Truth behind Ed Gein's relationship with murderer Richard Speck as Netflix series debunked
Netflix's Monster: The Ed Gein Story has brought a bunch of infamous true crime figures back into the spotlight.
The third seasion is an eight-part TV drama which retells the horrific real-life story of US murderer Gein - thought some artistic liberties were taken for dramatic effect.
Charlie Hunnam portrays the killer in Monster: The Ed Gein Story, from Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan.
Gein is known for killing two women and fashioning their skin into furniture and clothing in 1950s Wisconsin. His vile crimes inspired movies including The Silence of the Lambs and Psycho. In fact, Gein's influence on pop culture was the very thing that drew Murphy to his case.
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"He is probably one of the most influential people of the 20th century, and yet people don’t know that much about him,” Murphy told Netflix Tudum.
"He influenced the Boogeyman and Psycho. Norman Bates was based on him. He influenced The Silence of the Lambs.
"He influenced The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. He influenced American Psycho.”
The series, which dropped on October 3, has since dominated the Netflix TV charts.
Throughout, it gives nods to other notorious killers, including Charles Manson, BTK Killer Dennis Rader, Ted Bundy, Ed Kemper and Richard Speck. The latter, known as the Birdman, brutally murdered eight nursing studios in their South Deering, Chicago residence in 1966.
In Netflix's Monster, he's played by Tobias Jelinek, and appears only in the final episode.
The killer is depicted partaking in lewd acts in exchange for drugs behind bars. He also shares how he looked up to Gein and goes as far as to write him fan mail, hailing him a role model.
Turns out this, much like many others aspects of the Monster series, appears to have been added in for our viewing pleasure. There's zero proof Speck ever communicated with Gein, nor drew inspiration from him.
In fact, the killer fancied himself as quite the individualist.
He told the Chicago Tribune in 1978: "Me, I'm not like [American gangster, John] Dillinger or anybody else. I'm freakish."
This doesn't sound like someone who'd be penning fan letters to Gein now, does it?
But Murphy told Netflix Tudum: "There were many, many dark creatures in our world - Richard Speck, Ted Bundy - who were influenced and obsessed with Ed for all the wrong reasons."
Speck died of a suspected heart attack in prison on December 5 1991, the day before his 50th birthday.
Despite storming the charts, Monster hasn't exactly gone down well with viewers. At the time of writing, it was scored 19 percent by Rotten Tomatoes critics and 55 percent by audience members.
It's the third of the Monster anthology series - and also the worst performing ratings-wise. The first, focused on Jeffrey Dahmer, earned 57 percent and 82 percent respectively, while the second instalment, on the Mendez Brothers, racked up 45 percent and 58 percent.
All three seasons of Monster are streaming now on Netflix.
Topics: Film and TV, Netflix, Ryan Murphy, Streaming, True crime
Ellie Kemp