Ed Gein was the seriously messed up Wisconsin individual whose nefarious activities in the 1950s—murder, dismemberment, grave-robbing, amateur furniture design, and the wearing of the skin of his victims—inspired the creation of several infamous cinematic sickos, most notably Psycho's Norman Bates and Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series.
But where Gein's real-life activities should easily make for a thoroughly absorbing and disturbing biopic, this account actually proves rather dull and lacking in shocks, director Chuck Parello (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer 2) opting for a frustratingly reserved approach that focuses far too heavily on the more mundane aspects of Ed's life and on presenting him in a sympathetic light when it should be delivering the grisly goods.
Factually correct it may be, but Ed (convincingly played by Steve Railsback) shooting the breeze with locals in the town bar, discussing why he enjoys pork and beans for supper, and performing babysitting duties for a couple of kids hardly makes for particularly enthralling viewing, while his frequent delusional flashbacks and hallucinations are predictably staged and repetitive. Only two scenes stand out in so far as they actually manage to prove genuinely unsettling—Ed taking his skin-suit for a late-night airing and a quick glimpse of a decapitated, gutted human corpse hanging in his basement—but these are all too brief.
5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.
But where Gein's real-life activities should easily make for a thoroughly absorbing and disturbing biopic, this account actually proves rather dull and lacking in shocks, director Chuck Parello (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer 2) opting for a frustratingly reserved approach that focuses far too heavily on the more mundane aspects of Ed's life and on presenting him in a sympathetic light when it should be delivering the grisly goods.
Factually correct it may be, but Ed (convincingly played by Steve Railsback) shooting the breeze with locals in the town bar, discussing why he enjoys pork and beans for supper, and performing babysitting duties for a couple of kids hardly makes for particularly enthralling viewing, while his frequent delusional flashbacks and hallucinations are predictably staged and repetitive. Only two scenes stand out in so far as they actually manage to prove genuinely unsettling—Ed taking his skin-suit for a late-night airing and a quick glimpse of a decapitated, gutted human corpse hanging in his basement—but these are all too brief.
5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.