The third installment of “Monster,” Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s anthology series about notorious killers, will premiere Oct. 3 on Netflix. The latest season will focus on Ed Gein, a killer who influenced modern horror more than perhaps any other singular killer.
Known as “the Butcher of Plainfield” and “the Plainfield Ghoul,” Gein gained nationwide attention in the late 1950s when police discovered he exhumed corpses from local graveyards and used their flesh and bones to fashion keepsakes like lampshades and chairs. He also confessed to killing two women, Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden. Though he was found guilty of Worden’s murder, he was declared legally insane and sent to a psychiatric institution. He died of lung cancer in 1984.
As disturbing as Gein’s many artifacts were, his real legacy continued on in pop culture. Gein and his obsession with his mother served as the inspiration for Robert Bloch’s 1959 suspense novel “Psycho,” which was later adapted into one of the most revolutionary horror movies of all time by Alfred Hitchcock. Both “Psycho” and Gein’s story influenced several other horror classics like Tobe Hooper’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and Jonathan Demme’s “The Silence of the Lambs.”
“Ed Gein didn’t just influence a genre — he became the blueprint for modern horror,” a press release from Netflix reads also revealing the season’s official title: Monster: The Ed Gein Story.” The show promises to explore how monsters aren’t born; they’re made by us.
Charlie Hunnam, best known for “Sons of Anarchy” and “Shantaram,” will play Gein. Tom Hollander (“In the Loop,” “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans”) will play Alfred Hitchcock; Laurie Metcalf (“Lady Bird,” “The Conners”) will play Augusta Gein; and Suzanna Son will also star in the series. Other cast members include Vicky Krieps, Olivia Williams, Lesley Manville, Joey Pollari, Charlie Hall, Tyler Jacob Moore, Mimi Kennedy, Will Brill and Robin Weigert.
In addition to creating the series, Murphy and Brennan executive produce. Other EPs include Max Winkler, Eric Kovtun, Scott Robertson, Nissa Diederich, Louise Shore, Carl Franklin and Hunnam. Brennan will direct the third and fourth episodes, and Winkler will direct the first two as well as the remaining four. Brennan also writes the series.
“Monster: The Ed Gein Story” premieres Oct. 3 on Netflix.
