“Hello, Mother”: With an unusually soft voice, Eddie stands before his devoutly religious mother after the death of his brother Henry.
At this moment, she doesn’t yet know the role her son played in the death, but she already suspects that something is deeply wrong with Ed.
This obsessive mother-son relationship is at the heart of the new thriller series “Monster: The Ed Gein Story”. All eight episodes are now available on Netflix.
Following the success of Monster seasons featuring Jeffrey Dahmer and Lyle and Erik Menendez, the series now turns its chilling focus to another infamous killer.
The gruesome crimes of Ed Gein, a serial killer and grave robber from Wisconsin, shocked the United States in the 1950s. His actions later inspired iconic horror films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” (1960), “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991), and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974).
A controversial series
Series creator Ryan Murphy, known for the global hit “Glee” and his $300-million exclusive deal with Netflix in 2018, has a knack for true-crime storytelling.
In 2022, the first season of Monster horrified audiences with the story of Jeffrey Dahmer, who murdered and cannibalised several young men before his arrest in 1991.
The Dahmer season remains one of Netflix’s most successful productions but sparked controversy, particularly as victims’ families criticized the series for retraumatizing them.
The second season, which centred on Lyle and Erik Menendez, also drew attention last year. The brothers were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996 for the murder of their parents. Following the show’s release, public perception of the Menendez brothers shifted, and prosecutors even began reviewing new evidence.
An award-worthy performance
“Monster: The Ed Gein Story” is expected to spark similar debates in the media and on social networks. The eight episodes are dark and brutal, with series star Charlie Hunnam (“Sons of Anarchy”) delivering a chilling performance.
Hunnam, who first gained fame as a teenager in the LGBTQ+ drama series “Queer as Folk”, captivates viewers from the opening moments as the frail yet menacing serial killer obsessed with his mother.
The cast also includes Laurie Metcalf as Gein’s diabolical mother Augusta. Hunnam portrays this psychopathic killer with a middle-part hairstyle and a deceptively kind smile.
Given that Evan Peters and Cooper Koch, the leads of the first two Monster seasons, won an Emmy and a Golden Globe respectively, it seems unlikely that Hunnam will leave the upcoming awards season empty-handed.
Within the first 50 minutes of the series, it becomes clear why Alfred Hitchcock drew inspiration from Ed Gein’s impulsive behaviour for the character of Norman Bates in “Psycho”. Decades later, Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs” would evoke similar nightmares in audiences.
With Monster, horror fans now get to see the original story behind these legendary film monsters — one that will undoubtedly linger in their minds long after the credits roll.
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