Content Warning: Mentions of rape, murder, cannibalism, death and drugs.

The Netflix Original series, “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” was released on Sept. 21, 2022. This show was created as an informative piece to explore the deranged hobbies that led to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer’s horrendous crimes.

This show is introduced with the main characters: Jeffrey Dahmer (Evan Peters, who also played a starring role on “American Horror Story”), the worried neighbor Glenda Cleveland (Niecy Nash), the unaware father Lionel Dahmer (Richard Jenkins), and the victims Tracy Edward played by (Shaun Brown) and Konerak Sinthasomphone (Kieran Tamondong). “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” is a spine-chilling and overall horrifying show, with the main character portrayed to be an unnatural and disturbing person, which I think fits my exact viewpoint of the Jeffrey Dahmer I was supposed to see in the show. Dahmer was shown to be active with the crimes he had committed in 1978-1991, exactly 3 weeks after his graduation, June 8. 

When Jeffrey’s mom was still pregnant with him, she would often take pills: she had thought they were necessary for her to operate properly, and didn’t realize how 15 pills of different medications would affect the baby. Dahmer also grew up with a dysfunctional family. His mother and father would argue often, forcing a young Jeffrey Dahmer to listen to their fights and inappropriate language. When Jeffrey Dahmer was younger, he and his dad would drive until they came across roadkill to dissect for so-called “learning purposes.” I found it completely and utterly nauseating that Jeffrey Dahmer had felt aroused just by looking at the organs glistening in the light after he had just dissected the animal carcass. The father didn’t even realize what he was doing to Jeffrey’s mindset as a young child and how this could have made him the way he is. In the show, they mentioned how these could have been reasons why he chose to participate in the hobbies he did, then eventually leading him to his appeal of muddying and eating his victims. When Jeffrey turned 18 years old, his father, Lionel Dahmer, forced him to move out of his house. 

 There are many characters, such as Dahmer’s neighbor, Glenda Cleveland, who thought actions like those were terrible. After Dahmer’s murders, Cleveland could both smell and hear everything that was going on in Dahmer’s apartment. In season 1, episode 7, it showed these activities. Just watching the first episode, there was already so much happening. From the eerie music, the worried neighbor, then the guys lured into Jeffrey Dahmer’s home where his neighbor had complained about shared air vents following some foul smells. While later on he finally got arrested for drugging, murdering, raping and eating his victims. It is very bizarre to think about what could’ve been going through his mind while he took innocent lives with his agonizing games. The overall takeaway I’ve gathered from “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” is that the actors Evan Peters, Niecy Nash and Richard Jenkins are very good at acting out Jeffrey Dahmer’s actual life story. 

Although this show was extremely gory, it kept pulling me back to see what next tragedies would be brought into the following episodes that explained more about why he was like this.