Monster: The Ed Gein Story (2025)

It has taken me a while but the new series of the anthology Monster focusing on Ed Gein has been out and I have now watched the series. So here is my review for Monster: The Ed Gein Story. The Premise of the show focuses on Ed Gein who was the first real serial killer and how his impact affected people over the next number of years. 

Main Character

Charlie Hunnam plays Ed Gein and I am really conflicted about his performance. There is no doubt that he fully commits to the role and there are some times when he is super chilling and really uncomfortable. But there are times when it is just too over the top and the accent that he is doing made me laugh. I think he does improve as the episodes go on but I can't get over how silly he can be, especially in those first few episodes. 

Supporting Characters

Laurie Metcalf plays Augusta Gein and I thought she was pretty good in the show. She is really over the top and controlling but it kind of works and the relationship between the two of them was a better part of the show. 

Suzanna Son plays Adeline Watkins and she is also pretty good. Her relationship with Gein is a major part of the show and it is pretty well realised and actually gives time to flesh out her character. 

There are a large group of people on the show but none of them stand out and do very little. Tom Hollander plays Alfred Hitchcock but the overuse of makeup and his weird performance was really distracting and took away from those scenes. 

Story

The story is clearly trying to document this crazy man and the legacy that he left for other people with issues. But I have to be honest, I just don't think the show does a particularly good job at it. It is so all over the place and tries to cram so much into it that it just really feels like nothing gets the time to be that interesting or something worth caring about. The Finale also is underwhelming and doesn't really do enough to justify this show existing. 

Script

The script has some okay writing, some really chilling pieces of dialogue are in here. But the writing suffers from the fact that it is trying to cram so much in here and make it so outlandish that it kind of comes across as a bit of a caricature. 

Style

The show certainly doesn't shy away from violence and the gore. You really feel the terrible things that this guy did and the gruesome way that he did them. However, this show has a really slow pace about it and I found myself pretty bored throughout with storylines that I really didn't care about. 

Overall

Overall, Monster: The Ed Gein Story is a Below Average Show that missed the mark for me. This show had poor pacing and a bad story that didn't all connect. Mixed with a strange lead performance and it just isn't worth your time. 

Rating - 4/10