Netflix's Monster: The Ed Gein Story, steered by producers/headliners Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, isn't an accurate telling of the psychotic killer's sick journey as much as it's about the weird, pop-cultural legacy Gein spawned. We're talking Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween, Friday the 13th, Silence of the Lambs and even (despite being a slight stretch) Ilsa, She Wolf of the S.S. and Bloody Pit of Horror.
There's also Three on a Meat Hook, Deranged, Ed Gein 2000, Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield and Ed Gein: The Musical. None of them are completely the Gein story, not even the latter three, despite the precise labeling, but they each edge damn close, if only in grotesque spirit, and so does Netflix's eight-part miniseries.
Charlie (Sons of Anarchy/King Arthur) Hunnam portrays the titular fiend and does a remarkable job. He looks like Gein and sounds much the way one would imagine, even if his recorded tonality is give-or-take average. There's a surface likability to Gein, and Hunnam brings that to light, as his ghastly deeds are served in a creepier, out-in-the-open manner than they were. In actuality, Gein was a quiet, affable sort, who despite his quirks, people trusted to babysit their kids. They wouldn't have done so if he gave off alarming vibes. Because of his subdued nature, Gein's murders and frightful practices were all the more shocking when revealed.
Though most of the series leans on Gein's ghoulish descent, it finds time to slip into semi-fictionalized segments on Psycho and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, along with other sandwiched segues of cultural and historic context. Alfred Hitchcock (Tom Hollander), Anthony Perkins (Joey Pollari), Tobe Hooper (Will Brill) and Illsa inspiration, Ilse Koch (Vicky Krieps) dominate these moments, which burst from Gein's depicted slayings. (FYI: Perhaps it was just my imagination, but I believe there's more than a little Bette Davis' Baby Jane fused with Cloris Leachman's Ruth Popper in hardware-store proprietor Bernice Worden [Leslie Manville], who engages Gein in a warped affair.)
Gein's mom, Augusta (Laurie Metcalf), is a big scene-stealer throughout the series' early stages, establishing the inspiration for the puritanical Norma Bates, but there are also other characters and castmates who add much to Gein's troubling genesis and aftermath: Adeline Watkins (Suzanna Son), Gein's naive but ambitious fiancé; Alma Reville (Olivia Williams), Hitchcock's insightful spouse and collaborator; "Weegee" (Elliot Gould), a pompous, crime photographer; Robert Bloch (Ethan Sandler), horror raconteur and Psycho author; Deputy Frank Worden (Charlie Hall), a son enraged by his mother's gruesome demise; Sheriff Schley (Tyler Jacob Moore), unraveller of Gein's carnage; Evelyn Hartley (Addison Rae), a Gein victim (who may or may not have been killed by Ed in real life); Henry Gein (Hudson Oz), Ed's brother (who may or may not have been killed by Ed in real life); Christine Jorgensen (Alanna Darby), pioneering transsexual; Ted Levine's Buffalo Bill (Golden Garnick), noted, Silence of the Lambs character; Ted Bundy (John T. O'Brien), legendary killer; Jerry Brudos (Cameron Anderson); legendary killer; Richard "the Birdman" Speck (Tobias Jelenek), legendary killer; Tab Hunter (Jackie Kay), beloved actor/singer and Perkin's intimate confidant; and Mildred Neuman (Mimi Kennedy), Perkin's calculating, conversion therapist.
Another plus for the series is its locations, with Gein's Plainfield, Wisconsin residence at the forefront, often presented in autumnal hues and wintery spreads, but the same attentive care can be found in the Hitchcock and Hooper portions, which are supported by their movies' celebrated scenes, even it pivotal facts are skewed.
Hunnam deserves ample awards for his performance, but these days Hollywood is more inclined to grant praise for political views than acting ability. It is what it is, but even so, I do believe Hunnam's Gein will hold up over the years. He's dispatched a nightmarish persona that can't be shaken, but then the same can be said of The Ed Gein Story on the whole. It's a gory, gripping dish. Devour it if you dare!
I was troubled by an historical aspect of THE ED GEIN STORY, regarding Tobe Hooper's opinion of Hitchcock's PSYCHO. Hooper did like PSYCHO, contrary to what the miniseries conveyed. A basic search confirmed the matter:
ReplyDelete"Yes, it's reported that director Tobe Hooper was a great admirer of Alfred Hitchcock's film Psycho, and that he even used Psycho to teach his cast and crew about pacing and structure during the making of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Hooper was particularly struck by the meticulous craftsmanship and purposeful nature of every shot and line of dialogue in Psycho."