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Netflix just dropped the first images<\/a> from the next installment of its controversial serial killer anthology series. Monster: The Ed Gein Story<\/em> stars Charlie Hunnam as the titular murderer \u2014 and his story is as macabre as they come. It\u2019s so dark, in fact, that in addition to inspiring the Ryan Murphy-produced season, Gein\u2019s life has also inspired some of the most iconic horror films of all time.<\/p>\n The logline for the new Netflix season, per the Hollywood Reporter<\/a>, teases that the upcoming show will explore Gein\u2019s influence on the genre and the world\u2019s fascination with serial killers in general.<\/p>\n \u201cDriven by isolation, psychosis, and an all-consuming obsession with his mother, Gein\u2019s perverse crimes birthed a new kind of monster that would haunt Hollywood for decades,\u201d the logline reads. It says that Gein\u2019s legacy \u201cgave birth to fictional monsters born in his image and ignited a cultural obsession with the criminally deviant.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEd Gein didn\u2019t just influence a genre,\u201d the logline concludes. \u201cHe became the blueprint for modern horror.\u201d<\/p>\n This installment follows the first two seasons \u2014 Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,<\/em> which premiered in September 2022 starring Evan Peters, and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,<\/em> released in September 2024 \u2014 continuing Netflix\u2019s true crime anthology trend.<\/p>\n So how did Gein go from man to myth? Here\u2019s what to know.<\/p>\n Gein was born in 1906 and grew up in Wisconsin, the son of a deeply religious mother, Augusta<\/a>, and an alcoholic father, George. Augusta kept Gein and his older brother Henry at home in their farmhouse in Plainfield, Wis., and often preached about the dangers of alcohol and women. Gein became obsessed with his mother \u2014 and when she died in 1945, he lost his grip on reality.<\/p>\n Though Gein has reached pop culture status as a prolific killer, Gein was convicted of murdering only two people: Mary Hogan in 1954 and Bernice Worden in 1957, both of whom resembled his late mother. Gein is also suspected of killing at least seven more people \u2014 including possibly his brother, who died in 1944 under mysterious circumstances after a fire<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Gein is most notorious for his actions as a grave robber. Around the time of the killings, Gein desecrated multiple corpses: He exhumed bodies from local cemeteries and used body parts to create furniture and face masks, earning Gein the nickname the \u201cButcher of Plainfield.\u201d He also created a \u201cwoman suit\u201d out of the skin of corpses.<\/p>\n Gein never went to prison for his actions. In 1958 he entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and was found unfit to stand trial after being diagnosed with schizophrenia. Instead, he was committed to the Central State Hospital. A decade later, he was determined fit to sit trial, where he was found guilty of killing Worden. However, since he was deemed insane at the time of the murder, he returned to Central State Hospital \u2014 where he quietly remained until he died of lung cancer in 1984 at the age of 77.<\/p>\n Multiple films were inspired by Gein\u2019s life, including the 2000 biopic Ed Gein <\/em>and 2007\u2019s Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield<\/em>. However, some of the most iconic horror films of all time borrowed bits of this killer\u2019s story to craft onscreen murderers.<\/p>\n Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s 1960 thriller Psycho,<\/em> based on Robert Bloch\u2019s 1959 novel of the same name, stars Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, whose obsession with \u201cMother\u201d reveals his dark and disturbing nature. In the movie, Norman kills multiple people while believing himself to be his deceased mother, whom he also killed.<\/p>\n Bloch grew up 50 miles from Gein\u2019s hometown and was inspired by the sensational media coverage of the story<\/a>. Gein\u2019s relationship with his own mother mirrors that of Norman\u2019s, who was often scolded by \u201cMother\u201d (really a dissociative Norman in a costume) about falling under the spell of lustful women.<\/p>\n According to Netflix, Hitchcock will be a part of the upcoming season of Monster<\/em>. Tom Hollander was cast as the famed director, while Olivia Williams will play his wife Alma.<\/p>\n The 1974 movie The Texas Chainsaw Massacre<\/em> also pulled from Gein\u2019s horrific tale, and even claimed the film \u2014 about a family of cannibals living in rural Texas who stalk and kill a group of friends on a road trip \u2014 was based on \u201ctrue events.\u201d Instead, the film \u2014 which features a character called Leatherface who wears his victims\u2019 faces like a mask \u2014 only used minor but gruesome details from Gein\u2019s grave robbing and murders as a jumping-off point. Gein wasn\u2019t the only murderer to inspire The Texas Chainsaw Massacre<\/em>: Writer Kim Henkel stated he was also intrigued by the story of fellow killer Elmer Wayne Henley<\/a>.<\/p>\n And Gein\u2019s \u201cwoman suit\u201d was also the inspiration for Thomas Harris\u2019s 1988 novel The Silence of the Lambs<\/em>. In the novel, as well as the 1991 film adaptation, serial killer Buffalo Bill creates a suit made out of the skin of women<\/a> he\u2019s killed to achieve the female body he desires. (The character has since been viewed as a controversial depiction of a possibly transgender character<\/a>.) Netflix refers to this movie in the poster for the new Monster<\/em> season, writing in the poster\u2019s tagline<\/a>, \u201cBefore The Silence of the Lambs\u2026<\/em>there was Ed.\u201d<\/p>\n There have been other movies that have pulled elements from Gein\u2019s life too. That includes 3 on a Meathook,<\/em> a 1972 horror flick that came out just two years prior to Texas Chainsaw Massacre<\/em> and featured a cannibalistic killer with Gein\u2019s famed mommy issues. Deranged,<\/em> a 1974 slasher comedy, features a mom-obsessed killer who robs graves and makes skin masks. And in 1993, Steve Buscemi starred in the comedy Ed and His Dead Mother<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> about \u201cEd Chilton,\u201d a man obsessed with bringing his mom back to life \u2014 only to have her return as a zombie.<\/p>\n Monster: The Ed Gein Story <\/em>hits Netflix on Oct. 3.<\/p>\n Cover thumbnail photo: Courtesy of Netflix<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe Ed Gein story<\/strong><\/h2>\n
How Ed Gein inspired horror movies<\/strong><\/h2>\n