Steve Railsback, Carrie Snodgress, Pat Skipper

Ed Gein, a shy and retiring 1950s Wisconsin farmer, shocked the nation in 1957 when he was discovered to be a deeply deranged serial killer. Gein, a serial killer of nightmarish proportions, became th...( read more  read more... )e inspiration for Robert Bloch's novel PSYCHO, adapted for Hitchcock's legendary film, as well as the films THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. ED GEIN recreates the early years of the reclusive man (Steve Railsback) who was raised in relative seclusion by an abusive father and an extremely domineering and puritanical mother (Carrie Snodgress.) As Ed grew to adulthood in the small farming community of Plainfield, Wisconsin he developed an unnatural obsession with his mother and her ultimate approval. After her death, Ed was possessed by her spirit, psychologically unable to give up his lifelong adoration of his deeply devout, brutal, and deranged companion. Driven insane by his own obsessions, Ed became an amateur grave robber in Plainfield and eventually became a solitary practioner of grotesque anatomy experiments and cannibalism. His fetishistic infatuation with the female body and bloodthirsty repressed lust eventually led him to murder the first of his victims, a seductive bartender (Sally Champlin), who Ed believed his mother would disapprove of. Eventually, in 1957, as Ed became more and more consumed by murder, he killed again and was eventually caught at his home--a gruesome and deeply horrific shrine to his bizarre rituals, cannibalism, and necrophilia. This dark and brutally violent film sheds new light on the strange and terrifying man whose deeply disturbing life has haunted the nation's subconscious for decades.

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47% liked it

4,249 ratings

Critics

10% liked it

10 critics

R, 89 min.

Directed by: Chuck Parello

Release Date: May 4, 2001

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DVD Release Date: October 23, 2001

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Stats: 210 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (210)


  • February 2, 2008
    watchable though it had so much potential
  • October 8, 2007
    America's first Serial Killer Ed Gein was no doubt a very disturbed man. This film is by no means for the weak stomached as although some of it's content can be seen on many Horror style films, the fact that this was based on real people however adds to the eerieness to this dar...( read more)k film.

    Ed Gein hears instructions from beyond the grave from his God fearing Mother, of whom he was obsessed with. The film seems to tie up with a lot of the facts that I've read up on and shows Gein's fascination of body snatching, ressurection and cannibalism.

    This story was the inspiration to many films you see today, including Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Masacre and The Silence of the Lambs.
  • December 3, 2006
    Though many do not know of him Ed Gein is the subject of legend, and was the sole inspiration for many movies and homocidal killers, such as Buffalo Bill (Silence of the Lambs) house of a 1000 corpses, and many many more.
  • March 9, 2006
    I turned this off after the first 20 minutes. The acting was bad. Everything was terrible about this. Rent Bundy or Gacy instead.
  • April 27, 2009
    Movie was just disgusting - no plot, no reason!!
  • December 10, 2008
    no thanks not my kinda thing
  • November 4, 2008
    never made it through it because i was bored
  • October 31, 2008
    El personaje que interpreto a Ed era excelente, pero el guion fue algo aburrido, aun asi, una buena pelicula para asustar a la novia.
  • July 29, 2008
    Just plain gross and really creepy, and then on top of that it's a true story.
  • July 10, 2008
    this is a really good movie!

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Ed Gein Trivia


  • Which infamous real-life persona of terror influenced some of the themes in 'Pyscho'?  Answer »
  • What real life serial killer is said to be the inspiration for Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Silence of the Lambs?  Answer »
  • Texas Chainsaw Massacre (all of them)Buffalo Bill (Silence of the Lambs) House of 1000 corpses have villains or Killers that are all based off of which serial Killer:  Answer »
  • "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Silence Of The Lambs" are based on the story of what famous serial killer?  Answer »

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