One of the most talked-about real crime shows in recent memory is Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, an American biographical crime drama series made by The Watcher creator Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. The show debuted on Netflix on September 21, 2022, quickly rose to the top of the charts and has since been the subject of various controversies. Dahmer has appeared in everything, even Halloween costumes and pizza. The relatives of his victims - most of whom were black LGBT people - have criticized this troubling tendency. Evan Peters, an actor, has won praise from critics for his portrayal of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. The series centers on Dahmer and how, between 1978 and 1991, he assassinated a number of men and young boys in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Ohio, becoming one of the “most renowned” serial killers in America. Here are five true crime drama series and films based on serial killers that you can watch if you enjoyed the TV show.
1. My Friend Dahmer
Another movie based on Dahmer is My Friend Dahmer. The 2012 graphic novel of the same name by artist John “Derf” Backderf served as the inspiration for the biographical, psychological drama film. Before Dahmer started his murderous rampage in 1978, while they both lived in Ohio, the two had been friends in high school in the 1970s.
2. Mindhunter
The American psychological crime thriller series Mindhunter is seen through the FBI’s eyes and is based on the 1995 true-crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker. The series centers on psychologist Wendy Carr, FBI agents Holden Ford and Bill Tench, and the establishment of the Bureau’s Behavioral Science Unit inside the Training Division. They began a research project that they run through the Behavioral Science Unit to speak with incarcerated serial killers to understand their psychology, with the hope of using the knowledge to resolve open cases. Where to watch: Netflix
3. Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes
The American documentary Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes debuted on Netflix on January 24, 2019, marking the 30th anniversary of serial killer Ted Bundy’s execution. Four episodes of the documentary series, which is based on more than 100 hours of interviews and archive material with Bundy and his family, friends, surviving victims, and the law enforcement officials who worked on his case, are available online. After more than a decade of denial, Bundy finally admitted to 30 killings committed between 1974 and 1978 in seven different states, including the kidnapping, raping, and murder of numerous young girls and women during the 1970s and possibly much earlier. Where to watch: Netflix, Discovery Plus
4. The Serpent
The Serpent, a criminal drama series on Netflix that premiered in April 2021, is based on the murders of the serial killer Charles Sobhraj, who murdered young vacationers between 1975 and 1976. French serial killer, con artist, and thief Charles Gurumukh Sobhraj Hotchand Bhawani preyed on Western visitors visiting South Asian nations in the 1970s. When Sobhraj and his partner Marie-Andrée Leclerc were committing their most violent atrocities, a Dutch diplomat started looking into the killings of Dutch tourists and found evidence that pointed to Sobhraj. Where to watch: Netflix
5. Zodiac
The 2007 American mystery-thriller Zodiac, which was directed by David Fincher, features a cast that includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr. The Zodiac Killer, a serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960s and early 1970s, is the subject of the movie, which tells the true account of the quest for him. The murderer sent cyphers to publications and taunted authorities with letters and clothes covered in blood. Where to watch: Netflix
