Ed Gein

[Mofo Rising]

The new movie down at the Blockbuster was ED GEIN.  If you don't know who Ed Gein was, he was a serial killer in Wisconsin back in the fifties.  One of the first (at least widely reported) of his kind, he and his actions were the inspiration for quite a few films.  Most notable of these are PSYCHO and TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.

The actual film ED GEIN seemed kind of confused to me.  It doesn't really go into detail about why Gein's committing these horrible acts.  It thinks it does, but besides showing a few flashbacks to his horrible mother and upbringing, it just shows Gein doing these terrible things.  It mostly shows Gein by his incredibly destructive lonesome, and the townsfolk's reaction to this weird outsider.

There's not a lot of violence in this movie, although there is a good amount of gore.

Mostly I don't see why this movie was made.  It presents all the facts, but doesn't seem to have much to say about any of it.  And, in my quick internet research, I did find some problems with the facts.  The movie makes it seems as if Gein's two substantiated murders were quite close, when in reality they were three years apart.  Secondly, the changed the name of the second victim for some reason.  Bernice Worden becomes Collette Marshall.

Interesting note: Steve Railsback, who does a fine job of portraying Gein, was also in another movie I watched several days ago, ALLIGATOR II: THE MUTATION.  ED GEIN was better, but that's not saying much.

[Squishy]

Steve Railsback's "breakout" film was The Stunt Man with Peter O'Toole as yet another loony director out of control. The "breakout" fizzled and Railsback's been stuck doing crappy movies like Escape 3000.

The original film version of Ed Gein's story (as Ed Gein's story, instead of Norman Bates') was Deranged, which you might still be able to find on video. I understand somebody tried to make a spoof--for God's sake--called Bloody Noses (for the cup full of severed schnozzes cops found on his kitchen table), but I don't know if it was ever completed.

[Squishy]

Okay, from now on, I research, THEN write.

http://us.imdb.com/Plot?0071408

Okay, Ed Gein is not called Ed Gein. It "closely follows" his life. It came out in 1974. Psycho follows it "closely" too, I suppose...

[Dr. Freex]

Squishy wrote:
>
> > Okay, Ed Gein is not called Ed Gein. It "closely follows" his
> life. It came out in 1974. Psycho follows it "closely"
> too, I suppose...

Yeah, Bloch sited Gein as an inspiration.  Another, more obviously inspired movie is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

And while we're commenting on the falling career of Steve Railsback, we should also mention that Ed's mom is played by Carrie Snodgress, herself a one-time Oscar nominee.  

[peter johnson]

Didn't Snodgress actually WIN the Best Actress Oscar for "Diary of a Mad Housewife"?
"The Stunt Man" is one of those under-seen/under-rated gems that got mixed to puzzled reviews when it first came out.  This is one film where you CAN get all allegorical & symbolism-searchy & not go off the deep end because, like O'Toole's other film of that period, "The Ruling Class", it consciously explored issues beyond its surface.

[Abby]

Have we all forgotten "Three on a Meathook?"

"Little broken dolls that go on dancing ... after the music has stopped."

Oh, alright: Meathook is only slightly based on Gein, but enough to make Ebay serial killer fans try to outbid me on Meathook gear.

[Chadzilla]

In his Unauthorized Autobiography "Once Around the Bloch" Bob Bloch said that he had been knocking the idea about a killer in an isolated, small town around in his head when the Gein story broke.  His detailed research consisted of reading a newspaper article, he made it all up.

[Steve.]

In "Deranged" he's called Ezra Cobb, played by the wonderfully monikered Roberts Blossom.

[Ringneck]

List.  I cant really imagine a serial killer more unbelievable than Ed Gein.  We know:

He liked to make apohlster stuff in human skin

Made a soup bowl out of  the top of a human skull

Had a belt adorned with human nipples

kept box of preserved female genitalia under his bed

robbed graves, sometimes with the help of of an elderly retarded farm hand

made a vest out of womans torso, wore it while rolling around on mothers grave

was an all around creepy guy who always reminded me of the shotgun man in Deliverence

             We also dont kow how many people he killed.  They had him cold to rights for two killings, all he admitted to, claiming the rest were grave robbings.  But wh owill admit to more unless they have to?  

          Had an interesting family life too.  Religous father, wild uncontrolable, drunken mother, and normal brother.  Normal brother found floating in pond with bruise on back of head.  Ruled a suicide.      Both parents dead of natural causes(for real) by the time he got a hankering for human skin decor(still in better taste than Martha Stewart's stuff).  

       Whe nteh plice followed a blood trail to Ed's house they saw a deer gutted and hanging for mthe back porch.  They thought they might use it to hold him on poaching charges if they couldnt find a body right away.  The deer turned out to be a human body................

         its an almost impossible story.  So much so that when you exagerate it you get WAYYYYYYYYY over the top movies like "Chainsaw Massacre" .   "Three on a Meathook" is almost more realistic soundign than the true story it was loosley based off of.  Now, next time serial killers come up in conversation, tell the plot of "THree/Meathook" and Ed's true story and have them guess which is real, bet you get surprized by the number of wrong answers.  

BradLaGrange

[Mofo Rising]

ED GEIN's director, Chuch Parello has only one other credit to his name.  That would be HENRY 2.