Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is the first season of the American biographical crime drama anthology television series Monster, created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan for Netflix, which was released on September 21, 2022. Murphy and Brennan both serve as showrunners. Dahmer is about the life of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (Evan Peters). Other main characters include Dahmer's father, Lionel (Richard Jenkins), his stepmother Shari (Molly Ringwald), suspicious neighbor Glenda (Niecy Nash), and grandmother Catherine (Michael Learned).
Dahmer received mixed reviews, but was ultimately a commercial success, reaching the number-one spot on Netflix in the first week of its release. The season became Netflix's second most-watched English-language series of all time within 28 days, and the third Netflix series to pass 1 billion hours viewed in 60 days. The series reached number one on the Nielsen Top 10 streaming chart in the first week of its release, and placed No. 7 on Nielsen's all-time list for single-week viewership in its second week.
The season received four nominations at the 80th Golden Globe Awards, including for the Best Limited or Anthology Series or Television Film, with Peters winning for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. It received 13 nominations at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for Peters. Ultimately, Nash won for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
The second season of the anthology, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (2024), is based on the parricide case of the Menendez brothers and was released on September 19, 2024.
Synopsis The season focuses on the life of Jeffrey Dahmer, and how he became one of the most notorious serial killers in America. His murders were executed in Bath Township, Ohio, West Allis, Wisconsin, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, between 1978 and 1991. The season dramatizes instances where Dahmer was nearly apprehended until his ultimate conviction and death. It also explores how police racial bias and apathy contributed to enabling his crimes.
Cast and characters
Main Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer, the titular serial killer Nick A. Fisher as young Jeffrey Richard Jenkins as Lionel Dahmer, Jeffrey's father Josh Braaten as young Lionel Molly Ringwald as Shari Dahmer, Lionel's second wife and Jeffrey's stepmother Niecy Nash as Glenda Cleveland, Jeffrey's neighbor Michael Learned as Catherine Dahmer, Jeffrey's paternal grandmother
Recurring
Production Evan Peters initially struggled with whether to accept the role of Jeffrey Dahmer, as he had been trying to avoid playing another dark character, but after reading the scripts, however, he found the material compelling and accepted the role. Peters had four months to prepare, during which he studied books, interviews, psychological profiles, confessions, newspaper reports and documentaries about Dahmer.
Peters watched hours of footage of Dahmer and created a 45-minute compilation of recordings of him speaking, which he listened to daily to study his diction. He also studied Dahmer's posture and movements and wore led weights around his hands during rehearsals to reproduce the limited movement of Dahmer's arms when walking.
Peters also contributed to creative decisions during filming, working with the production team on elements including props, wardrobe and makeup. Early makeup tests included heavier makeup and blue contact lenses, but Peters favored a more restrained appearance, believing that an exact physical resemblance to Dahmer was less important than the story being told.
Soundtrack The score for the season was composed and performed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. The soundtrack album was released the same day as the series.
Episodes
Reception
Audience viewership The season rose to the number one spot on Netflix in the first week of its release. In the second week of its release, Netflix announced that Dahmer was its ninth most popular English-language TV show of all time, with 56 million households having viewed all 10 episodes. The season remained number-one for weeks and became Netflix's second most-viewed English Netflix season of all time, and the fourth highest across any language with 701.37 million hours viewed in 21 days. The season amassed more than 865 million hours viewed in the first 28 days of its release. In 60 days it became the third Netflix season to pass 1 billion views.
Dahmer debuted at number-one on the Nielsen Top 10 streaming chart by garnering more than 3.6 billion minutes of viewing for the week of September 19–25, placing it 10th on the all-time list for single-week viewership. The following week, it jumped to No. 7 on the all-time list with 4.4 billion minutes viewed. The season topped Nielsen's streaming chart for the third consecutive week with 2.3 billion viewing minutes.
Jermey Dick of MovieWeb stated that on "October 3rd through the 9th the views of the Dahmer season made up to 205 million hours streamed" into watching the show for that period, overall making it up to "701 million hours watched globally".
Critical response The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 57% approval rating with an average rating of 6.3/10, based on 30 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus says: "While Monster is seemingly self-aware of the peril in glorifying Jeffrey Dahmer, creator Ryan Murphy's salacious style nevertheless tilts this horror story into the realm of queasy exploitation." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 46 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.
