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.

I do find this interesting as there seem to be 2 very different views to him as a person.

This article quotes 2 men who were with Dahmer in the military in Germany, who say they were assaulted by him.

They don't give a very nice impression of him.

www.thewrap.com/jeffrey-dahmer-victims-oxygen-preston-davis-billy-capshaw-germany/amp/

On the other hand, I've seen an interview with him where he said he had friends at school and had a little social group. He seemed to think his dad's recollection of him as a boy in his book were incorrect

True crime is currently a trend. If you don't know that, you've been living under a rock.

Poor lad's life was probably as good as over anyway, after the makeshift lobotomy.
So sad.

I feel the same. I've tried to understand why I like watching stuff like this and I think it's because it's simply so unbelievable. I want to know how and why a human being can dismember another human being. If I just read about it I wouldn't believe it.

It was. All the deaths are moving, but we were given more of Tony's life and so the connection was there. I do think there was poetic licence about the relationship between Jeff and Tony.

What strikes me most about the lack of police response was the racism, misogyny and homophobia. The way the police treated Glenda Cleveland was disgusting.

Haven't finished all of it yet, but obviously there will be no spoilers. I found the father, Lionel, abhorrent; why did he palm Dahmer onto his poor grandmother, who obviously did know something was going on. Why did he put that responsibility on her?

I've just watched it. The police was useless, from start to finish. I remember reading all about the Jeffrey Dahmer case when he was (eventually) found out. Terrible.

In the dads book he says he left him with his grandmother because she was the only person he ever seemed to show love for or have any sort of relationship with. I feel somewhat that isn’t the only reason- he’d not long begun a new serious relationship with a woman he went on to marry and I suspect having a difficult teenager was cramping his style (🤔), but nevertheless that’s what he said his reasoning was.

Reading about the grandmother was sad… she clearly loved JD and couldn’t come to terms with what he’d done (who could) and ended up being put into a nursing home after suffering from a physical and mental breakdown and she died the same year he was convicted.

Review from the Guardian.

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/sep/23/jeffrey-dahmer-netflix-ryan-murphy-exploitative-tv

"We see him gut his first fish, peeling the creature apart in a distressingly gynaecological way, so that he can gaze upon its organs."

Did anyone actually think this? 😬

Dh and I have been discussing this aspect. We’ve actually been questioning whether he was homosexual or whether he targeted men as part of his wanting to control his father / dominate the male figure in his life and himself, and actually whether his sexuality was actually geared towards organs / body parts. He never (unless I’m wrong, correct me?) raped anyone. He masturbated over their organs and bodies after he’d killed them. I don’t actually think perhaps he was homosexual. Indeed there’s a part somewhere where he says he said he was homosexual because he thought it would get him more sympathy or a lesser sentence.

Some people have sexual attraction to objects - I remember reading about a woman who actually married a piece of the Berlin Wall (!) I mean that’s utterly weird but very harmless in comparison. JDs weird fetish for body parts seems somewhat similar. Very abstract.

Oh I think he was gay but given the time with Aids and the backlash against gay men, he probably had internalised homophobia and was disgusted with his sexuality. It just strikes me odd that the reviewer would use the term gynaecological when it came to gutting a fish!

There was the episode in which he said to the psychiatrist that the shine of the organs is what appealed to him, and the Dr said the term for that condition, which I now cannot remember.

I also wondered if he was actually gay, as he seemed to only want to lay with the men, I didn't pick up any scenes were sex was involved. I have only seen the Netflix series though, so maybe they just didn't focus on that....

But I think he really did love Tony, but JD thought that he would leave him, he didn't believe he would come back when he said he was leaving that first time. So he killed him so that he could keep his skull so he would always be with him.

She was amazing. I really believed her pain.

He was definitely gay. His crimes were sexual paraphilia like many are by these kinds of people. Also, he did rape his victims once he had drugged them and they were passed out. And he was a necrophile - he didn’t just masturbate. The main reason for his decent into this was that he didn’t want his partners to move during sex.

Interesting that his father also had thoughts of killing people. I just can’t imagine such a thing.

But I think he really did love Tony, but JD thought that he would leave him, he didn't believe he would come back when he said he was leaving that first time. So he killed him so that he could keep his skull so he would always be with him.

It has been made clear in write ups that this was artistic license and that there’s no evidence that Tony was dating him. Psychopaths aren’t able to live another person - it’s impossible for them. They have no empathy and they see people as props.

Able to love-*

2 articles claimed that he knew Hughes for some time before killing him, though Jeffrey himself has denied this.

''The real-life Dahmer said in his confession that he never met Hughes before the night he was murdered, but a friend of Hughes' told police that Dahmer and Hughes had been friendly for more than a year, coming to her house six times from October 1989 to December 1990 looking for Hughes.
Another friend verified they knew each other for two years before Hughes became a victim.''

eu.jsonline.com/story/news/2022/09/23/whats-real-fiction-monster-jeffrey-dahmer-story-netflix/8083469001/

''witnesses recounted that Hughes and Dahmer knew each other for a year or more before Hughes was murdered. Hughes had been last seen on May 24, 199191 at the 219 Club in Milwaukee. Shirley Hughes told The Associated Press that she was unable to contact her son or the friend he had in Milwaukee, only knowing the first name of his friend: Jeffrey. One night, Dahmer reportedly took Hughes back to his apartment, drugged Hughes and dismembereded his body, keeping his skull. According to FBI files, Hughes was identified by his dental records, and his skull and vertebrae were recovered.''

www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a41389502/tony-hughes-deaf-victim-jeffrey-dahmer/

This of course doesn't mean that they had a relationship, but it would explain why Hughes was the victim chosen to be portrayed in this way in the show.

I think a lot of them knew each other by sight and to wave/ chat to because they all frequented the same clubs. I did find the depiction of Tony so sad. The fact that he was disabled made him even more vulnerable.

Yes I actually found this the hardest episode to watch. Very well done.

I agree with others who say it's not scary, it's gruesome.

Finished watching this today. Wow, oh my word it’s something else. I was close to not watching more after the first 2 episodes but it’s so gripping. Amazingly done, amazing acting but I also found it very disturbing!

My heart broke for Tony & his family.

I'm nearly finished this.
I didn't think it was gory at all. Seen much worse in Game of Thrones.
I thought it was a v sympathetic portrayal of JD. Less of a monster and more of a lonely guy with childhood issues.
My heart broke for the victims and family. Esp the deaf guy. He was such a good boy to his mother.
Thought the lady playing the Grandma was fantastic. Poor woman.

Imho it's totally normal to have thoughts of what it would be like to actually kill someone. Hence why progs like this are so fascinating!
Psychs ask "do you ever think of things to awful to discuss" to find out if you're a liar or not. The only true answer to that question is "yes".

Sorry , but I don’t think it’s normal at all.

Intrusive thoughts are normal for many people, and doesn't mean they'll carry them out!
So you're being a bit judgy there.