If you are not familiar with Jeffrey Dahmer, he was a notorious serial killer who murdered 17 young males between 1978 and 1991. Also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal, he was famous for raping, dismembering and even eating his victims.
Since its release on September 21, the 10-part series amassed over 196 million streams in its first week and leapt into Netflix’s coveted top spot within days of its release. There is no question of the popularity of this true crime thriller, but is it actually worth the hype?
The short answer is yes. With shows like this, it is sometimes easy to see them as fictional, but I believe Netflix did a brilliant job at plunging the audience into the very real and terrifying reality of Dahmer’s victims.
Some of this credit must of course go to the incredibly talented actors in the series. Evan Peters’ portrayal of Jeffrey Dahmer was haunting to say the least. I cannot talk about acting without also acknowledging Niecy Nash’s character of Glenda Cleveland, who attempted to contact the police multiple times due to the eerie noises and smells coming from Dahmer’s apartment. The frustration could be felt through the screen and her scenes even had me audibly exclaiming at my laptop at points.
The most impactful episode by far had to be Episode 6 titled ‘Silenced‘. This episode tells the story of Tony Hughes (Rodney Burford), a deaf man who briefly dated Dahmer. A lot of the episode is silent, showing what the world was like for Hughes. I found this to be incredibly powerful. My eyes were gripped to the screen for that entire episode. I may not have even blinked. Weirdly, I even had hope that Hughes would not meet the inevitable fate of the other victims. This hope is unsurprisingly shattered, one of the most emotional parts of the series.
One criticism the show is facing however has come from victim Errol Lindsey’s cousin Eric Perry, who took to twitter to say the show was “retraumatising” the victims’ families.
He also alleged that Netflix did not notify the victims’ families before making the show.
Ok, I did not expect that tweet to get this much attention. To answer the main question, no, they don’t notify families when they do this. It’s all public record, so they don’t have to notify (or pay!) anyone. My family found out when everyone else did.
— eric perry. (@ericthulhu) September 23, 2022
I guess this begs the question: Is the entertainment factor worth the impact on the victims? In a promotional video from Netflix, Evan Peters said: “We had one rule going into this from Ryan [Murphy] that it would never be told from Dahmer’s point of view.”
While this may be true, as the show does not romanticise Dahmer’s actions or attempt to sympathise with him, I would argue that sensitivity to the victims’ families overrides any entertainment factor. The series is very well produced, but with the several other documentaries or dramatisations of Dahmer’s story out there already. I would argue it was unnecessary.
4/5
Image Credits – The MovieDB