{"id":59982,"date":"2025-10-08T00:30:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T00:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/59982\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T00:30:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T00:30:14","slug":"monster-the-ed-gein-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/59982\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Monster: The Ed Gein Story’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monster: The Ed Gein Story debuted at No. 2 <\/a>on Netflix, proving the public continues to be fascinated with The Butcher of Plainfield.<\/p>\n

That fascination stretches all the way back to the date Gein\u2019s crimes were discovered. When he was arrested in 1957, newspapers like The Milwaukee Journal ran photos of the serial killer and his home below headlines such as \u201cMurder Farm Horror Grows\u201d and \u201cWidow Butchered; [Police] Find 10 Death Masks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through the decades, Gein\u2019s horrific crimes inspired all-time classic films such as Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Best Picture winner The Silence of the Lambs. Now, Ryan Murphy has mined Gein\u2019s story for the latest installment of his Monster series.<\/p>\n

Scroll through the photos below to see comparisons between actual photos of Gein, his family and the crime scene with actors and images from Murphy\u2019s The Ed Gein Story. You\u2019ll also find images from and comparisons to the films his crimes helped inspire.<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Netflix\/Getty\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Charlie Hunnam as Ed Gein; Ed Gein himself<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Netflix\/Courtesy\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Laurie Metcalf as Augusta Gein, Ed Gein\u2019s mother; Augusta Gein<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Netflix\/Bettmann Archive\/Getty Images\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Suzanna Son as Adeline Watkins who nearly married Ed Gein before his confession and prosecution; the actual Adeline Watkins<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Netflix\/Getty\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Vicky Krieps as Ilse Koch, the Nazi \u201cBeast of Buchenwald,\u201d who served as a twisted inspiration for Gein\u2019s use of human remains. While the real Koch died in prison, in Monster she exists in Gein\u2019s fantasies; Ilse Koch mug shot<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Netflix\/Getty Images\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Lesley Manville as Bernice Worden, a victim of Ed Gein; an archival photo of Worden<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Netflix\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Addison Rae plays Evelyn Hartley, a babysitter in Plainfield. In 1957, authorities questioned Gein regarding Hartley\u2019s disappearance, as he had been visiting a relative near the Rasmusen home when she vanished. Although Gein denied involvement, passed two lie detector tests and was officially cleared, he remains a suspect in the minds of some. a class photo of Evelyn Hartley<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Netflix\/Getty\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Tom Hollander as Alfred Hitchcock in \u2018Monster.\u2019 The director\u2019s genre-defining horror masterpiece \u2018Psycho\u2019 was inspired in part by Gein\u2019s crimes; Hitchcock with the clapperboard for the film<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Netflix\/Getty\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Olivia Williams as Alma Reville, Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s wife. Reville was a screenwriter and editor who collaborated closely with the director, co-writing films like \u2018Shadow of a Doubt,\u2019 \u2018Suspicion,\u2019 and \u2018The Lady Vanishes\u2019; Hitch and Williams in repose<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Netflix\/Everett Collection\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Joey Pollari plays Anthony Perkins in \u2018Monster.\u2019 The actor is best known for his role as Norman Bates in Psycho, a character directly inspired by the crimes of Ed Gein.<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: AP Photo\/Paul Shane\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Ed Gein, 61, sits alone behind the defendant\u2019s table and waits for the judge to call the court to order in Wautoma, Wis., on Jan. 22, 1968. Gein, was charged with the slaying of a Plainfield, Wis., woman.<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"\t<\/p>\n

The Gein Home in Plainfield in Wisconsin, circa 1957. Ed Gein murdered women in his town, robbed graves and stored body parts in his house.<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Everett Collection\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Many say the iconic exterior of the Bates residence in \u2018Psycho\u2019 architecturally refernced the Gein farmhouse. While director Alfred Hitchcock undeniably drew on Gein\u2019s life and crimes to develop the Norman Bates character, he never confirmed that Gein\u2019s actual home served as the model for the film\u2019s famous Gothic Victorian house.<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Netflix\t\t\t<\/p>\n

A scene from Monster: The Ed Gein Story. The inside of Gein\u2019s home did, in fact, inspire the macabre furnishings of the Bates\u2019 residence (such as the sealed-off room shrine), as police found grotesque artifacts made from human remains inside the farmhouse.<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Getty Images\t\t\t<\/p>\n

In a scene later to be echoed by the cluttered and creepy home in \u2018Texas Chainsaw Massacre,\u2019 an unidentified police officer examines the junk-littered kitchen in Gein\u2019s house. Authorities found human skulls made into bowls and other adulterated human remains. They also discovered the butchered body of Bernice Worden hung in a shed near the house.<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Everett Collection\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Gunnar Hansen as Leatherface in \u2018The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,\u2019 which was partially inspired by Ed Gein, primarily through the macabre practice of fetishizing human skin and remains. A scene in \u2018Monster\u2019 has Gein mirroring the macabre chainsaw dance that Leatherface perfoms in Tobe Hooper\u2019s classic.<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Orion Pictures Corporation\/ Courtesy: Everett Collection\t\t\t<\/p>\n

While Gein was never confirmed to be a cannibal, some have drawn parallels between him and Dr. Hannibal Lector in Thomas Harris\u2019 books and the films based on them. Harris, however, has said he based the character on an emprisioned doctor he met in Mexico. The man was suspected of killing and dismembering several hitchhikers in the countryside during the late 1950s and early 1960s.<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Orion\/courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Ted Levine played serial killer Buffalo Bill in the 1991 \u2018Silence of the Lambs\u2019 adaptation. In both the film and the book, Buffalo Bill is more directly inspired by Gein. Both fashioned trophies and keepsakes from the remains of their victims. Each also made masks and lamps from human skin.<\/p>\n

\tPhotos From Ed Gein\u2019s Life, \u2018Monster\u2019 & The Movies His Crimes Inspired<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Getty Images\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Smoldering ruins is all that remains of the House of Horrors after a fire of undetermined cause destroyed the two story frame building on March 20, 1958. The house was to be auctioned. Police suspected arson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Monster: The Ed Gein Story debuted at No. 2 on Netflix, proving the public continues to be fascinated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[44478,146,85,46,33514,17915,44479,17445],"class_list":["post-59982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ed-gein","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-monster-the-ed-gein-story","tag-psycho","tag-the-silence-of-the-lambs","tag-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}