Kayla Cobb at Decider said the show "isn't just well directed, written, and acted. It's rewriting what a crime drama can look like if we stop glorifying murderers and start focusing more on systematic failures." Caroline Framke of Variety argues that the show "simply can't rise to its own ambition of explaining both the man and the societal inequities his crimes exploited without becoming exploitative in and of itself." Malik Peay of the Los Angeles Times stated that those critical of the show felt that the season was emblematic of the "entertainment industry's commercialization of tragedy". Dan Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter praises episode 6 ("Silenced") as "easily the best episode of the series, an uncomfortably sweet and sad hour of TV that probably should have been the template for the entire show [and]...in placing a Black, deaf, gay character at the center of the narrative, the series is giving voice to somebody whose voice has too frequently been excluded from gawking serial killer portraits."
Accolades + Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Hollywood Music in Media Awards November 16, 2022 Best Music Supervision – Television Amanda Krieg Thomas People's Choice Awards December 6, 2022 The Bingeworthy Show of 2022 Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Golden Globe Awards January 10, 2023 Best Limited or Anthology Series or Television Film Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Best Actor – Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television Motion Picture Evan Peters Best Supporting Actress – Television Limited Series/Motion Picture Niecy Nash Best Supporting Actor – Television Limited Series/Motion Picture Richard Jenkins Critics' Choice Television Awards January 15, 2023 Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television Niecy Nash Producers Guild of America Awards February 25, 2023 Outstanding Producer of Limited or Anthology Series Television Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, Alexis Martin Woodall, Eric Kovtun, Evan Peters, Janet Mock, Scott Robertson, Sara Stelwagen, Tanase Popa, David McMillan, Todd Nenninger, Lou Eyrich, Todd Kubrak, Reilly Smith, Regis Kimble, Richard Jenkins, and Mathew Hart NAACP Image Awards February 25, 2023 Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special Niecy Nash Screen Actors Guild Awards February 26, 2023 Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Evan Peters Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Niecy Nash Satellite Awards March 3, 2023 Best Miniseries or Limited Series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Best Actor in a Miniseries, Limited Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television Evan Peters Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries, Limited Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television Richard Jenkins Cinema Audio Society Awards March 4, 2023 Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Movie or Limited Series Amanda Beggs, Laura Wiest, Joe Barnett, Jamie Hardt, Judah Getz and Jacob McNaughton Critics' Choice Super Awards March 16, 2023 Best Horror Series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Best Actor in a Horror Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie Evan Peters Best Actress in a Horror Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie Niecy Nash British Academy Television Awards May 14, 2023 Best International Programme Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, Alexis Martin Woodall, David McMillan, Reilly Smith, Carl Franklin Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards January 6–7, 2024 Outstanding Casting for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Robert J. Ulrich, Eric Dawson, Carol Kritzer Outstanding Period and/or Character Hairstyling Shay Sanford-Fong, Maggie Hayes Jackson, Michael S. Ward, Havanna Pratt Outstanding Period and/or Character Makeup (Non-Prosthetic) Gigi Williams, Michelle Audrina Kim (for "Bad Meat") Outstanding Period Costumes for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Rudy Mance, Monica Chamberlain, Desmond Smith, Suzy Freeman (for "Please Don't Go") Outstanding Picture Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Stephanie Filo (for "The Good Boy Box") Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special Gary Megregian, Borja Sau, Bruce Tanis, David Klotz, Sam Munoz, Noel Vought (for "God Of Forgiveness, God Of Vengeance") Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Laura Wiest, Jamie Hardt, Joe Barnett, Amanda Beggs (for "Lionel") Astra TV Awards January 8, 2024 Best Streaming Limited or Anthology Series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Best Actor in a Streaming Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Evan Peters Best Supporting Actor in a Streaming Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Kieran Tamondong Richard Jenkins Best Supporting Actress in a Streaming Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Niecy Nash Best Directing in a Streaming Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Paris Barclay (for "God of Forgiveness, God of Vengeance") Astra Creative Arts TV Awards January 8, 2024 Best Casting in a Limited Series or TV Movie Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Primetime Emmy Awards January 15, 2024 Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, Alexis Martin Woodall, Eric Kovtun, Evan Peters, Janet Mock, Scott Robertson, Sara Stelwagen, Tanase Popa, David McMillan, Todd Nenninger, Lou Eyrich, Todd Kubrak, Reilly Smith, Regis Kimble, Richard Jenkins, and Mathew Hart Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Evan Peters Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Richard Jenkins Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Niecy Nash Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Carl Franklin (for "Bad Meat") Paris Barclay (for "Silenced")
Controversies
On September 23, 2022, Netflix removed the season's "LGBTQ" tag after backlash on social media.