Sick of Bundy movies? Here are some films about Jeffrey Dahmer

With all these Ted Bundy movies floating around, it’s really time to take a step back and watch movies about Jeffrey Dahmer instead. Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer are both considered two of the world’s worst and most evil serial killers in history, but they are extremely different. For some reason, Bundy ended up landing a lot more national attention and becoming the focus of many more movies than Dahmer. Movies about Jeffrey Dahmer aren’t nearly as common, but the ones that do exist are pretty interesting for those who care about true crime. He ended up getting caught, so it’s not like his murderous rampage went on forever. Jeffrey Dahmer is known to be the Milwaukee Cannibal or Milwaukee Monster due to the nature of his disturbing crimes. Discovering what he did in his lifetime is horrifying. Between 1978 and 1999, he committed the murders of seventeen boys and men. What makes his crimes even more heinous is the fact that he actually enjoyed eating their human flesh. Dahmer was convicted, living out his sentence in prison when he was murdered by a fellow inmate on November 28, 1994. Severe head trauma was ruled as the cause of death and since then, people are still talking about his story.

My Friend Dahmer, 2017

My Friend Dahmer is a movie about Jeffrey Dahmer that premiered in 2017. It tells the creepy true story of what Dahmer’s life was like when he was a mere high school student. As a teenager, he was extremely creepy and he only got worse with age. He ended up becoming a notorious serial killer, and this movie depicts the pathway that got him there. The dramatized movie does its best to maintain total accuracy in the depiction of what Dahmer’s high school experience was like. The movie sheds light on the fact that he was shy as a teenager but also struggled with a touch of alcoholism. It also showcases what his first murder looked like getting him started on his vicious path. Directed by Marc Meyers, the film stars Ross Lynch as Dahmer and was filmed in part at Dahmer’s actual childhood home in Bath, Ohio.

The Jeffrey Dahmer Files, 2012

In 2012, another movie about Jeffrey Dahmer was released called The Jeffrey Dahmer Files. Film creator Chris James Thompson used dramatized scenarios with the help of actors, as well as archival footage, in order to piece together the haunting story of Dahmer who callously murdered so many people. This movie gives viewers a perspective of a detective working on Dahmer’s case, a lead pathologist involved, and one of Dahmer’s neighbors. Perspectives include those of detective, medical examiner Jeffrey Jentzen, and neighbor Pamela Bass. It’s easy to stream this movie about Jeffrey Dahmer now if you have Amazon Prime.

Dahmer, 2002

Dahmer is a 2002 movie about Jeffrey Dahmer that will surely creep you out if you don’t go into it mentally prepared for the worst. This movie is considered a fragmented and fictionalized biopic that covers what the life of Dahmer was like as he decided on who he wanted to kill next. This movie includes several flashbacks and shows what it was like for Dahmer to transform from a weird kid into a murderous adult. His transition from getting a taste of what killing is like the very first time to stocking gay bars to find unknowing prey makes this movie incredibly heart-wrenching. Directed by David Jacobson, the film stars Jeremy Renner as Dahmer and was a low-budget production with limited theatrical release. As for now, you can watch all these classic movies on DVD.

Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022)

Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story arrived in 2022 as a ten-episode Netflix limited series created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. The project stars Evan Peters as Dahmer, Richard Jenkins as Lionel Dahmer, and Niecy Nash as Glenda Cleveland. It examines systemic failures in policing and institutional response alongside the crimes themselves. The series premiered on September 21, 2022, and quickly became one of the platform’s most-watched titles of the year, shifting the conversation around Dahmer portrayals from scattered independent films to mainstream prestige drama.

Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes (2022)

Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes is a three-episode Netflix documentary series directed by Joe Berlinger that uses Dahmer’s own recorded interviews with his legal team. Released in October 2022, the project draws on unguarded audio to revisit the case from multiple angles. It explores how race, sexuality, class, and policing intersected in the investigation and its aftermath. The series complements the dramatized Monster by offering primary-source material that had not been widely available to viewers before.

Recent Documentaries and Archive Footage Projects

Additional true-crime productions released after 2022 continue to draw on archival material and new investigative angles. Projects such as Mind of a Monster episodes and other archive-based specials have aired on various platforms, each focusing on specific aspects like the apartment crimes or family perspective. These entries keep the case in circulation through narrower lenses rather than full-life retellings, giving viewers fresh entry points without repeating the same narrative beats.

Streaming Availability Updates

Major titles are now widely available on Netflix and other platforms, moving well beyond the Amazon Prime-only access noted when earlier coverage appeared. Viewers can find both the 2017 dramatization and the 2022 series and documentary on the same service, along with supplemental archive projects on additional outlets. This wider distribution reflects how interest in Dahmer-related media has grown and how platforms have responded by keeping multiple formats accessible at once.

The story of Jeffrey Dahmer likely isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. That being said, a movie or two about him will likely be released in the future. Since there are so many Ted Bundy movies being created all the time, it’s very probable that more Jeffrey Dahmer movies are on their way. People are genuinely interested in trying to understand the mind of a killer, and these are the type of true crime films that help normal people gather better insight. Is this why you tune into true crime movies? Let us know in the comments below!