While there have been a slew of movies and documentaries about the cannibal and necrophiliac serial killer, Ryan Murphy’s project deliberately puts the focus on Dahmer’s victims—and how they were overlooked by authorities, likely due to bigotry against already marginalized groups. “We had one rule going into this from Ryan—that it would never be told from Dahmer’s point of view,” Peters said. “As an audience, you’re not really sympathizing with him, you’re not really getting into his plight, you’re more sort of watching it from the outside. It’s called ’the Jeffrey Dahmer story,’ but it’s not just him and his backstory. It’s the repercussions. It’s the society, it’s how society and our system failed to stop him multiple times because of racism [and] homophobia.” “It’s just a tragic story. Everyone gets their side of the story told,” he continued. “The Jeffrey Dahmer story is so much bigger than just him.” Find out how to watch DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, as well as its release date, cast and more.
When does the Evan Peters Jeffrey Dahmer show on Netflix come out?
DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story debuted on Sept. 21, 2022.
Who is in the DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story cast?
Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer
Peters admitted in an interview that trying to get inside the mind of someone with impulses so unimaginably dark wasn’t easy. Netflix “Honestly, I was very scared about all of the things that he did,” he told Netflix. “Diving into that and trying to commit to that was absolutely going to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life, because I wanted it to be very authentic. But in order to do that, I was going to have to go to really dark places and stay there for an extended period of time.” Peters credited the behind-the-scenes staff of Monster for saving his sanity. Netflix “I have to say that the crew was instrumental in keeping me on the guard rails,” he said. “I cannot thank them enough and I could not have done any of this role without them.
Niecy Nash as Glenda Cleveland
Niecy Nash stars as one of Dahmer’s neighbors in his apartment complex who tried to alert authorities to his crimes numerous times. Netflix “The theme of this entire piece is timeless. You still have people doing very bizarre things because they are either mentally ill, suffering some sort of trauma, managing or not managing their pain well. You also have communities that are underserved and overpoliced in the wrong way. You still have communities and people crying out for change and to be heard by the police, by the powers that be,” she told Netflix. “I say that specifically as it relates to the Glenda Cleveland portion of this story, because hers is a story that I did not know, that I was very unfamiliar with. As an adult, when you hear the different things that happened with regards to Jeffrey Dahmer and his victims, Glenda was one of his victims too, and her story has been told the least of these.” Netflix
Michael Learned as Catherine Dahmer, Jeffrey Dahmer’s grandmother
Scott Paophavihanh as Anouke Sinthasomphone and Khetphet “KP” Phagnasay as Sounthone Sinthasomphone
Brayden Maniago as Somsack Sinthasomphone and Kieran Tamondong as Konerak Sinthasomphone
Dyllón Burnside as Ronald Flowers and Matt Cordova as Detective Rauss
Rodney Burford as Tony Hughes (far right)
Molly Ringwald as Jeffrey Dahmer’s stepmother Shari Dahmer and Richard Jenkins as Lionel Dahmer, Jeffrey Dahmer’s father
Shaun J. Brown as Tracy Edwards
Nick A. Fisher as young Jeffrey Dahmer
Penelope Ann Miller as Joyce Dahmer
Josh Braaten as young Lionel Dahmer
Savannah Brown as young Joyce Dahmer
Karen Malina White as Shirley Hughes
Nikyla Boxley as young Shirley Hughes
Nigel Gibbs as Jesse Jackson
Cameron Cowperthwaite as Steven Hicks
Ken Lerner as Joseph Zilber
Linda Park as Julie Yang
Furly Mac as Christopher Scarver
Dominic Burgess as John Wayne Gacy
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Is there a DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story trailer?
The first trailer for Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story opens with Jeffrey Dahmer taking Tracy Edwards back to his apartment and Edwards complaining about the smell. We also get a glimpse of Glenda Cleveland complaining about the smells and sounds of power tools and screams coming from Dahmer’s apartment and refusing to eat a sandwich he offers her. The second trailer for DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story shows the multiple attempts Dahmer’s neighbor Glenda Cleveland and others made to alert police that Dahmer was a murderer, including the night they returned 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone to Dahmer’s home after he’d been drugged and raped. It also shows an escapee asking police for help, as well as a cop and a judge letting Dahmer off the hook for more minor offenses—without looking into his property. The trailer itself isn’t graphic, and Peters said the show took pains to not show the most gruesome aspects of Dahmer’s crimes in an effort to keep the focus on honoring the victims and exposing the systemic failures that let Dahmer’s spree continue.
How to watch DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story
DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is available exclusively on Netflix.
What is DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story about?
The official Netflix synopsis reads, “Between 1978 and 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer gruesomely took the lives of seventeen innocent victims. DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is a series that exposes these unconscionable crimes, centered around the underserved victims and their communities impacted by the systemic racism and institutional failures of the police that allowed one of America’s most notorious serial killers to continue his murderous spree in plain sight for over a decade.” Netflix
Is DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story a Jeffrey Dahmer documentary?
Despite being based on tragically and terrifyingly true events, the DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer series isn’t a documentary. Next, find out what your true crime obsession really means—and when it’s time to take a break from it.
