Review of Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield (2007) by Peter J — 13 Mar 2011

A series of murders shocks a small American town. Based on the true story of one of the most notorious serial killers in history.

Any self-respecting horror fan knows the twisted story of Ed Gein. In fact, he has been the subject of many programmes, movies, books, etc. and even if they don't know the full story, most people know enough facts to get them by. There have also been a lot of horror movies that have been inspired by portions of his life - 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre', 'Psycho' and 'The Silence Of The Lambs' to name a few. But this movie porports to be based on the true story of Ed Gein's life - and this is where it falls down. Firstly, the casting of genre favourite Kane Hodder in the lead role doesn't really work as (even though he is an excellent actor) he bares no physical resemblance to Ed, and the fact that he was so ordinary looking was the thing that scared most people. The plot of the movie meanders along and actually doesn't really explain Ed's reasoning at all and focusses more on the life of the town's Deputy Sheriff, which does get a little boring after a while. The killings are few and you really don't get to see what Ed is doing to his victims and only the corpses at the end. The skin suit idea is used, but because of the lack of back-story it really does not have the intended impact, and just makes Kane Hodder look a bit silly. Even though this movie is very well directed and acted, the historical inaccuracies just make you wish that it had been about a fictional serial killer and not such a well reported figure in American history.