The latest instalment of Ryan Murphy’s unsettling Monster series hasn’t even hit screens yet, but Netflix fans are already gearing up for a ‘gruesome’ experience.
Following the success of his series American Horror Story, the American showrunner turned his attention to a new project – Monster – which follows the lives of ‘monstrous figures’.
The first to be released, was The Jeffrey Dahmer Story in 2022, which starred Evan Peters as the infamous serial killer.
It was an instant success, soaring to the top of the Netflix charts and becoming the streaming service’s second most-watched English language series of all time, also being nominated for 12 Emmys.
Although initially planned to only run as a limited series, Monster was then renewed as an anthology – with the subsequent season The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story following the story of two brothers who murdered their parents in 1989.
Get personalised updates on all things Netflix
Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro’s TV Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we’ll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you.
That series, which was released last year and starred Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch, was also critically acclaimed, picking up 11 Emmy nominations.
Next up, the third season will shine a spotlight on suspected serial killer and body snatcher Ed Gein, who was also known as ‘the Butcher of Plainfield’.
His crimes, which were carried out around his hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin, came to prominence in 1957 when authorities discovered he’d exhumed corpses from local graveyards and fashioned keepsakes from their bones and skin.
He also confessed to killing two women, but after being declared unfit to stand trial was sent to a mental health facility.
This week a trailer was released for The Ed Gein Story – with certain scenes already leaving many completely terrified.
What do we know about The Ed Gein Story series?
The third season of Monster stars Sons of Anarchy’s Charlie Hunnam as Ed Gein, who also inspired the character of Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho.
Last year it was teased the series would explore Gein’s life as the ‘first celebrity killer’ and examine how the public’s obsession with true crime developed.
This week Netflix gave more details, with the official synopsis sharing: ‘Serial killer. Grave robber. Psycho. In the frozen fields of 1950s rural Wisconsin, a friendly, mild-mannered recluse named Eddie Gein lived quietly on a decaying farm — hiding a house of horrors so gruesome it would redefine the American nightmare.
‘Driven by isolation, psychosis, and an all-consuming obsession with his mother, Gein’s perverse crimes birthed a new kind of monster that would haunt Hollywood for decades.
‘From Psycho to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to The Silence of the Lambs, Gein’s macabre legacy gave birth to fictional monsters born in his image and ignited a cultural obsession with the criminally deviant. Ed Gein didn’t just influence a genre — he became the blueprint for modern horror.’
The upcoming release has been called Monsters ‘most harrowing instalment yet’.
It also stars Laurie Metcalf as Gein’s mother Augusta, Tom Hollander as Hitchcock and Olivia Williams as the director’s wife Alma Reville, who was a screenwriter and film editor.
Speaking about taking on the role of the infamous figure, Hunnam told Netflix’s Tudum: ‘I wanted to get as close as possible to who Ed was, to do him justice, and for this thing to feel authentic.
‘This is going to be the really human, tender, unflinching, no-holds-barred exploration of who Ed was and what he did. But who he was being at the centre of it, rather than what he did.’
What have viewers said about it?
This week the official teaser for the series was released, which shows Gein approaching a home on a snowy day, before the scene cuts to flashlights looking at a crime scene and authorities digging through what appears to be a box of remains.
Other shocking scenes show him digging up a grave and wearing a mask…made of human skin.
‘You know the iconic horror films his twisted legacy inspired, but you may not know his name… yet. This October, Ryan Murphy’s Monster Anthology Series returns with its third – and darkest – season yet,’ Netflix also shared.
After watching the teaser, many people weighed in.
‘Truly one of those gruesome stories that stick with you. I’ll never forget when I first learned about Ed Gein. It’s hard to believe the human mind is even capable of conjuring up such dark and sadistic practices. Really can’t wait for this! I’m sure I’ll be unsettled for weeks after watching it though,’ TheNetflixPsychologist commented on YouTube.
‘Ed Gain will return to the darker tone that Dahmer had. I just hope Charlie Hunnam surprises us,’ diegoperleche5177 shared.
‘Charlie Hunnam looks so much like Ed Gein it’s eerie. Great casting,’ itsreeeshaaa3650 wrote.
‘That voice gave me chills. Charlie is such an amazing actor, I absolutely can’t wait for this!’ pamhalen8969 added.
Who was Ed Geins and what did he become infamous for?
Born in 1906, Edward Theodore Gein was raised in a religious household, in which his mother Augusta preached about the immorality of the world and how all women were naturally promiscuous and instruments of the devil.
Gein idolised his mother, who then decided to isolate her son from the outside world after the family moved to a farm. After his father and brother died and his mother suffered a stroke, Gein took on the role of caring for her.
His first confirmed crime was committed in 1957, when he murdered 58-year-old Plainfield hardware store owner Bernice Worden, who had been shot, decapitated and hung upside down and left in a shed on Gein’s property.
When searching the home while investigating this case, police made horrifying discoveries, finding whole human bones and fragments, a wastebasket made of human skin, skulls on Gein’s bedposts, bowls made from human skulls, among several other shocking uses of human remains, including female genitals.
Being questioned by police, Gein admitted to making around 40 visits to local graveyards between 1947 and 1952, during which time he would exhume recently buried bodies and take them home to make his paraphernalia.
He also went on to admit to shooting 51-year-old Mary Hogan, a tavern owner who had been missing since 1954. Her head was found in his house, but Gein denied having any memory of details of her death.
After being charged with murder, Gein pleaded not guilty on the grounds of insanity. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and found mentally incompetent, avoiding jail and instead being sent to a hospital for the ‘criminally insane’.
He died from respiratory failure aged 77 in 1984.
Geins’ crimes went on to inspire multiple classic horror films, including The Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Will there be more seasons of Monster?
A fourth season of Monster is currently in development and will star Ella Beatty as murder suspect Lizzie Borden, who was tried and acquitted for the axe murders of her father and stepmother in 1892.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is coming to Netflix on October 3.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.