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Ryan Murphy’s latest series of Monster has dropped on Netflix, chronicling the crimes of Ed Gein.
The third season dramatises the life of Gein, played by Charlie Hunnam in what has already been hailed as a truly chilling performance.
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.
He admitted to frequenting local graveyards between 1947 and 1952, during which time he exhumed recently buried bodies and took them home to make keepsakes from their remains, which police later found at his home.
He was arrested and later deemed fit to stand trial in 1968, before being imprisoned and later dying in a psychiatric institution in 1984.
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The grisly trial has provided nightmare fuel to generations, most notably in the world of horror cinema, with several classic pictures both about him outright, but also based on his crimes.
What movies did Ed Gein inspire?
Psycho
One of the most iconic horror films inspired by Gein is Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, released in 1960.
It tells the tale of secretary Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), who goes on the run after stealing a large sum of money from her employer.
During her travels, she makes a stop at the dilapidated Bates Motel run by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a strange man with a love of taxidermy and a strained relationship with his mother.
When Marion goes missing, her boyfriend, Sam Loomis (John Gavin), and her sister, Lila (Vera Miles), investigate.
Where to watch: NOW TV
Deranged
Released in 1974, Alan Ormsby and Jeff Gillen’s Deranged is loosely based on Gein’s crimes, all narrated by a fictional newspaper columnist recounting the horrific events.
Deranged follows Ezra Cobb (Roberts Blossom), a middle-aged man in a rural Midwestern community.
He begins a murderous rampage and a series of grave robberies after the death of his mother, a religious fanatic who raised him to be a misogynist.
Where to watch: Prime Video
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
One of the most iconic slasher films of all time, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s central killer, Leatherface, takes inspiration from Gein’s collection of trinkets made from body parts.
Tobe Hooper’s beloved film sees a group of friends – Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns), Jerry (Allen Danziger), Pam (Teri McMinn), Kirk (William Vail), and Franklin (Paul A. Partain) – become stranded while out on a road trip when their car runs low on fuel.
They explore the remote local area, falling prey to a sadistic family of cannibals who pick them off one by one.
Where to watch: Shudder via Prime Video
The Silence of the Lambs
Anthony Hopkins gives one of his most revered performances as the terrifying Hannibal Lecter in 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, but Gein also inspired Ted Levine’s Buffalo Bill in this chilling thriller.
Based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Harris, Jonathan Demme’s film stars Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee who is hunting a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill.
In a bid to catch the mysterious criminal, she enlists the help of Lecter, an imprisoned psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial murderer.
Where to watch: Available to rent and buy via Prime Video and Apple TV Plus
House of 1000 Corpses
Much more loosely inspired than the previous picks on this list, Rob Zombie’s splattery gore flick House of 1000 Corpses and its sequel, The Devil’s Rejects, featured plenty of nods to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and therefore Gein.
Starring Sheri Moon Zombie, Sid Haig, and Bill Moseley, the 2003 film follows a group of teenagers out on a road trip (sound familiar?) when they pick up a hitchhiker, Baby (Sheri), who claims to live nearby.
When the group’s van breaks down, she takes the group to her family home, where the group of sadistic killers imprisons and tortures the youngsters.
Where to watch: Shudder via Prime Video, Plex, and Lionsgate+
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is streaming now on Netflix
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