Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix)

[The2Omicronnies]

Has anyone started watching this? I’ve just watched the first episode and found it utterly chilling. It’s been a long time since a TV show has impacted me so much; I felt myself physically recoiling. Excellent acting from both the chap playing Dahmer, and his victim, Tracey.

😁

Re: Garfield - I thought exactly the same thing!!

Just watching episode 2 and finding it a bit boring and slow tbh? Does it get better? Acting is good but finding it a bit drawn out in scenes which can make it a bit dull.

@Ilovemycatalot

American made dramas always drag on

Stick with it though

I think there are parts of it that might seem long-drawn out, but I personally was not bored by it at all. It might help that it is not told in a linear fashion, and that other perspectives take precedence in certain episodes.
Although not entirely sure that it should be dramatised at all, I have learnt a lot from it, and have enormous sympathy for the victims, survivors, his neighbours, and his family. And maybe JD himself had turned a bit of a corner by the end.

I watched the first episode and found it to be excellent work by everyone

but...I am not sure I will watch the rest. Something about doesn't seem right. Too much in recent memory maybe.

on a practical level, 10 episodes of watching a ....I don't know what the acceptable word is....watching the depiction of a man like that is too much. But I am curious about the police ignoring reports and how the court stuff unfolded.

I've just finished the whole series

I found it a little slow in places .. drawn out and I'm never keen on scenes that switch 20 odd years at a time

However , it was fascinatingly awful

I would recommend it , with a warning that it is quite upsetting at points

Lots of frustrating opportunities to catch him , lots of racial bias , appalling behaviour by the police - such determination by the neighbour , what a wonderful woman who probably never came to terms with what happened in that apartment

@searchingformiracle Glenda Cleveland was played by Niecy Nash, who is a criminally under-awarded actress. Hopefully this series gives her the boost of recognition she deserves.

I found the Glenda character very annoying because it wasn’t factually true. Probably very unreasonable of me I know but it irritated me that they made her a mash up of the original Glenda and another neighbour.

thetab.com/uk/2022/09/27/glenda-cleveland-jeffrey-dahmer-next-door-neighbour-pamela-bass-netflix-275490

Ah this is I interesting, I didn't know this! Maybe they should have merged the character and given her a new name, like Glendela. I'll see myself out.

😊 I wondered the same! I wonder what Glendas family thought about it all. And the other woman’s! I just found it odd that the rest of it was so true to the truth - even little bits like the fight between JD and his Dad over the box with the head in it (which is written about in the Dads book) and yet they’ve created a mixed up version of Glenda as a way to tell the story. I guess it doesn’t matter really… the main thing is we feel sympathy for her and all the victims. I guess I’m just a sucker for detail!

Niecy Neil is an incredible actress isn't she? This is the first time I've seen her in anything so I'll be looking at her other work.

Oh god episode 6 was desperately awful and tragic. spoilers below so don't carry on if not seen.

So clever

Your kind of rooting for them but you just know there is no happy ending. Brilliantly done.

Poor poor Tony and his family. Heart breaking

I've just got to episode 9 of this and I've found it really disturbing but also felt the need to watch. The scene with the sandwich was just horrific.

I felt for the poor Grandma, she must have known something odd was going on.

I find it hard to be sympathetic towards the father and also hard to understand why he'd maintain contact after finding out the details.

What was the reason he was removed from the Army? Did I miss this bit? I saw he drugged someone but didn't see the conclusion.

He received an honourable discharge for drinking too much.

I’ve been working my way through the series slowly, 2 episodes in a row is the limit!

Have always been a big Ryan Murphy and Evan Peters fan, it’s good to see Evan getting props for this which must have been a stressful and upsetting role to play.

I think it puts the viewer in a uncomfortable position because in one seen you see him doing these awful things and then in another you see the debilitating loneliness, sadness and vulnerability in him and you can’t help but have empathy. Evan has such an endearing quality anyway, especially his scenes with Tony.

That Guardian article was chatting shit, as is so often the case with them!

Slightly off topic but there have been people on TikTok basically making jokes about Dahmer’s crimes for likes & views and money. People really are sick!

Someone shared this on a fb group. I will never understand some people.

😲😲😲

What is wrong with some people? Don’t they have any empathy for the victims or their families?

I mean, what kind of person would you have to be to admire a murdering psychopath?

I’ve just binge watched all 10 episodes.

When I was about 20 minutes into the first episode I actually had to turn it off beciase I felt so anxious and scared…..but after about 5 minutes of distraction I put it back on again and then I was hooked.

The actor was amazing!

I found the last few episodes quite dull though, I must have a sick mind because once the horror episodes were over I kind of lost interest.

The makers of this took some liberties with the Glenda character.
The truth is that Glenda wasn't a neighbour but did repeatedly ring the police and worry about the welfare of Konerak Sinthasomphone. She didn't complain about smells or noises. She didn't eat or was offered sandwiches by Dahmer.

Neighbours seemed to think that Dahmer was a lovely quiet chap (if a little too fond of drink). A neighbour that was interviewed said that he befriended him, that he was an oddity in the building as a single white man, but that Dhamer said that he had moved there as he was trying to get away from where he lived before as he had broken up with a girlfriend and wanted to get away from the memories. Said neighbour tried to set him up with another neighbour who had taken a fancy to Dahmer and according to him "he wasn't interested in her and I thought "Damn, he must have really loved his ex girlfriend!". Same neighbour said his wife sat in the hallway for a day to get hold of Dahmer to complain about the smell, she got the broken freezer excuse. they told him to "make sure he got his money back, there should be a warranty on that thing".

Just about finished the Tony episode ... about 10 minutes to go. Horribly sad 😞

It was interesting to see that he seems conflicted about this one. I nearly but not quite felt sympathy for him when he had dad and Molly round and was telling them he'd met someone really special and was very happy.

His dad though ... how the hell do you move on when you discover what he did, whilst living with your own elderly mother too.

Just saw some of Episode 5 with his dad investigating the smell in grandma's basement

is that brain matter on the floor? I'm thinking someone so methodical and careful can't have left that?

Finished.

Bloody hell, not an easy watch. I could have cried for Glenda, how much trauma she endured basically hearing murder after murder. How would you ever recover.

We had to watch re runs of Peep Show after so our brains could calm down for bed.

I'm on half-term and I binge watched the whole series in 24 hours. It was horribly, fascinatingly addictive and very well made.
I thought the stepmum looked like Molly Ringwald, but I hadn't realised about the grandma!
I can't stop thinking about the 14 year old boy.

While this isn't something you enjoy obviously I do think it is really well made.

It doesn't just focus gratuitously on the violence involved, it shows the victims as the loved people that they were. The episode with Tony was excellent, how the sound was off when people were signing, how his loving family had all learnt sign language as he grew up.

It is tragic and horrific but so many of these real life dramas are just disturbing and horrific violent scenes. It is clear with the body parts and images what has gone on without it just been one long horror show.

That said I'm only up to ep 6 so not sure of that changes over the next 4..