Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes is a documentary series directed by Academy Award nominee Joe Berlinger. The documentary series has 3 episodes, each with a runtime of around 60 minutes.
Netflix describes the series as:
Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer confesses to his gruesome crimes in unguarded interviews, offering an unsettling view into a disturbed mind.
– Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –
Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes has always been the stuff of my nightmares. Maybe it’s Bundy himself and the kind of person he was, or maybe it’s the genius of the documentary – that show stayed with me long after I had finished watching it. The second of the series, on John Wayne Gacy, didn’t have the same effect on me personally but was still quite a stirring show.
Now the third instalment, Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes, starts out rather mellow with the help of Dahmer’s defence attorney, who walks into Dahmer’s life and defence with us in tow. Soon, we meet others close to the case and then hear the story from them as well as from Dahmer.
The documentary follows the facts as well as the emotion, and the story merges these two really well. It’s a very uncomfortable watch, and you get goosebumps, not from fear, but from discomfort and the ick. It’s also probably a bit scary, too, to be honest, when Dahmer talks about dismembering people and feeling sexual gratification out of it.
There’s a lot of sexual talk and mental health diagnoses throughout the series, which is simply astonishingly interesting to watch. Since these are experts who were very close to the case, it’s shocking to hear them recall these instances and moments and break them down from the first moment of Dahmer’s life.
I, however, didn’t care for all the re-enactments. I fail to understand the necessity of them since it seems like there is enough real-life footage from that time to keep us engrossed. Thus, the re-enactments feel a bit unnecessary and forced, and the show would’ve benefitted without them.
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Also, sometimes the series feels very chaotic thanks to the extra footage that the documentary uses to add that extra oomph. Sometimes, the chaos feels right at home with the subject matter being discussed, but more often than not, it’s just a bit much and unnecessary.
That being said, the discussion about repressing your sexuality comes out strong from the recounting. Keeping the violence aside, suppressing your sexual orientation a secret and keeping it at bay is not a phenomenon that is unheard of. It’s just a bit heartbreaking and so interesting to listen to Dahmer’s inner turmoil, knowing where this urge takes the serial killer in the end.
However, Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes is extremely mellow. You don’t really feel the immediate fear or thrill in the first episodes, but the series does a great job at building the tension and bringing out the tragedy that not only the gay community faced but something that the non-white community faced as a whole. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to watch the authorities fail again and again to stop such a proficient serial killer as Dahmer and the blatant homophobia and racism that came out thanks to such a shocking case.
Summing up: Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes
The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes adds another interesting story to the mix of Dahmer shows that are available to stream right now. The question remains whether you like a documentary based on a lot of talking and facts or a sensational and fictional version of it.
Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes is streaming on Netflix.
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