True crime fans flock to ‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’ while critics are mixed
On September 21, 2022, “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” premiered on Netflix. The latest project co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan stars Emmy winner Evan Peters as the cannibalistic serial killer. The limited series focuses on the infamous serial killer through the lens of his victims and has a starry cast that includes Richard Jenkins, Niecy Nash-Betts, and Molly Ringwald. Audiences are loving the thriller, scoring it at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, but the critics disagree, giving the Milwaukee Monster show just a 57%. So what are some these critics saying?
Kayla Cobb of Decider begins by praising the project for focusing on Dahmer’s victims instead of the monster that ruined their lives and utilizing the first episode to highlight the beginning of the end for his reign of terror. “Peters’ portrayal of Dahmer is devoid of any of the charm or smart one-liners we’ve come to expect from TV serial killers. In fact, the most memorable lines from this first episode belong to either Nash’s Cleveland or Shaun J. Brown’s Tracy Edwards.” Furthermore, “Monster drags Dahmer down from his pedestal as one of America’s great boogeymen and instead points a finger at the racism and homophobia of the police.” In the end, Cobb wholeheartedly recommends the limited series to the reader.
Alberto Carlos of Espinof starts by noting the spotty track record of Murphy at Netflix before stating that this particular project “is an absorbing entry into true crime.” He continues, “Both direction and actor avoid giving Dahmer a glamorous aura as much as possible, offering a somewhat more dehumanized portrait than what we sometimes look for in a drama.” In the end, Carlos states, “A remarkable example of true crime that is as forceful as it is truly absorbing and disturbing in its merciless portrayal of the killer.”
Caroline Framke of Variety praises one episode at first before stating that the limited series “is a grim, sepia-toned slog that rarely justifies its own existence.” He says of the lead actor, “Peters, affecting an unnervingly flat Wisconsin accent, gets to give yet another perturbing performance…Then, after spending six episodes (of 10) detailing Dahmer’s psychological profile and murders, the back half of the series turns to the aftermath of his arrest and the righteous fury the sheer horror of his transgressions inspired.” The series failed to impress Framke. “If you want to see Peters fight internalized homophobia by fondling a mannequin, masturbate to memories of gutted animals, or solemnly fry up a human kidney, I guess this show is here for you. Beyond that, though, it simply can’t rise to its own ambition of explaining both the man and the societal inequities his crimes exploited without becoming exploitative in and of itself.”
Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter doesn’t mince words, beginning with “Held back from critics, presumably so that co-creator Ryan Murphy could protect the viewing experience for audiences without access to Wikipedia, recent television or semi-recent history, Netflix’s Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is an infuriating hodgepodge. (That’s the last time I’m going to use that full idiotic title, one of several things Netflix brass should have had the wherewithal to prevent.)” He adds, “It’s all just a nightmarish-but-monotonous miasma in which Jeffrey drinks cheap beer, fixates on somebody, masturbates inappropriately and then does something horrible, though at least the series keeps us in suspense as to what horrible thing he’s going to do.”
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