I watched this movie some time ago and found it to be quite realistic regarding the events regarding the life and crimes of Ed Gein. Steve Railsback did a great job in portraying Gein and he is a sympathetic character despite the horrible things he did. It should be noted for the sake of the gorehounds that this movie is more about the man, his motivations, his relationship with his mother, and his sheer loneliness so you won't see loads of blood and guts flying about the place. This isn't "Friday the 13th", "Nightmare on Elm Street", or "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". This is about the REAL man and what happened, so there's not a lot of focus on the sensationalistic, tabloid-esquire elements nor is Gein presented as a soulless killing machine. Probably the creepiest scene in the film is Gein dressed in his woman suit and mask, dancing in the light of the moon while beating a drum made of human skin. Eerie.
I saw somebody else posting a mention that his wife felt Gein should have gone to prison because he knew what he did was wrong while the writer of that review disagreed. I concur with that writer. I know a little bit about the Gein case and the man was very sick, and by that, I mean he suffered from deep psychological issues and a severe psychiatric illness. In fact, when he was arrested he was terribly upset about the fact that he had taken the cash register from the hardware store. He insisted that he wasn't a thief, that he only wanted to take it apart to see how it worked. That's how dissociated he was from the horror of what he'd done. A large part of his fascination with the female bodies he unearthed (besides his confused sexual obsession with them) was that he wanted to dissect them to see exactly how they were different from the male body and how they "worked". His curiosity was surely furtive and guilty, but then he had been kept away from women by his mother and taught that all women were "unclean whores". What might have been a typical male sexuality and adolescent curiosity about the opposite sex was severely warped and not allowed to develop normally. Once he was institutionalized and received proper treatment and medication, he lived the rest of his life as a gentle, non-violent man who, though obviously mentally enfeebled, enjoyed listening to the radio, dancing with the nurses, did minor repair work around the hospital, and adopted well to the institutional environment.
Anyway, I thought this was a pretty good portrayal of Gein that focused on the human aspect and not so much on the sensationalism. It's definitely a low-budget affair but despite that I would recommend this film.
Cheers! B
I saw somebody else posting a mention that his wife felt Gein should have gone to prison because he knew what he did was wrong while the writer of that review disagreed. I concur with that writer. I know a little bit about the Gein case and the man was very sick, and by that, I mean he suffered from deep psychological issues and a severe psychiatric illness. In fact, when he was arrested he was terribly upset about the fact that he had taken the cash register from the hardware store. He insisted that he wasn't a thief, that he only wanted to take it apart to see how it worked. That's how dissociated he was from the horror of what he'd done. A large part of his fascination with the female bodies he unearthed (besides his confused sexual obsession with them) was that he wanted to dissect them to see exactly how they were different from the male body and how they "worked". His curiosity was surely furtive and guilty, but then he had been kept away from women by his mother and taught that all women were "unclean whores". What might have been a typical male sexuality and adolescent curiosity about the opposite sex was severely warped and not allowed to develop normally. Once he was institutionalized and received proper treatment and medication, he lived the rest of his life as a gentle, non-violent man who, though obviously mentally enfeebled, enjoyed listening to the radio, dancing with the nurses, did minor repair work around the hospital, and adopted well to the institutional environment.
Anyway, I thought this was a pretty good portrayal of Gein that focused on the human aspect and not so much on the sensationalism. It's definitely a low-budget affair but despite that I would recommend this film.
Cheers! B