Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series Monster has returned for a third season, and he once again chose an iconic murderer as his subject matter. Monster: The Ed Gein Story places its focus on the man who inspired horror movies such as Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Silence of the Lambs.
The first season featured the story of Jeffrey Dahmer, one of the most well-known and fascinating serial killers in American history. He stands out from most apprehended killers because he not only admitted to his heinous crimes, he proclaimed that he was glad he had been caught so he could not do it again.
With Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Murphy stuck fairly close to the facts of the case. He did embellish a bit, including his depiction of Niecy Nash’s character Glenda Cleveland, portraying her as living next door to Dahmer. She actually lived in a different building altogether. Dahmer’s neighbor was Pamela Bass, and it seems that Murphy merged Cleveland and Bass into one character for the series.
Honestly, Dahmer’s story is so insane that it wasn’t necessary to fabricate many of the details, and Evan Peters’ portrayal of the killer is amazing (and chilling).
Season two was Monsters: The Erik and Lyle Menendez Story, and in my opinion, it’s where Murphy starts to go a little too off-the-rails. While portraying the story of the Menendez brothers, who viciously killed their parents, Murphy took a side trip into the world of incest.
We all know that the brothers claimed their main reason for offing their parents was that their father was sexually molesting them, while their mother allowed it to happen. But Murphy spent an icky amount of time showing the two embracing, kissing, and even showering together.
There is no real evidence that their relationship was sexual, though some did speculate. It’s more likely that they were co-dependent on one another as a way to deal with the trauma of their lives.
Now, with Monster: The Ed Gein Story, we have more embellishments than ever to a story that is already pretty terrifying. Gein had a penchant for digging up dead women from graveyards, then making items with the body parts. As portrayed in the series, he used human skulls as bowls, made clothing items such as corsets, belts and leggings from human skin, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. He also cooked and ate body parts.
But, Gein is only confirmed to have killed two people, Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden. While he was a suspect in the disappearances of five others, these were never proven, and no body parts belonging to any of these people were found in Gein’s house when it was searched. The series actually shows Gein murdering some of them, which is not accurate to the real story.
The biggest break from reality is the character of Adeline Watkins. She is seen onscreen as an accomplice of sorts; she does not help Gein kill, but she knows about the killings and about the artifacts he has made from bodies. She is also shown to encourage his proclivities and even suggests that he have sex with one of the bodies. She is shown committing murder herself, though Gein is not with her at the time.
In real life, Watkins knew Gein, even claiming to have been in a long-term relationship with him, but she later recanted that statement, saying they briefly dated. She did not murder anyone, and appeared to not know anything about his grave robbing or the murders he committed.
So, it just seems odd that Ryan Murphy is amping up on the non-true parts of these supposedly true stories. Why? And with the disturbing details of the murders in all three seasons of Monster being portrayed so realistically, is it really necessary to make up so many details?
I can handle gore and realistic effects, but it gave me the icks to see the Menendez brothers making out in front of their friends. And I did not need to see Ed Gein having sexual relations with a corpse (mind you, it is suspected that he did, but he never admitted it, saying that the corpses “smelled too bad”).
It’s also an odd choice to have actor Charlie Hunnam use such a distracting voice while portraying Gein. It’s not what his voice really sounded like, and as soon as I read a social media post comparing Hunnam’s “Gein” voice to Kermit the frog, I can’t stop thinking about it.
Next up for Monster is the story of Lizzie Bordon, so I am already wondering what liberties he will take with that one.