Conversations With A Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes (2022) Dir: Joe Berlinger
Letterboxd post:
Netflix has released three editions of their 'Conversations With A Killer' series, telling the stories of some of the world's most infamous serial killers; first came 'The Ted Bundy Tapes', then 'The John Wayne Gacy Tapes' and now, perhaps the most famous of them all beyond 'Jack The Ripper' himself; 'The Milwaukee Cannibal' Jeffrey Dahmer.
Director Joe Berlinger had a daunting task ahead of him to tell the harrowing and bloody story of not only Dahmer's 13 year spree, but the complex and twisted life he lived before and after, up until his murder, at the hands of fellow inmate Christopher Scarver, in Columbia Correctional Institution, Portage, Wisconsin on 28th November 1994.
The series jumps back and forth in time as necessary, so as to present the events in as relevant an order as possible. Whilst this does mean you lose a little of the chronology, it means that some of the post-arrest events are shown together with the actual crimes they relate to, meaning the audience can keep up relatively easily.
Some of the shots were poorly chosen, with a couple of particularly jarring moments. That said, the vast majority of the shots worked well and allowed the relation of information to happen concisely and effectively. Other than that, there was some strange use of animation, but it was only for a brief moment.
Overall, this was another solid edition to Netflix's true crime collection, although I'll admit, I think I prefer the John Wayne Gacy series. That said, this series showed the story of Dahmer in a good level of detail and relies almost entirely on the facts, with only a little conjecture.
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