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Netflix dropped yet another true crime thriller earlier this week, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, and it tells the story of the serial killer.
Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the series follows the murders of infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, portrayed by Evan Peters. It is told from his victims' point of view.
In an interview with Netflix, Peters explained that Dahmer's crimes were scary enough as they were, which is why everything had to look authentic. He said:
"Honestly, I was very scared about all of the things that he did, and 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."
Let's take a look at what it took for Peters to transform into Dahmer.
Evan Peters on playing Jeffrey Dahmer
American actor Evan Peters made a chilling transformation into Jeffrey Dahmer for Netflix's miniseries Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. In his interviews following the release of the series, Peters talked about his process of getting into character. He said that he watched interview footage of the killer, and read different books about hsi crimes and even listened to Dahmer's original recordings where he confessed to the killings.
Because there were real-life victims involved, the actor said it was important for the Dahmer team to tell the story as authentically as possible, which meant not embellishing what he did.
He also went on to give the show's crew credit for reminding him of why they were making the series. Peters explained that this kept him feeling alright despite channeling his inner darkness to play Dahmer.
The idea was not to glamorize Dahmer or to present him in the protagonist's role as a way to garner sympathy for the murderer. Instead, it was to tell the gruesome reality of his crimes, which is why it was presented from his victim's point of view.
While his name is in the title, as Peters explained, it also had to do with how the killer's crimes had gone undetected due to failures in the legal system and other issues.
About the serial killer
Jeffrey Dahmer is one of the most infamous serial killers in US history. He was convicted of murdering and dismembering multiple men and boys between 1978 and 1991, over the course of 13 years, after which he was arrested.
He was also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster. Many of his later murders involved necrophilia, cannibalism, and the permanent preservation of body parts—typically all or part of the skeleton. Dahmer was also diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, a psychotic disorder, and was found to be legally sane at his trial.
He was convicted of fifteen of the sixteen murders he had committed in Wisconsin and was sentenced to fifteen terms of life imprisonment on February 17, 1992. His sentence was later extended to a sixteenth term of life imprisonment for an additional homicide committed in Ohio in 1978.
In November 1994, Dahmer was beaten to death by a fellow inmate, Christopher Scarver, at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin. The Netflix series explores his horrific crimes along with the failures of the police that allowed them to continue for so long.
About the Netflix series
Netflix's Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story premiered on Wednesday, September 21 and other than Peters, it starred Richard Jenkins as Lionel Dahmer, Molly Ringwald as Shari Dahmer, Michael Learned as Catherine Dahmer and Niecy Nash as Glenda Cleveland.
The official synopsis for the series reads:
"Monster is based on the life and crimes of serial killer Jeffery Dahmer. The story revolves around his victims and how he evaded arrest and continued to kill for over a decade. Dahmer murdered 17 innocent people from 1978 to 1991."
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is executively produced by Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, Janet Mock, Carl Franklin, Alexis Martin Woodall, Eric Kovtun, Jen Isaacson, Leslie Mattingly and Evan Peters.
Stream Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story now on Netflix.
