Ava Alexopoulos
Ryan Murphy has returned with a new Monster series that focuses on the life of Ed Gein. He was a 1950s Wisconsin murderer and body snatcher that inspired horror movies such as Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Silence of The Lambs.
The cast includes Charlie Hunnman, Laurie Metcalf, Suzanna Son, Addison Rae, Tom Hollander, and many more. The show debuted with more than 12 million views in a week as the third “Monsters” series.
The series focuses on the bizarre life of Ed Gein who is played by Charlie Hunnman. We see his weird relationship with his mother and follow along with his notorious crimes. He’d dig up bodies from graves and would craft clothing and objects from the remains of his victims. Hunnman also uses a creepy high and soft spoken voice for Gein because he states that “I started to see him through a series of affectations to please his mother. That’s where the voice came from.”
There are a few misconceptions from the series itself. For instance, Ed Gein also had a relationship with a woman named Adeline Watkins which happened in real life, but it wasn’t as intense as the show makes it. The real Adeline admitted they had only been together for a short period of time. There were also two murders that happened in the show that Ed Gein caused, but he was never proven to commit them in real life. The show shows him kidnapping and killing a girl named Evelyn Hartley, who went missing near Ed’s town in real life and he was never confirmed to have killed her. The most infamous case is his brother Henry’s death. In real life, Henry was found dead outside when a fire broke out. The show has Ed Gein killing him and using the fire to cover up his crime.
There are a lot of disturbing scenes that show Ed Gein wearing woman bodysuits and using women’s remains as lamps and chairs. We see close ups of dead bodies and witness Ed’s hallucinations from time to time as he’s fixated on the dead bodies. He even keeps a dead body in his home to resemble his mother as if she’s still with him.
We even get some interesting scenes that show us how each of the horror films came to life from the inspiration of Ed Gein. There are certain parallels such as the shower scene from Psycho, Ed Gein spinning around with a chainsaw, and a dancing sequence with Buffalo Bill.
We have Ed Gein in the series look straight into the camera and say, “You’re the ones who can’t look away,” which gives us an invitation to witness the horrific events that take place. Now it’s your turn.
