This is my second Tubi documentary I've seen, the first being the adequate-but-standard Amityville doc.
Netflix did Bundy, Peacock did Gacy, now Tubi throws its towel in the serial killer doc genre with Dahmer. How do they fair?
Sadly, not well. Fresh Meat is a frenetic, fast paced 88 minute Cliffs Notes biography. The editing style is of the early 2000s History Channel highly-edited flashy style that has faded from popularity. I almost turned the doc off within the first 3 minutes when the soundtrack was a constant barrage of swooshes, stabs and slam sound effects you hear in movie trailers.
What about the interviews? The Amityville doc featured an annoying amount of tik tok videos but it's subjects were mostly people relating to the events. Fresh Meat really only has three worthwhile interviews - Dahmers next door neighbor, a drag Queen the knew two victims and a one of the women who tried saving 13th victim Konerak Sinthasomphone. The rest largely consists of True Crime podcasters relaying the story between our deep-voiced narrators segments. There's also a licensed therapist/porn star who tells us what fetishes and kinks Dahmer had.
Even more annoying is the constant sidebars into other serial killers. For example, we go several minutes into killer Luka Magnotta (subject of Don't F With Cats) because "He craved publicity, unlike Dahmer" or Ed Gein because "Like Dahmer, he kept body parts as trophys". These segments take a few minutes each and come off as nothing more than padding.
Fresh Meat provides nothing new to the story, nor is it a captivating watch. It seems geared towards the younger crowd who listen to My Favorite Murder or watch Buzzfeed Unsolved while completely offputting the much larger True Crime aficionado crowd that enjoys the much more respectful, slow paced shows such as the new Unsolved Mysteries, Son(s) of Sam, or American Murder.
Netflix did Bundy, Peacock did Gacy, now Tubi throws its towel in the serial killer doc genre with Dahmer. How do they fair?
Sadly, not well. Fresh Meat is a frenetic, fast paced 88 minute Cliffs Notes biography. The editing style is of the early 2000s History Channel highly-edited flashy style that has faded from popularity. I almost turned the doc off within the first 3 minutes when the soundtrack was a constant barrage of swooshes, stabs and slam sound effects you hear in movie trailers.
What about the interviews? The Amityville doc featured an annoying amount of tik tok videos but it's subjects were mostly people relating to the events. Fresh Meat really only has three worthwhile interviews - Dahmers next door neighbor, a drag Queen the knew two victims and a one of the women who tried saving 13th victim Konerak Sinthasomphone. The rest largely consists of True Crime podcasters relaying the story between our deep-voiced narrators segments. There's also a licensed therapist/porn star who tells us what fetishes and kinks Dahmer had.
Even more annoying is the constant sidebars into other serial killers. For example, we go several minutes into killer Luka Magnotta (subject of Don't F With Cats) because "He craved publicity, unlike Dahmer" or Ed Gein because "Like Dahmer, he kept body parts as trophys". These segments take a few minutes each and come off as nothing more than padding.
Fresh Meat provides nothing new to the story, nor is it a captivating watch. It seems geared towards the younger crowd who listen to My Favorite Murder or watch Buzzfeed Unsolved while completely offputting the much larger True Crime aficionado crowd that enjoys the much more respectful, slow paced shows such as the new Unsolved Mysteries, Son(s) of Sam, or American Murder.