The third season of the series Monster returns to true-crime territory this time, following the story of notorious American serial killer Ed Gein, played by Charlie Hunnam. The show is set in mid-20th-century Wisconsin, where all of Gein’s crimes were committed, and where his infamous story began.
The series starts by introducing Gein as a loner who has flashbacks of his past, with a very strange curiosity for death and even his own identity. Gein’s actions become more extreme when he starts grave robbing, collecting human remains, and more, and the show goes through his life in both a combination of a biographical and horror-movie structure, including references to Psycho and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the show follows Gein into his psychotic spiral.
The show has a unique visual style and atmosphere that is eerie and creepy. Being isolated in the Wisconsin setting with farms and dark woods creates an unsettling mood for the viewer. Charlie Hunnam’s performance does an amazing job of grabbing the attention of the audience. He really commits to his role, transforming himself into someone strange and unusual. For the viewers who are more drawn to horror and true crime, the series does a great job at capturing a mix of both.
The blend of true crime and horror that this show brings really grabs the attention of anyone who enjoys the strange visuals and reality seen in many other films, especially when learning that it is non-fiction. It is a true one-of-a-kind story. The show is neither lighthearted nor airy; it definitely would have to take a true fan of horror to like such a show. It does not have a typical “crime-solved” narrative, but more of a realistic ending.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story aims high as it meddles in both real-life horror and psychological darkness that gets the viewer hooked on what might come next. The performance and visual mood definitely shine, but the back and forth of the making of movies based on Gein, to what actually happened, it really leaves the audience paranoid and aware of what might just be going on around them.
