My dear readers, I’ll make no bones about it. If you are of a weak disposition to gore, then you should stop reading here. This series recently dropped on Netflix. It is a dramatization of the life of the notorious Edward Theodore Gein, also known as The Butcher of Plainfield.

In reality, he was convicted of two murders and suspected of a further seven. The reason he entered into the mainstream consciousness is the grave robbing and what he did with the bodies afterwards, using skulls as bowls and skin to make lamps. All horrifying to the normal human mind. It is thought that he suffered from a deep psychosis.

It is important to remember that this is a dramatization. Therefore, it cannot be considered to be all factual. Well, certain parts of it, anyway.

The series contains eight episodes. Charlie Hunnam plays Ed. The first thing I noticed was his nice, soft voice. Not the voice you would expect from a killer. The first episode details Ed’s relationship with his mother. She played a crucial role in his development, isolating him from the wider world and indoctrinating him in biblical verse. He ends up caring for her for her after a stroke, then is left bereft after her death.

This is when things turn ever more sinister as he begins grave robbing. He believes one of the cadavers is his mother, back home with him again.

I enjoyed watching the series, but at times I had to switch from its macabre scenes.

The relationship between Gein and his girlfriend Adeline, doesn’t ring true. In the series, she lives next door and is not horrified by his antics. It seems very unlikely that there would be two such characters in a small, sparsely populated area.

The last episode is very strange, stuck somewhere between being respectful to a mentally ill man and glorifying his disturbing deeds.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story gets 3.5 stars out of five from me.

Have you seen this series?

What are your thoughts?