Director: Chuck Parello
Starring: Steve Railsback, Carrie Snodgrass, Mary Hogan, Carol Mansell
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Ed Gein
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Films directed by Chuck Parello (PAL Video, Region 2 DVD)
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Ed Gein opens and closes with the now familiar but still eerie contemporary footage of the eponymous killer's arrest in his home town of Plainfield, Wisconsin. The snow drenched landscape looks like Fargo on a particularly chilly day, an effect that this dramatised recreation of the events leading up to his apprehending strangely doesn't attempt to recreate.
Gein (Steve Railsback) is a slow-witted, although not unpopular loner who leads a quiet life alone on the farm left to him on his mother's death. Ed was devoted to her, and is pitied by his neighbours for taking her death hard. But they don't know how hard. Early on in the film Ed is almost interrupted indulging in his evening grave robbing, the fruits of which he uses to decorate his decaying home - skull soup bowls, skin lampshades, a little offal on the hob. Changing Rooms meets Francis Bacon. Torn between reaching out for the female company he longs for and the murderous impulses of his strangely corporeal mother (Carrie Snodgrass), Ed ultimately bends to her will.
You know the drill. The true story of Ed has famously inspired Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and a hundred other worthless copycats. But Chuck Parello's film avoids the shocks and gore of the earlier stories and instead approaches Ed's story from a more forensic direction. Indeed, aside from a few almost subliminal shots of female appendages displayed chez Gein, this biopic has in execution more in common with upmarket TV dramas, especially Prime Suspect whose first ever episode, if memory serves, dealt with a serial killer of prostitutes. The discovery of the killer's lair in that show was equally as unsettling, if not as explicit, as what's on offer here.
What is does have in common with its cinematic progenitors is a thin-lipped humour (Ed's reading material includes 'Vicious Jungle Headhunters'), much of which is due to a performance of genuine pathos by Railsback. Onscreen for virtually every one of the film's ninety minutes, he shows up the De Niros, Hoffmans and the Hankses for the hokey showboaters they are in their portrayals of mental disability and illness. There'll be no Oscar coming Railsback's way, but he should at least be confident that he has given the performance of a chequered career. There is also a whiff of Hitchcock in the way Ed's murders are shown in all their cack-handedness. They're messy, panicky affairs, as one supposes 'real life' murders probably are. Thankfully we are spared the mutilations.
The movie ends with its most direct reference to Hitch. Locked in a cell, Ed addresses the audience in close-up, much like Norman Bates (or rather Mrs Bates) at the end of Psycho. But it's hard to begrudge Parello this one overt reference, as he otherwise goes out of his way to avoid jokey po-mo references. The net result (here come the food jokes) is perhaps a little undernourished, but it remains lean fare, and probably preferable for audiences who found the Bond-ification of the serial killer in Hannibal the cinematic equivalent of gorging on Milk Tray - fun while it lasts, but a bit sick-making afterwards.
Reviewed by John Atkinson
Reader comments about Ed Gein
WILLIAM M (Email address withheld) writes:
Very weird movie but its a great one to watch, Watched it with my wife and i dont want to say we liked the movie but it was good,, sort of like watching a train wreck you want to turn away but you keep watching
Chadwick (cwick78@hotmail.com) writes:
I've seen many movies based on or about Edward Gein. I've also read read many books and newspaper clippings. I guess you could say that I studied his life. This movie in particular is probably the worst, most inacurate retelling of a great story. It seems like someone heard only the gruesome details of his life and made up the rest. I think it's sad that there is almost nothing in the film that portray him as he was or anything that gives the proper respect to his victims.
Travis (bickle@iprimus.com.au) writes:
I'd have to agree with Chadwick's review that this is the worst movie about Ed Gein. It doesn't appear that the producers or screenwriter have done enough research (or read Harold Schecter's Deviant). Film is not life. It is the essence of life, and they seem to have missed the real essence of Ed Gein's. That's what makes Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Silence of the Lambs such good movies. These movies capture the essence of Gein without trying to do a biography of his life (or a doco disguised as a feature film drama) Biographies are what books are for. The movie has the pace of a book, (which would be fine if it was a book).
The aspects that stick out as bad (tragic) in this film are:
(1)Ed's general cleanliness. For a bloke who has already robbed numerous graves, indulged in necrophilia with vulvas, and cannibalism, he looks as neat and tidy as a public servant.
(2)The order in the house. When the police arrived at the Gein house, even seasoned detectives were horrified, but there is little horror in this house. Even the lady who comes with the intention to swap farms is only slightly mortified.
