In the past few years, the media has seen a sharp influx in the True Crime genre. From popular podcasts on Spotify, to TikTok accounts, and even plethora of different movies, TV shows, and documentaries on popular streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, there seems to be new fuel for forensic fans nearly every week.

Most recently, Netflix released Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, a limited series co-directed by Ryan Murphy, most prominently known for his series, American Horror Story, and starring Evan Peters, another well-renowned figure in the horror industry. The series skyrocketed in popularity after its September 23rd release, amassing 196.2M viewers in its first week, shattering records and putting the show among Netflix’s top 5 opening weeks of all time. However, despite the series’ wild success, Netflix producers have received a significant amount of backlash regarding the show. Upon the announcement of DAHMER, prior to the show’s actual release, many were disgusted by yet another serial killer series being produced, with cries of “Not again!” and “Why?” ringing through twitter. Many felt it was not only unnecessary, but also exploitative to create a TV show dedicated to the life of a murderer, a man who drugged, raped, and dismembered 17 black and brown men, one victim being only 14 years of age. Since its release last week, DAHMER’ has received severe backlash from not only average audiences, but also from families of Dahmer’s victims.

DAHMER was far from the first dramatization of Jeffrey Dahmer’s life and crimes. The 2017 film, My Friend Dahmer, starring Ross Lynch, followed Jeffrey Dahmer’s high school years, and was based off of a graphic novel by the same name by John Backderf, who attended high school with Dahmer in the 1970s. Other films, such as the 2012 documentary/drama The Jeffrey Dahmer Files, have also retold the tale of Dahmer’s heinous crimes. Thus, when Netflix announced their take on the Dahmer case, many were outraged that the infamous killer was receiving more spotlight.

“How many more times do we need to talk about Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy?” Lamented users on Twitter. “It’s retraumatizing over and over again, and for what? How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?” complained others. Despite the backlash, DAHMER’s cast and crew vowed to be different. The aim of DAHMER was to put a focus on the killers, “undeserved victims and their communities,” while also exposing the cracks in the American judicial and law enforcement systems that allowed one of the nations most prolific murderers to slip through unnoticed. When discussing the production of the series, Evan Peters stated, “We had one rule going into this from Ryan that it would never be told from Dahmer’s point of view. As an audience, you’re not really sympathizing with him. You’re not really getting into his plight. You’re more sort of watching it, you know, from the outside.”

However, though DAHMER strived to be different, many viewers believe the show strongly missed the mark. Daniel Fienberg, in his review of DAHMER for The Hollywood Reporter writes, “It’s obvious that Murphy and Brennan want that to be a key takeaway from DAHMER, but unlike something like When They See Us, which had a similar message of transforming “The Central Park Five” into individuals with names and personalities, DAHMER maybe does it with two or three of the non-Jeffrey characters. The second half of the series is supposed to be that, but the show can’t get out of its own way. There are pointless and lengthy and manipulative asides about Ed Gein and John Wayne Gacy, for example, that get more screentime than at least 10 victims. That’s just pandering to the serial killer obsessives and undermining several series themes.”

Some flat out refused to watch the series, calling it “needlessly exploitative” and “humanizing” of Dahmer. Families of Dahmer’s victims even spoke out, with Rita Isbell, the sister of Errol Lindsey, who was murdered by Dahmer in 1959, sharing with Insider, “When I saw some of the show, it bothered me, especially when I saw myself — when I saw my name come across the screen and this lady saying verbatim exactly what I said.”

“I was never contacted about the show,” stated Isbell. “They didn’t ask me anything. They just did it. It’s sad that they’re just making money off of this tragedy. That’s just greed.”

However, despite the backlash, there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of serial killer series coming anytime soon, with Netflix set to release Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes, a three-part documentary series on October 7th.