The first trailer for Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, written and directed by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, has been released, making for a thrilling Friday for true-crime aficionados everywhere. On the heels of that informative, albeit somewhat nauseating, teaser, we can now confirm that the series will be available on Netflix beginning at midnight Pacific Time on September 21. The series has been in the works since 2020, so we can’t wait to witness the results of the cast and crew’s hard work. In the project, Evan Peters (American Horror Story) will play the lonely and troubled serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer, while Niecy Nash (Reno 911) will play Dahmer’s suspicious and angry neighbour Glenda Cleveland.
Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under), Penelope Ann Miller (Carlito’s Way), Michael Learned (The Waltons), Shaun J. Brown (Daybreak), and Colin Ford (The Walking Dead) are just some of the actors that will be featured in the short biographical series. Murphy and Peters, who have worked together on many seasons of Murphy’s American Horror Story, will reunite for Monster, as well Murphy and Nash, who worked together on the sadly cancelled Scream Queens. Dahmer, one of the most infamous serial killers in history, committed murderous acts on young men between the years of 1978 and 1991. Dahmer lived in Milwaukee for most of his criminal career, where he worked as a chocolatier despite his reputation as a shy, reclusive outcast.
Dahmer would bring guys home from gay clubs and pick-up sites, drug them, and then dismember them as a means of dealing with his loneliness and isolation in the vilest and most terrible way imaginable. Several of his victims were dismembered, and he used the parts to make meals for himself and his neighbours. The neighbours in Dahmer’s building complained about the stench, but his landlord and the police did nothing to investigate the source of the odour.
To add insult to injury, one of Dahmer’s victims managed to escape early on in the killing spree, went to the police with his account, and was subsequently hounded because he was gay. Dahmer was able to continue his killing rampage for so long in part because he identified with “the less dead,” a true-crime euphemism for underrepresented populations. One of his intended victims managed to escape, and this led authorities to eventually search the flat, which ultimately led to his arrest. We can’t wait to see what Murphy and Brennan have up their sleeves for the new season, and there are more trailers and photographs on the way.