified men in restraints, and Dahmer eerily pressing his neighbor to eat a sandwich he made her.
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story cast
Peters is embodying the role of a serial killer for his portrayal of Dahmer in Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. The Emmy award winner has previously impressed audiences with his roles in Mare of Easttown, the X-Men film series, and American Horror Story. From what we’ve seen so far, he is absolutely chilling in his role as Dahmer. Peters will be sharing the screen with Nash, who is portraying Cleveland, the woman who attempted to sound the alarm on Dahmer. She is best known for starring in Selma and When They See Us.
The Shape of Water star, Richard Jenkins, and The Artist star, Penelope Ann Miller, will be starring as Dahmer’s parents, Lionel Dahmer and Joyce Dahmer, respectively. Dahmer’s parents’ role in his life and their reaction to his murders has always been an intriguing point in Dahmer’s story. Dahmer’s mother struggled with mental illness, while Dahmer’s father was sometimes negligent towards his son.
The Kissing Booth and Riverdale star, Molly Ringwald, will portray Shari Dahmer, Dahmer’s stepmother who was very fond of him. The Waltons star, Michael Learned, rounds out the Dahmer family as Dahmer’s grandmother, Catherine Dahmer. Dahmer had resided with Catherine for a period of time, during which she became aware of chemical odors seeping from the basement.
Shaun J. Brown will portray Tracy Edwards. Edwards narrowly escaped Dahmer and is the hero who led officers to discover Dahmer’s crimes. Meanwhile, Kerian Tamondong will portray the 14-year-old victim of Dahmer, Konerak Simthasomphone, while Brayden Maniago portrays Konerak’s older brother, and Khetphet Phagnasay portrays their father. Colin Ford and Nick A. Fisher will also appear in the series as a character named Chazz and young Jeffrey Dahmer, respectively.
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story plot
The official Netflix’s description of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story reads:
Between 1978 and 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer gruesomely took the lives of seventeen innocent victims. DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is a series that exposes these unconscionable crimes, centered around the underserved victims and their communities impacted by the systemic racism and institutional failures of the police that allowed one of America’s most notorious serial killers to continue his murderous spree in plain sight for over a decade
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is a dramatization of the horrifying true story of Dahmer. In particular, it will be honing in on Dahmer’s family, victims, and neighbors. It is also attempting to dissect the police incompetency surrounding the case. An often glossed-over detail of Dahmer’s story is that he lived in a poor, predominantly Black community. 11 of his 17 victims were minorities and living family members have alleged that police didn’t investigate Dahmer seriously because of the ethnicities of his accusers.
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story true story
As detailed above, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is, unfortunately, based on a horrific true story. Each episode will dive into Dahmer’s victims, as well as the failures of law enforcement to properly investigate Dahmer, and the terrible impact of his crimes on an entire community.
The series also appears to dive deeper into the infuriating story of Konerak, one of Dahmer’s 14-year-old victims. Konerak was a Laotian immigrant who Dahmer lured into his apartment in 1992. There, he sexually assaulted the boy, drugged him, and drilled a hole in his skull through which he injected hydrochloric acid. Konerak managed to escape after Dahmer left his apartment to buy more alcohol. When Dahmer returned, three women were surrounding Konerak and refused to let Dahmer lead him back to his apartment, as they phoned 911.
Shockingly, the officers completely dismissed the fact that Konerak was a drugged and injured minor. They accepted Dahmer’s story that Konerak was his 19-year-old boyfriend and that he was intoxicated and upset about a quarrel the two had. Officers shut down the women’s insistence that Konerak was a child and had been assaulted. They returned Konerak to Dahmer, who promptly murdered the boy and 4 more victims after him.
The officers, who so egregiously failed their duties, were fired after Dahmer’s murders came to light, but ultimately, ended up being reinstated. Perhaps, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story will stir up some much-needed outrage against these incompetent and racist officers, who handed a naked, bleeding, and bruised child over to a 31-year-old convicted sex offender, and received no lasting consequences for their horrifying conduct.
(featured image: Netflix)
