Netflix has released the trailer for Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Starring Evan Peters of American Horror Story and X-Men fame, Monster will tell Dahmer’s story largely from the point of view of his victims.
I’m not sure how they’ve managed to accumulate these “points of view” considering they are dead, but I presume they mean it will show how they came into contact with Jeff and ultimately ended up as his dinner.
It will also explore police apathy and incompetence that allowed Dahmer to go undetected for 13 years before his arrest in 1991. It will chronicle at least 10 times when Dahmer was almost caught but ultimately let go.
Monster Synopsis
Straight from Netflix:
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.
The fact Dahmer murdered 17 men, was a necrophiliac and ate parts of his victims is not terrible enough. Oh no, let’s get in the “systematic racism” part too just to really ramp up the horror. Pathetic.
Getting Into The Role
Peters describes Dahmer as docile, aloof and someone who “almost disassociated” from what he did. He explains:
“I was very scared about all of the things 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. 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.”
I think Netflix is grateful he’s not a method actor, darling.
My Name Is Jeff
Jeffrey Dahmer was born 21st May 1960. From an early age, he had manifested an interest in dead animals. He began collecting large insects such as dragonflies and moths and the skeletons of small animals such as chipmunks and squirrels. Some of these remains were preserved in jars of formaldehyde and stowed within the hut at his home.
According to Wikipedia, Dahmer asked his father Lionel during dinner, what would happen if the chicken bones were placed in bleach. Lionel, pleased by what he believed to be his son’s scientific curiosity, demonstrated how to safely bleach and preserve animal bones. Big mistake old man, big mistake.
Dahmer incorporated these preserving techniques into his bone collecting, and also began collecting dead animals which included roadkill. He would dissect and bury the animals with the skulls occasionally placed atop makeshift crosses.
When he reached puberty, Dahmer discovered he was gay and later admitted he fantasised about dominating. He conceived a fantasy of rendering unconscious a particular male jogger he found attractive, and then making sexual use of his body.
On one occasion Dahmer concealed himself in bushes with a baseball bat to lie in wait for this man. However, the jogger did not pass by on that particular day and Dahmer later said this was his first attempt to attack someone.
First Victim
Jeff committed his first murder in 1978 having picked up a hitchhiker named Steven Mark Hicks. Dahmer convinced him to go back to his empty house for drinks. Dahmer bludgeoned Hicks with a 10 pound dumbbell.
The following day, Dahmer dissected Hicks’ body in his basement and later buried the remains in a shallow grave in his backyard. Several weeks later, he unearthed the remains and dissolved the flesh in acid before flushing the solution down the toilet. He crushed the bones with a sledgehammer and scattered them in the woodland behind the family home.
Capture
On 22nd July 1991, Dahmer approached three men with an offer of $100 to accompany him to his apartment to pose for nude photographs, drink beer and to simply keep him company. One of the trio, 32-year-old Tracy Edwards, agreed.
Upon entering Dahmer’s apartment, Edwards noted a foul odour and several boxes of hydrochloric acid on the floor. Whilst distracted, Jeff managed to place one handcuff on Edwards but unsuccessfully attempted to cuff his wrists together.
Dahmer then brandished a knife and informed Edwards he intended to take nude pictures of him. At one stage Jeff placed his head on Edwards’ chest, listened to his heartbeat and, with the knife pressed against his intended victim, informed Edwards he intended to eat his heart.
In continuous attempts to prevent Dahmer from attacking him, Edwards repeated that he was Dahmer’s friend and that he was not going to run away. Over five hours later, Edwards requested to use the toilet and as he rose from the sofa, he punched him in the face and ran out the front door.
Once outside, Edwards flagged down two Milwaukee police officers, Robert Rauth and Rolf Mueller and he led them back to Dahmer.
At the apartment, Mueller noted there was indeed a large knife in the bedroom and an open drawer which. Upon closer inspection, he saw Polaroid pictures, many of which were of human bodies in various stages of dismemberment. Mueller noted the decor indicated they had been taken in the very apartment in which they were standing.
Dahmer was quickly overpowered and arrested. At this point, Mueller opened the refrigerator to reveal the freshly severed head of a black male on the bottom shelf. A more detailed search revealed four severed heads in Dahmer’s kitchen.
A total of seven skulls were found in Dahmer’s bedroom and inside a closet, plus two human hearts and a portion of arm muscle, each wrapped inside plastic bags upon the refrigerator shelves. In Dahmer’s freezer, investigators discovered an entire torso, plus a bag of human organs.
Investigators discovered two entire skeletons, a pair of severed hands, two severed and preserved penises, a mummified scalp and, in a 57 gallon drum, they found three further dismembered torsos dissolving in the acid solution.
Death
In 1994, Jeff was bludgeoned to death with a metal bar in prison by Christopher Scarver. Scarver told prison guards that:
“God told me to do it.”
The Oxford Apartments at 924 North 25th Street, where Dahmer had killed twelve of his victims, were demolished in November 1992 and the site remains a vacant lot.
So, if Netflix manage to capture even a quarter of this insanity, they could have a hit on their hands. Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is released on 21st September. I shall be watching whilst eating liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti.
Check back every day for new content at Last Movie Outpost.
To like us on Facebook Click Here
To follow us on Twitter Click Here
See our YouTube channel Click Here
