Monstruo

There are two monsters is this heartbreaking and compelling story, but they are not Erik (Cooper Koch) and Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez), they are Jose (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloë Savigny).

I don't want to delve too deeply into the legal aspects of this case, because this is not a documentary, but a dramatic series. However, let me start by saying, if Erik and Lyle had been Erika and Lyla-two daughters-they would never have spent a day in jail. That's not to say that Erik and Lyle were blameless, but the mitigating circumstances were so overwhelming and compelling that they should have been sentenced to voluntary manslaughter with a 10 year sentence.

Then there is Dominic Dunne (Nathan Lane) a despicable man who trafficked in gossip and celebrity cocktail parties. He was sort of a straight Truman Capote.

I want to highlight Episode 5 'The Hurt Man.' There are only two characters in the entire scene: Leslie Abramson (Ari Gaynor) and Erik. Director Michael Upendahl places the camera about 12 feet away from the table where the two are seated. Abramson with her back to the camera (we never see her face) and Lyle facing. Slowly, imperceptibly, the camera pushes in on Erik until it passes Abramson and ends with a close up of Erik as he explains the title of the episode. Riveting!

Cooper Koch does a tremendous job throughout, but especially in that episode. Nicholas Chavez is also terrific as Lyle. Javier Bardem and Chloë Savigny are outstanding as Jose and Kitty.

I want to star off by saying Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer story (what a ridiculous title) is a very tough watch. I grew up about 30min from Milwaukee and even though I was a little kid when he was arrested I still remember this story being a huge, especially around here. How he was able to get away with what he did for as long as he did is very troubling. The police dropped the ball time and time again and lots of innocent lives were lost because of it. Evan Peters deserves every bit of recognition he's getting from this series, he was brilliant. The rest of the cast is good too but it's Peters who makes this show what it is.

When I clicked to watch the "Dahmer"-release on Netflix, I thought it would be the so-many'th documentary on him. But what a surprise it was to see that it is actually a mini-series of the crimes that Dahmer committed. And what a mini-series it is!

The acting is superb. The script is top-notch! The cinematography one of the best that I have seen in a true crime series of a serial killer!

I am a big fan of Mindhunter, the show about the origins of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit. And I must admit that Dahmer fits right into this type of shows! The show captured me from the first episode and it was a single binge from then on.

I know that there are many other movies from for instance "People's Magazine" that portray the crimes commited by notorious killers. But what Netflix has shown with Dahmer, is a complete new level of enactment! The movies from People's Magazine are just amateur hour compared to the Dahmer-series.

Netflix really surprised me big time with this great show! It deserves a solid 9 stars! And I don't easily give away a 9 star rating!

I knew very little about the Menendez brothers. I knew about the killings and about the molestation defense. But that's about it. The luridness of the story kept me at a distance but now, in this compelling Ryan Murphy series I was hooked from the very first episode. I could watch it as a work of fiction but the fact that it was a true story made me look back and read about it. Oh my God! There are no likeable characters in this saga but really good performances and that's enough to keep you glued to it. And here I discovered Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez. He took over my senses from beginning to end, including the episode that is just him. Superb performance and the humanity he finds in his monster makes you want to rethink the whole thing and believe them/him. He will make re-watch the series again, soon.

I'm reading a lot of these reviews and it seems like the point of season 3 went over a lot of your heads. The majority of things that happen when Ed is on screen is in his head. It's the fanciful creation that he made up. What we're seeing on screen is the delusions of a schizophrenic mind which is why it is so jangled and weird and off-putting and not anywhere close to the truth. If you remember this as you're watching the series it'll come off as much better. You're not going to get the honest truth from Ed's perspective because he didn't see it the way we see it. The only stuff that portrays as accurate is when we switch to the movies that were inspired by Ed's life. The scenes with Hitchcock and Psycho and Texas chainsaw massacres creation. Those are the truest parts. Ed was inspired by war photos he saw in world war II in the Nazi camps and Toby Hopper and Hitchcock were inspired by what Ed actually did in real life to create what they did.

Now that we got that out of the way I just want to say that Charlie hunnam's performance is amazing although I do worry about what he had to do to get in a mental state to portray this character. He definitely needs an Emmy nomination.

The only reason this didn't get a higher rating for me was the very last episode with the various other serial killers. It's one thing to show Ed gein's crazy mind and the things he thought of but it's another thing to exploit the crimes that Ted Bundy and Richard Speck did for views and voyeurism. Plus both of their stories were pretty much untrue in their relation to Ed gein. Maybe this is just another example of him making this stuff up in his mind?