As we near the final week of October, Watch With Us is excited to watch some streaming content to get us prepped for Halloween.
And what’s better than some real-life horror? There’s one drama series in particular that we think you should squeeze in before the month’s end.
Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy is a new show on Peacock about the titular serial killer. Starring Severance’s Michael Chernus as Gacy, the show depicts the infamous murderer’s double life as a respected community member and bloodthirsty killer.
It’s one of the scariest shows of 2025. Here’s why you need to watch it right now.
This ‘Devil’ Is Too Horrible to Be Real — But He Is
Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy centers on one of the most infamous serial killers of all time, and yet, being reminded of exactly what he did still feels unbelievable. Between the years of 1972 and 1978, Gacy killed at least thirty-three young men and boys in the Norwood Park Township suburb of Chicago, Illinois. He performed as a clown and was active in his community, frequently helping his neighbors with odd jobs and tasks. It was the perfect cover for his depraved activities.
Most of the murders he committed occurred in his home, and most of his victims were buried under his crawlspace. Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy depicts this double life that Gacy led, going unnoticed and unsuspected for so long, in addition to the police investigation that led to his capture and the effect on his victims and their families.
‘Devil in Disguise’ Does a Great Job Focusing on the Victims
Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy has been praised in particular for its portrayal of Gacy’s victims and the grief and trauma experienced by their friends and familiar. This is in sharp contrast with another true crime drama centered on a famous serial killer: Monster: The Ed Gein Story, which received ample criticism for its perceived exploitation and sensationalizing of Gein’s crimes in addition to queasily sympathizing with him.
On the other side of the coin, Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy makes the psychological trauma caused by Gacy’s crimes all too real. The series does a great job at focusing on the real lives lived by Gacy’s victims rather than simply indulging in their gruesome deaths. Additionally, it showcases how their murders affected everyone in their orbit and the pain that they suffered. Instead of lingering on the horror of the killings depicted, the show is instead more focused on how Gacy was able to get away with them, how he embedded himself within this unsuspecting community, cozied up to the police, and how he lured his victims. Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy wants us to feel compassion instead of a sense of voyeurism.
It Shows How Gacy Got Away With His Crimes For So Long
Along with painting a more empathetic portrait of a serial killer’s victims than other true crime dramas are wont to do, Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy also serves as a successful indictment of the biases and systems put in place that allowed Gacy to elude justice for as long as he did. For one, the series portrays the Chicago Police Department as both inept and ignorant, frequently ignoring pleas for help from family because the victim was gay or had a criminal record.
The show is explicit in its depiction of how homophobia played a huge hand in letting Gacy get away with his crimes, in addition to being a respected white business owner. It also shows the ways that people involved in the case profited from it: lawyers got rich, cops got second careers as public figures, yet the families of the victims live with the pain for the rest of their lives. Ultimately, Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy is an incredibly refreshing take on the serial killer true crime series, offering more than just lurid details and gory murder but the emotional consequences of it, too.
Stream Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy now on Peacock.