(3) Ed's mother. She is too petite and bears little resemblance to either Mary Hogan or Bernice Worden, yet these were crucial psychological factors in Ed choosing them. Once again they have missed the essence of Ed Gein. Gein saw these woman as similar to his mother, both physically, and because they were both running successful businesses without the aid of a partner, which Augusta Gein did to buy the Plainfield farm. Also Augusta Gein's religious fanatacism was Methodist in origin, yet she is portrayed in the film as having a Catholic spirituality. Augusta Gein's puritan morality was a big factor in the formation of Ed's warped and twisted view of life, yet the essence of it is not captured in this film. Not enough attention is given to it, and this is undoubtedly a structural problem with the film. It appears that structure is the main problem with the film itself. (Where to start, where to end, and which bits of Ed's life to include, the last being the one they failed most miserably on).
I could go on and on about the problems with this film but I wont.
*(1 star) - Not even a good doco.
PS, I have never seen it (because I haven't been able to get a copy) but someone said that 'Deranged' is a good film about Old Ed.
Lyndell Wood (Email address withheld) writes:
My only comment on Eddie Gein is that he couldn't hold a light to the creatures that are yet out there walking around that no-body knows about!!
(gene_simmons88@hotmail.com) writes:
Just finished watching the Ed Gein movie. I grew up in Green Bay Wis most of my life Knowing very little about Mr Gein. But interested in learning more. What happened to thre farm? Was the farm dug up to see if he burried any more boddies or were the just for display? If any one can shine a little light on the subject please mail it to me. Is there any one still alive that had a run in with Mr Gein????????????
Wauke-shawn (Email address withheld) writes:
Disturbing film for its restraint and understatement. I too grew up where and when Ed was carrying on, so he became the very real boogeyman used to scare us kids on every camping trip. Steve Railsback keeps the thing on track, maintaining the simple wisconsin farmer recluse going slowly mad. Assume the low budget meant no snow, no foggy breath. Read the State of Wisconsin could not ensure safety of film crew so location shooting was out of the question. Most truly deliciously disturbing moment -- Ed dancing in the moonlight, howling, beating his flesh drum and wearing his lady's flesh suit. Oh my god ...
Shaaron Evans (shaaronie@aol.com) writes:
I just finished watching this movie and found it be one of the most disturbing and engrossing true life serial murder films I've ever seen. The lead actor, portraying Ed, did an excellent job and the supporting characters were beleivable in their roles. True, the film takes a few libertys but not many. The video cover gives the impression that the film will be fanciful and I started not ro rent it. However, I was so taken away by this film that I stopped it to go upstairs to tell my daughter how fantastic this movie was. I have a habit of looking at videos as I fall asleep, and even though I loved this film, I wouldn't be caught dead watching it after dark, alone! It's a nightmare conjurer for sure.
kayanna (kayanna03@hotmail.com) writes:
I saw this movie at a party, in a scary old house, in the middle of the night, and wow. I've never been so scared in my life! I've always been suspicious of weird old men, but this movie has made me terrified. Knowing that it's a true story is even scarrier. I think that they did an awesome job on this movie, only because it did what it was meant to do: scare the shit out of the watchers. Now every time I come home from work late, I'm watching for Ed in the dark corners of my yard. I saw it two months ago and it's still fresh in my head.
David Geen (green30@aol.com) writes:
Great movie! I've seen The new Dahmer movie and there is no comparison! Even though Gein crimes are brutal, he is able to gain sympathy due to his sexual idenity problem. Dahmer comes off as a perverted gay guy who can't deal with it.
Ciara Marie mcGahey (gail.mcgahey@ntlworld.com) writes:
The movie was extremely toucing. I really sympathised with Ed Gein.
Ed Gein the actual person, I find him extremely interesting. It is a shame that he was utterly and totally insane, and dead! because i'm sure I would have loved to talk to him.
Jeff (Erickson37@netzero.net) writes:
I don't know exactly why names were changed, or for that matter,why they had to throw in the "mother told me to do it" sequences. I'd have been satisfied with a straightforward semi-documentary approach to this character. Most of the events seemed accurate enough, but the fact is, this case is fascinating enough on it's own and doesn't need the cinematic treatment it got.
Jim (Email address withheld) writes:
After I saw the Steve Railsback version of Ed Gein, I immediately had a strong sense of deja vu. Couldn't figure it out until I remembered a strange little film I saw almost 30 years ago when I was a teenager. I tried to find the name of the film through Ed Gein website links. Finally did.... It was "Deranged". A terrifying movie that has been in my subconscious for years. I didn't know it was true when I saw it. Only remember it as the single most disturbing movie I have ever seen. The grainy, grittiness of the film- as well as the carving of poor Mrs. Worden- sends chills down my spine all these years later. Truly horrifying!!!!!
