Netflix returns to its crime anthology with a new installment focused on Ed Gein, a key figure in American crime fiction. This time, Charlie Hunnam plays the role of the so-called Plainfield Butcher. in a miniseries that promises a sober portrait of the events and the context that surrounded them.
The proposal is part of Monster, the saga created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan after their installments dedicated to Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menéndez brothers. Without fanfare, The series aims to explain how a biography marked by isolation and a suffocating maternal relationship ended up exploding. in one of the most disturbing cases of the 20th century.
Premiere, episodes and preview
The platform is scheduled for launch on October 3 and the season is structured in eight chapters. The first advance It already reveals the tone of the fiction, more interested in the process and the consequences than in dwelling on the macabre.
As I did in previous installments, Monster opts for a long-winded narrative which intersperses the police investigation with episodes from the protagonist's past, avoiding gratuitous sensationalism.
Who is behind the project
The seal of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan is back at the helm of the project. Among the directors is Max Winkler, a regular in the franchise, along with Brennan himself, responsible for giving cohesion to a particularly delicate material.
Hunnam explained that he did a lot of research to bring Gein to life and that a recording of his voice, taken 48 hours after his arrest, was key to nailing the catchphrases, rhythm, and mannerisms without falling into caricature. The team's stated goal is to focus on the character's human dimension without losing sight of the seriousness of the events.
cast and characters
In addition to Hunnam, the cast includes Laurie Metcalf as Augusta Gein, mother of the protagonist, and performers such as Tom hollander, Olivia williams, Vicky Krieps, Lesley Manville, Robin weigert, Mimi Kennedy, Emma Halleen, Addison rae y Suzanna Son, among others.
The fiction also incorporates key figures from popular culture who crossed paths with this case from the creative side: Alfred Hitchcock and Alma Reville appear as characters, and Tobe Hooper has a presence in the plot played by Will Brill, highlighting the extent to which this event impacted horror cinema.
What it's about: synopsis and approach
The story takes place in the American Midwest in the 1950s, around Plainfield, WisconsinAfter his mother's death, Ed Gein retreats to the family farm while the community perceives him as a quiet and helpful neighbor.
Under that appearance, the police ended up discovering a scene of crimes and desecrations that shocked the country. Gein admitted to the murder of Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden and admitted to having dug up bodies in several local cemeteries to make objects from human remains.
The series alternates the investigation with passages from his childhood and adolescence, marked by the father's alcoholism and Augusta's extreme religious upbringing. This dependence, taken to its limits, is one of the themes the fiction explores with special care.
After his arrest in 1957, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and declared unfit to stand trial. Years later, in 1968, he was deemed competent, found guilty of Worden's murder, and at the same time, not liable due to his mental state at the time of the events. He spent the rest of his life in psychiatric hospitals until his death in 1984.
A true story with echoes in horror cinema
Although later iconography exaggerated it, Gein did not use a chainsaw nor did he act like the villains on celluloid. Even so, his case served as the basis for Leatherface (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) and left its mark on Norman Bates (Psycho) or in Buffalo Bill (The Silence of the Lambs), among others.
The social impact was immediate: his farm reached burn before the auction And the investigation sparked debates about mental health and media coverage of crime. The miniseries connects these cultural elements to place the phenomenon in context, without turning violence into a spectacle.
With eight episodes and a high-level cast, the new installment of Monster offers a meticulous look at the Gein case file: it reconstructs the case, traces its cultural implications and focuses on the factors that made it possible, seeking to help the public understand why without losing sight of the damage caused.
