Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is currently tearing Netflix’s records up. It is a behemoth for the streaming service. Within the first week alone, it had 192 million hours viewed. That number crushed even contenders like Squid Game. The series stars Evan Peters and documents the serial killer and his victims’ lives. The series is full of details that are true right down to the layout of Dahmer’s apartment. But, it did manage to get a few things wrong in the name of having a tighter more concise story.
The huge difference between the Netflix series and the truth has to do with Gloria Cleveland. In the series, Cleveland is depicted as Dahmer’s adjacent neighbor. Throughout the series, Cleveland is traumatized by the sounds and smells coming from the apartment. Well, it turns out that Cleveland didn’t live next door. She lived across the street in another building. Cleveland’s daughter, Sandra Smith was the first to correct the big series change.
Cleveland and Smith did run into the poor 14-year-old, Sinthasomphone when Dahmer convinced the police that the two were having a lover’s spat and escorted the victim back inside. Cleveland was still the target of many injustices and she could have stopped Dahmer’s murders very early on if the police had listened to her.
Cleveland’s character is actually based on a combo of two of Dahmer’s neighbors. Neither of them actually went and knocked on the door.
So, as focused as the series is on big facts it does still move a couple of them around. It does work for a tighter narrative, but it is a shame that it didn’t allow the exploration of the actual neighbors.
There are a few other details that Netflix’s Dahmer moved around in order to make a more focused story, but for the most part, the series is great at focusing on the truth.
Source: (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)