Monster: Ed Gein
October 10, 2025 • Review • David
After watching Monster: The Ed Gein Story on Netflix, I came away with complicated feelings that surprised me. Having already seen several documentaries and interviews about the real Ed Gein case, I went into the series expecting a straightforward retelling of a murderer’s descent into madness.
Instead, I found a layered and strangely empathetic exploration of a man shaped, even broken, by the world around him. The show doesn’t excuse Ed Gein’s crimes, nothing could, but it does make an effort to understand how he became what he did.
Charlie Hunnam gives a remarkably controlled and haunting performance as Gein, often saying more with silence than words. The series presents him not as a calculating killer, but as someone trapped in a mental prison built by years of psychological torment. His mother, portrayed by Laurie Metcalf, is the true architect of that prison and through their toxic dynamic, the show reveals how relentless emotional abuse can warp a mind until reality itself fractures.