Don (Email address withheld) writes:
I just finished watching this movie, and it was one of the worst things I've ever seen put on celluloid. Name changes and other inaccuracies notwithstanding, the production details (costuming and sets) of the film itself were garbage. It's as if the producers said, "Let's make this film that's based on real events, but let's ignore historical accuracy."
For example, things that didn't exist in the 1950's yet were in the film:
*mini-blinds (in just about every set)
*rectangular headlights (the scene where Ed is driving Mary back to his house)
*strip malls (Bernice/Colette's hardware store)--and why did they change her name?
*small neon lights and strings of SMALL colored lights (Mary's tavern)
J. Windsor (Email address withheld) writes:
I saw the original "Deranged" movie 25 or so years ago. Also saw Ed's real-life "Ghoul Car" at our local traveling state fair many, many years ago. I had not thought of either one until I saw this movie. It brought back decades old supressed fears of a real-life boogey man. Thought Railsback did a good job acting in this movie and enjoyed the pace and suspense of it. A little more gore would have been appropriate to relay the true feelings of what Gein actually did.
Adolf (uloveedgein@aol.com) writes:
I love the DVD cover so much, the one of the mask, I blew it up into a poster. Me and Eddy Teddy are going on spring break to Havasu...last time we got in a little skirmish with some teens smoking cigs because he told them the bodies were "MUTILATED". However, things turned out well because Ed was quite a hit with the Kappa freshmen at UCLA. LONG LIVE ED GEIN.
"I love Israel" -Ed Gein
Syd (sydscotch@uswest.net) writes:
The flick was a good scare, but frankly it just isn't what it could have been. I grew up in Plainfield, as well as my father (who knew of and met Ed Gein). I know all about the killer, and I've heard all kinds of different stories-- but this movie just isn't about the man. I shouldn't have to go into detail; if you know something about Ed Gein then you know that this piece of work is a piece of shit.
A couple of college buddies and myself actually visited the place where the house used to be (twas burned down because of the apparent "evils" present). You could call me a fanatic, even the "Gein-meister"-- just don't call me late for dinner.
To clear one thing up: Ed Gein was a bisexual. It was discovered, although quickly covered back up again, that Ed did have gay sex with his brother, Henry (before killing him). There's only thin evidence supporting the rumor that Ed Gein wanted to be his mother-- the truth is, Ed Gein wanted to be the freshest piece o' ass in Wisconsin. He even considered changing his name to "Raoul" in the summertime (given it's spicy flavor and flaming connotation).
Getting back on track: watch this movie. Watch this flick, and then watch Pink Floyd's "The Wall," and then tune in to a station that I think we can all agree to love...
That station is yet to be heard. Ed Gein was a fine individual, a great father and quite simply a breakthrough scientist. He unleashed the most astounding discovery of all:
Sex with the dead isn't so bad!
Or is it...?
There are thousands of people out there, though unwilling to admit it, who want to be Ed Gein. This is true. And yet, so am I.
Cheers,
Syd
Cathy (Tafsshop13@aol.com) writes:
I read the book, about the true events, and I loved the movie....only wishing it were longer. I didn't remember the brother, but assume your details were correct. I love true stories and I found this one more accurate than most reinactments. Thank you
Jeff Wiener. (jwiener@bigpond.net.au) writes:
This movie was a piece of crap. I watched it on cable T.V. recently. It was late at night and I was very much alone. This movie was not in the least bit frightening. A bit of a time waster in my opinion.
If you want to see a really good movie which is loosley based on the life of Ed Gein, then I can recommend 'Deranged'. This movie is not really supposed to be an accurate portrayal of Ed Gein's
story but that is irrelevant. The fact is that Deranged is a totally bizarre and wierd film. I have shown this film to several friends and they are of the same opinion. Aside from the creepy atmosphere that this movie generates, it also contains some delicious moments of black humour. The film was a low budget American International production that was released in 1974. It was directed by Jeff Gillen and Allen Ormsby.
Roberts Blossom, an actor that I know little or nothing about, played the
starring role in the movie. Mr. Blossom turned in a great performance as Ezra Cobb, a character very closely modelled on Gein. Ezra was a total fruit cake. Every gesture that he made portrayed a sense of insecurity and
insanity that was extremely chilling.
I don't know if this movie has been
released on video or DVD, however it might be a good idea to check up with your local video libraries. Also, keep checking your local television guides. You never know when this movie could pop up.
I can certainly recommend 'Deranged'. My only criticism is that it is a bit
predictable.
