Monster: The Ed Gein story review

The thing is, it starts with the two other series that Netflix promotes under the title Monster.

The first one was the Jeffrey Dahmer case ,it was pretty popular back in 2022.

After that, The Menendez Brothers case was released in 2024, created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan.

It’s pretty disappointing that Ryan (after making AHS, which is a fantastic series in my opinion) just does something like these.

The most realistic is still the first season, but when The Menendez Brothers came out, I was out of my mind.

Anyway, I had expectations for the Ed Gein story.

Were my expectations low? Yes.

Was I still disappointed? Also yes.

The whole series is outrageously exaggerated. Obviously, I get that it won’t be fully real and needs some filler, but it had so many unnecessary scenes and madeup stories that make the whole thing seem fake.

It really bothers me is how far the series goes from the truth just to make it more dramatic. There’s a difference between adapting a real story and twisting it until it becomes fiction. When something is promoted as a documentary or “based on true events,” it automatically gains credibility and that’s where the problem starts.

 People end up believing things that never happened, and the actual victims or their families become side characters in a story that was once theirs.

I get that filmmakers want to make it entertaining, but there should be a line between storytelling and disrespect.

Ed Gein’s case is disturbing enough on its own, it doesn’t need fake elements to make it interesting. What it needs is context, psychological analysis, and a focus on why he became what he did, not extra horror clichés.

And when people watch it there are two outcomes:
First, who don’t know much about the case will believe everything in the series.
Second, who do know will just end up confused.

Ed Gein killed two people, Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden. That’s it.

It’s debatable whether he killed his brother or not, but in the end, he wasn’t charged for it.

Also, the babysitter and children, the two men in the forest, and the nurse are fake.

He only killed to satisfy his crazy mind, which was connected to his mother.

I don’t believe he just randomly murdered when his acts clearly fit into a pattern.

Continuing with his mom: it’s obvious he turned out this way because of her.

The things she did to him and the way they lived were insane.

After her death, Ed couldn’t process it, that’s why he wanted to “bring her back” and “get into her skin.”

He was dependent on her because of the mental state she put him in.

He wasn’t trans, not even close to that, and that representation was so odd, even though it got cleared up at the end of the series.

Side note: I don’t know what kind of problem the writers have to feel the need to force homosexuality into all three seasons without any reason.

Also, he wasn’t necrophilic or a cannibal.

I feel like the whole series is more about guiding viewers through the impact of his actions and who he inspired, which is okay because it’s connected to his life.

But man, it’s called a documentary, and the parts about his life are half lies.

The characters and what they’re supposed to represent aren’t clear.

It’s pretty confusing, and I believe it had so much potential that ended up wasted.

(The Bitch of Buchenwand and Christine Jorgense)

Adeline’s character was unnecessarily complex, and even though she’s a real person, her life didn’t cross with Ed’s this deeply.

What would I do differently?

First of all, it should focus more on his inner world and the influence of his mother’s religious beliefs.

I’m sure he wasn’t even aware of the seriousness of his actions.

What I enjoyed:

The cast is wonderful, and so is the acting, i don’t have anything to complain about there.

In the end my opinion is that it could have been a dark phycological deep dive into one of America's most disturbing mind, but inste

ad it ended up being a fleshy overdramatization.