Netflix’s Monster is too horrible even for horror fans – but not because of the gore

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Ryan Murphy often creates shows that spark debate. His previous series, *American Horror Story*, was known for being provocative, and even included a character based on Anne Frank, the young Jewish girl who documented her family’s life in hiding during the Holocaust before tragically being killed.

Some TV shows have been criticized for glamorizing serial killers and dramatizing school shootings simply for shock value.

The first season of *Monster*, focusing on Jeffrey Dahmer, was criticized for unfairly using the memories and experiences of his victims. The show’s second season, about the Menendez brothers, faced accusations of adding unnecessarily sensational details to a story that was already dramatic enough.

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Now season three, The Ed Gein Story, is with us: and it’s horrible.

The horror in this story feels authentic to the genre and accurately reflects the real events. Ed Gein was a deeply disturbed man, likely suffering from schizophrenia, who committed terrible acts. He stole corpses and crafted items from their remains, ultimately resorting to murder to fulfill his incomprehensible desires.

We’re not particularly shocked that the show about his life portrays disturbing acts. Anyone watching a show called *Monster: The Ed Gein Story* should expect to see horrifying content – it’s exactly what the title suggests.

Our discomfort isn’t about the show being graphic. It’s because the creators, Murphy and Brennan, seem to be exploiting real tragedies and people’s lives simply for entertainment.

Even if we assume their motives are good – that they want to help people understand and address mental illness – it doesn’t change the fact that they’re focusing on disturbing aspects of human behavior. The reasoning is that these issues exist and shouldn’t be ignored, so we need to confront even the most unpleasant parts of ourselves.

Okay, so the show *Monster* really dives into what warped Ed Gein’s mind, and it shows him being strangely drawn to Ilse Koch, this awful Nazi war criminal. But there’s this whole scene where she’s throwing a fancy party for SS officers, and honestly, it felt…off. The show seemed to want us to understand *why* Gein found her captivating, even inspiring, and almost expected us to feel the same way. But it didn’t give us any room to react to it ourselves. It felt like we were seeing everything *through* Gein’s eyes, with no space for the filmmakers to step back and let us form our own opinions about how disturbing all of this really was.

Honestly, it really bothers me when people use the stories of actual Holocaust victims without a clear and respectful reason. If you’re going to tackle such a sensitive topic, you absolutely have a responsibility to treat it – and how you present it – with the utmost seriousness. Like, think about how Jonathan Glazer handled things in *The Zone of Interest* – that’s the level of care and consideration we should expect.

Honestly, I kept getting distracted by how *amazing* Charlie Hunnam looked as Ed Gein – seriously, the guy was ripped and always perfectly lit! But it got me thinking, does all that focus on his physique really fit with the actual story of Ed Gein? It just felt…off, you know?

In the second episode, there’s a completely made-up scene where Gein, disguised as his mother – specifically, as Norman Bates’s mother from the movie *Psycho* – kills his potential girlfriend, Adeline, in the shower. To really emphasize that Gein’s crimes have been used as entertainment for years, the scene alternates with shots of Alfred Hitchcock secretly watching an actress and movie audiences reacting negatively to his film.

The shower scene in *Monster* is much more explicit with both nudity and violence compared to the one in Hitchcock’s film.

Honestly, as a fan, I was surprised to learn the real Adeline wasn’t actually killed, and she even publicly stated she and Gein weren’t involved. And the show adding that detail about her supposedly introducing him to… well, *that* kind of material? It just feels so out of place, especially since the show claims to be all about sticking to the facts. It makes me question where they’re drawing the line between reality and sensationalism.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is on Netflix now.

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2025-10-06 14:49