Matt (mrpigski@yahoo.com) writes:
I just thought you guys should hear from someone who LIVES in Plainfield and probably knows more about Ed Gein than almost anybody else. The movie was in fact pretty accurate in it's story line with the exception of changing Bernice's name to Collette. I might add that I am a good friend of Bernice's grandson and the fact that there is family still alive is the reason for the name change as well as a couple other minor adjustments. Anything you saw in the movie that wasn't true has been purposely changed out of respect for the family.
robbie (latina85@melodymail .com) writes:
why does he scare us is it because we fere what we don't understand maybe we envy him for haveing the courage to do what we can not .so maybe we a little bit frighten because we just never want to let our anger out but all animals large or small are happiest when we our understood there is a there is a despret need for change and we as humans need to aknoledgs this before our time here on earthis done
laura (cant tell) writes:
very coll and grusome movie!!! i thought it could have been more realistic and showed more of what he did with the bodies! i have studied and read all the biographies about almost all of the serial killers in the world and ed gein, john gacy jeffery dahmer and albert fish are by far the most grusome and most scariest serial killers of all time. i feel serial killers are very intresting to read about. if i hade the chance i would like to meet w/ anyone of these serial killers face to face. not to tell them the are wrong for what they did but just wanting to no how they got them selves to do it. And the felling they got when they were doing it. it is very intresting to hesr about. but i dont think they are good people for what they had done dont get me wrong. I just think it is intresting to learn about!!!!! he is an awsome killer to study, very exciting! when they make a movie about a serial killer they should actually make the way it was in real life dont add parts or take parts out! SHOW THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH!
chelsy (star_spiker18@hotmail.com) writes:
I have been researching Ed Gein for about 2 weeks now and everytime I read his stories i get chills down my spine I just cant beilve a human being could do that to another human like that....It was so gross and gruesome...I havent seen any of the movies on him but i have seen the texas chainsaw massacre.. and that was a GREAT movie.. was that based on Ed?? If anyone knows email me please.. thanx..
Tim (timmyc33@hotmail.com) writes:
I have read a lot about serial killers including Ed Gein, most of it contradicts itself, I read that Gein isn't considered a serial killer because he only killed two women, supposably the definition of a serial killer is someone who " murders at least three victims over an extended period of time" the rest of the bodies and parts old Ed had in his house were stolen from graves that he robbed witch he turned into lovely trinkets like belts made from womens nipples and so on....either way it all makes for a good story. I'm yet to see the Ed Gein movie I'm sure it will be a goodin...I recommend a movie called MANIAC 1980 ,truly repulsive.
Jeffrey Payne (jpayne@chorus.net) writes:
Said movie wasn't completely accurate. I have studied ol' Ed for over 17 years, have visited the old property and graveyards, and came to the conclusion he was a dimwitted, isolated fool. His mother fucked up his head. See what happens when you are a dimunitive idiot who never got laid?
Nicole Currie (coie_21@hotmail.com) writes:
hello there peoples
i don't think ed gein was really a bad man...i think that he just had a hard life and everyone handels there problems differently and i think thats the way he handled his! i mean i have had a really had life because my mother died when i was 11 and i'm only 13 now but i changed so much scince she has passed away....the way i would decribe myself is i'm a jerk and i over react about alot of stuff and i have a really bad attiude but when you think about it...after my mom died when i was 11(january) that april my father had gotten in a car axident and now he is parilsed from the nexk down and he lives in cape breton and i live in nova scotia(canada)...and so my 25 year old sister and her 26 year old boyfriend are taking care of me...i mean i do have it pretty good considering the face that she has a 2 year old doughter to take care of too(my neice emma) but anyway what i am trying to say is it hink he could have been a goo guy if people had of givin him a chance...i think he just had a really hard life thats all but anyways i gotta go get ready for my friends party i will come look back at this everyonce and a while
Gannon Brooks (LuckyTrojan22@cox.net) writes:
Ed Gein is a really sick man. I have been doing alot of reserch about Ed and I have found out alot of things most people dont know about him. Ed started getting on his evil side because kids made fun of him at school and every time he tried to make a freind his mom would get really mad. His first victom to kill was his brouther, he did that as a kid. Gean wanted to be a girl so bad that he went out and killed about 15 womans. His last victom was a 53 year old woman named Bernice Worden. Police found her hanging upside down with her head cut of and she was gutted like a deer. His famous words "I had a compulsion to do it" Every thing in the Chainsaw Massacure was untrue. He didnt use a chainsaw to kill his victoms it was a pistle, and he used a meat cleaver to gut them with. He died of heart failuer in 1984. This guy was so sick that he wore a belt made out of woman nipples, hearts, and brains. And he also built chairs out of the excess bones and skin.
Jaime (skytroopers) writes:
sorry but this isn't what i needed about Ed Gein what i need is like im doing a school project and was wondering if u could find some photos from the inside of his house and send then to my email address its simple its skytroopers
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