The onslaught of true crime shows no signs of slowing down, as Dahmer has finally been taken down a notch on streaming — by another true crime drama from Netflix.
After nearly a month of dominating the service and causing a near endless amount of discussion and controversy, the Jeffrey Dahmer series has been upstaged by The Watcher. Based on a harrowing story of a family being harassed after moving into a new home, it’s struck a nerve on streaming and gone straight to the top.
The lead isn’t a massive one for The Watcher, with the Netflix charts putting the series at 125 million hours viewed in its first week, just three million ahead of Dahmer in its fourth week. The series stars recent Emmy-award winner Jennifer Coolidge, consistent horror trauma victim Naomi Watts, and Ant-Man star Bobby Cannavale.
It’s astonishing just how many times Watts has starred in a project which has her either being subjected to trauma, home invaders, the supernatural, or general tomfoolery. The Ring, Funny Games, Goodnight Mommy, and truly terrifyingly bad Movie 43. Good for her.
The Watcher’s true story caused controversy at the time, with many allegations made against the family for fabricating the story or attempting to find a way out of an expensive house purchase. Similarly, the family had also sent a threatening letter to their neighbours in an attempt to get them to take it more seriously.
Fittingly for any popular Netflix true crime series, Ryan Murphy’s hands are all over this project. Not content with just helming the second spot series Dahmer, he also worked as the creator for The Watcher. Murphy remains an incredibly powerful man in television, with a firm grasp over what audiences want to see.
The Watcher is currently available to stream on Netflix.