Monster - the ED GEIN story on Netflix

[ozarina]

Started this last night. It's beautifully filmed in parts but wow it takes you aback at certain bits. I didn't realise that the movie Psycho was based on this guy. It's not for the faint hearted.

Watched the first episode the other night. Couldn’t bring myself to watch another straight away; will need to space them out. You can definitely see how Psycho was inspired.

Didn’t realise that he actually killed so few people.

Was irritated by the way they had him talking. Did he really sound like that? Also was quite jarring having someone so obviously physically attractive as Charlie Hunnam playing him. Difficult to make him come across as a creepy weirdo when he looks like that!

I’ve watched two episodes so far. Honestly, I’m not enthralled. There’s too many other stories making it seem way too disjointed - the Nazi story and the Psycho story. I’m hoping it picks up because it’s not comparing well to the previous two Monsters at all.

watched 3 episodes of this so far. Not an easy watch. Would prefer just the straight forward story without the Hitchcock stuff. Not as good as the Jeffrey Dahmer or Mendez brothers ones.
DH thinks there’s something wrong with me for even wanting to watch these 😁. He’s probably right!

I’m not interested in the Hitchcock or Texas Chainsaw stuff and would have preferred it to be all about him so I’m losing interest

Haven’t watched it yet but I’m wondering if the Texas Chainsaw and Hitchcock elements were deliberately included because the details of Gein’s crimes are just too grisly for a mainstream TV show of eight episodes to go into.

The Hitchcock and Nazi thing killed it for me. Gave up after first episode. Would have preferred it just about him without The Bitch of wherever.

It’s not as well made as the others and completely agree that the Hitchcock stuff isn’t great - I’ve been forwarding through those bits. Would rather have had more flashbacks to his childhood etc.

I also don’t think the Adeline character is based on real life which is putting me off as she’s such a prominent role.

I’ve watched another two episodes and still not impressed. There’s too much filler, like they need to flesh out the series. There’s so many other serial killers and infamous murderers they could have gone with, I’m not sure why they picked Ed Gein.

I’ve watched two episodes and I did like it, I’ll carry on. But yes, I got a bit confused at times with the Hitchcock scenes and wasn’t sure what was real, or his imagination, or flitting to another time period.

Just finished this, been through the wringer with it and was a difficult watch at times. I’ve been through the whole gamete of emotions about this man during the show.
but honestly coming out the other side think it probably one of best things I’ve watched in a long time.
had no idea all the films he inspired

She definitely existed:

https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/tv-shows/who-was-adeline-watkins-monster-the-ed-gein-story/

That's my thoughts too. We've watched 4 now.

Ohhh! 😮

What has surprised me is the influence that Ed Gein had on the movie scene with Psycho and then in turn on the subsequent movie genre. This is new to me. It is different and odd at times but makes it that bit different from your usual killer movie. They're trying to show all the external influences that created this and how there are monsters in many guises in life. The dip into Anthony Perkins life and career is new to me too.

It was Buchenwald and was true 😬

I’m on episode 4 and I’m not enjoying it as much as some of Ryan Murphy’s other work. It’s not chronological and then adding in the Nazi stuff and Psycho is making it too disjointed for me. I will keep going with it but I’ve also ordered a book on Ed Gein as I’d like to know more. I do wonder if it’s been made like this because not enough is known about Ed’s early life and the timeline of his crimes?

I’ll definitely rewatch Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs too.

I thought it was very well done; the disjointedness and lack of clarity was for me a really good representation of his delusions. When he was interviewed by police and psychologists, and he was all 'I don't know what was real and what wasn't', it made sense. I think they did it really well. Showing how his story influenced films and other killers maybe added a bit too much, but it was interesting. By the end it felt like all these people may have been using him for 'inspiration', but when his illness was stable he took no pleasure that at all.

I remember Ed Gein from reading the book 'Mindhunter' by John Douglas, the FBI criminal profiler.

It was gripping stuff. But I don't think I'll watch this. Sounds like they've exploited the nasty elements without any real other content. Too harrowing for me!

Charlie hunnam was mistaken casting, a fine, fine actor its not his fault, but hes just far too attractive for the role and its genuinely pulling me out of the story

its an interesting watch. His story inspired so much horror, However the girlfriend story is mainly made up. Yes she existed but i think her story was mainly made up. Guess they needed to shoehorn a pretty girl into the story

Yep it seems that her character has been totally embellished from the real life Adeline, in that the fictional version seems to accept Ed's dark side and I am not sure the real Adeline really knew much. Plus I suspect her trip to NYC was fiction and I am not sure how much that added to the story. That said, I am enjoying it, I don't mind the WW2 and Hitchcock parts, I think they add context and show the influence his crimes had. I have just finished episode 5 and admit I was a little unsettled with his, er sexual liaison in it!

I don't think he is an unusual choice due to his legacy, although he doesn't fit the usual serial killer mould in that his victims didn't suffer, the story really comes from what he does to people post mortem. I hadn't heard of the next subject, Lizzie Borden and again, wouldn't have thought she was an obvious candidate, assuming Ryan Murphy might have chosen Bundy or Gacy, but I shall reserve judgement and look forward to watching.

I'm not sure how I feel about this.
A lot was made up or the truth stretched.

It was unnecessarily graphic in places but I do think it was making a commentary on society's obsession with serial killers and murder.

The references to Mindhunter at the end just made me think how much better Mindhunter was.

Charlie hunnam was mistaken casting, a fine, fine actor its not his fault, but hes just far too attractive for the role and its genuinely pulling me out of the story

They did ugly him up a bit but you could catch glimpses of his hotness.

The writer of Psycho said he hasn't heard of Ed Gein

This is how I feel. Too many side stories where the truth was definitely stretched. It felt like watching several different programmes at once, extremely disjointed.

And once DH and I realised he was channeling Kermit the frog with that voice, it just started to seem a bit comedic to us.

I love true crime series but I much prefer them to be as factual as possible.