The latest addition to Ryan Murphy’s Monster anthology series has left viewers feeling physically sick—but still unable to look away, sending it soaring up the charts.
Exploring the life and crimes of another notorious American killer, the latest Netflix series delves further back into the past than the show has gone before.
‘There’s something real dark about you, Eddie Gein,’ we hear a woman’s voice say at the start of The Ed Gein Story trailer. It’s an understatement.
The third season dramatises the life of Gein, played by a blank and inscrutable Charlie Hunnam in what has already been hailed as the most daring TV performance of the year.
Co-created with Ian Brennan, this season of the show positions Gein as the originator of horror classics like Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs. He’s a near-prototype for the latter’s skin-obsessed killer Buffalo Bill.
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Gein admitted to frequenting local graveyards between 1947 and 1952, during which time he exhumed recently buried bodies and took them home to make horrifying keepsakes, which police later found at his home.
Known as the ‘Butcher of Plainfield’, Gein confessed to two murders–of tavern owner Mary Hogan in 1954 and hardware store owner Bernice Worden in 1957–and was suspected of seven others. The rural Wisconsinite died in a psychiatric institution in 1984.
Following the release of Monster: The Ed Gein Story on the streamer, fans have taken to social media in pure disgust, describing some of the scenes in the show as ‘insane’.
‘This new Ed Gein movie was a terrible choice to watch before bed. I had nightmares all night long’, wrote @PhotoAmy33 on X.
There’s also been plenty of praise for Hunnam’s portrayal of the body mutilator, with @iamwbi writing: ‘#CharlieHunnam delivers a masterful performance as #EdGein, capturing the eerie fragility behind the madness. His portrayal fuses innocence & insanity with unnerving grace, humanizing the horror. It’s a fearless, transformative act; truly #Emmys worthy.’
‘Just finished the first two episodes of Monster : The Ed Gein Story. I have no f*cking idea what I’m watching. This s**t is disturbing and weird as hell but I gotta say Charlie Hunnam is delivering an amazing performance’, added @Farahacreations.
Despite becoming a template for classic horror films, not much is known of Gein and his motivations compared to the 2022 and 2024 show subjects Jeffrey Dahmer and Erik and Lyle Menendez, respectively.
Both of those attracted major controversy, despite their strong streaming numbers, and it seems, amongst the praise, there have also been some questions raised around the Gein season.
On Reddit, viewers questioned its accuracy, with Poelover6969 arguing the finished product showed a ‘lack of respect for the victims’, making them feel ‘gross’ while watching.
Additionally, while praising Hunnman’s ‘phenomenal’ acting, it was said by the likes of MiddleList1916 that the story was not all ‘literal’ but merely created for shock value’.
In defence of Murphy, though, they added: ‘That’s why I watch his shows. I wasn’t really looking for hard hitting journalism or realism…so I really enjoyed the interpretation of serial killers and media and the human condition.’
Why has Ryan Murphy's Monster series been controversial?
While Murphy said his Menendez series was ‘the best thing that has happened to the brothers in 30 years’, their family took issue with the show.
Members of the brothers’ family said the pair were ‘victimised by this grotesque shockadrama’ and also claimed the show was ‘riddled with mistruths’, per a social media post.
Murphy responded to the comments by saying they were ‘predictable at best’ in an interview with Variety.
‘I find it interesting because I would like specifics about what they think is shocking or not shocking,’ said the Glee creator. ‘It’s not like we’re making any of this stuff up. It’s all been presented before.
‘What we’re doing is we’re the first to present it in one contained ecosystem. What’s grotesque about it?’
The Jeffrey Dahmer Monster series also received blowback, with some victims’ relatives claiming that nobody from the production notified them of the show or consulted them. Murphy, in turn, said they had reached out but received no response.
The show was slammed for its incredibly protracted scenes of grisly violence and also criticised for its sometimes-sympathetic depiction of Dahmer.
Hunnam did his own investigative work to prepare for the role and managed to get his hands on a lost tape of Gein’s voice, which had been recorded the night he was arrested but deemed not legally admissible.
‘Our best researchers couldn’t get the tape,’ show director Max Winkler told Variety. ‘But Charlie got it, because he’s Charlie and he does crazy s**t.’
‘I started to see him through a series of affectations to please his mother,’ Hunnam told the publication. ‘That’s where the voice came from.’
Well, now we know that the show has certainly delivered on maximum creepiness, be aware that this is not for the weak of stomach before you press play.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is available to stream on Netflix.
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