I Ate Your Heart and Felt Nothing — Ryan Murphy's 'Dahmer' is a Disturbing Series with Unfulfilled Potential
Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story
Anyone familiar with Ryan Murphy’s work knows that the television mogul is obsessed with deviants — real or fictional — and their often disturbing lives. If you watched at least a few episodes of his cult classic second series (Nip/Tuck) in the aughts, you’re aware that Murphy’s perversions, incestuous phantasmagories, and stomach-churning visuals have surfaced quite early in his career. After 100 episodes of Nip/Tuck, it didn’t take him long to move on and fully embrace horror on its own. His wildest, gory fantasies in American Horror Story — the anthology series that birthed its own universe — are still going strong today (11 seasons and counting).
After writing horror for years, it’s not a surprise that Murphy’s attention shifted to real-life monsters, too. Although he had no writing credits in American Crime Story — the anthology series depicting infamous true crime stories — his creative hand as a director, producer, and executive producer was undeniably present throughout the seasons. It was only a matter of time to get himself involved on a deeper level in a similar project. The result of that is Netflix’s latest sensation, Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, which he co-created, wrote, and produced with his previous collaborator Ian Brennan.
Murphy’s interest in serial killers goes a long way back (Nip/Tuck had its own at one point) so it’s easy to see the appeal that drew him to one of the grisliest murderers in American history. It’d be hard to find a more gruesomely compelling individual than Jeffrey Dahmer. His notoriety is well-known around the world. He was a sex offender, necrophiliac, cannibal, and serial killer. He wanted to make zombies out of his victims. He ate their hearts. He got sexually aroused by human flesh and masturbated over his mutilated victims. Dahmer was the embodiment of the most terrifying creature a human being could become.