As Ryan Murphy’s biggest defender, Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story is indefensible

Ryan Murphy makes television to shock and provoke. As a child, I aired Nip/Tuck with fascination but mostly terror. I watched Glee with, well, glee – much to the disgust and provocation of music purists who cringed at the concept of theatre kids co-opting Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing. But my true Ryan Murphication came with American Horror Story. To say I was obsessed was an understatement. I always loved horror, so Ryan Murphy’s symphony of chaos was always a cocktail of horrific melting pots. His reference points were in overdrive and despite the fact most of the show getting panned after Jessica Lange got bored of wowing, I was always seated when nobody else was. This is true with his post AHS output, and I am well aware of his inability to stick a landing. I understood and heard every criticism of Dahmer and Eric and Lyle Menendez – but enjoyed both and was ready for The Ed Gein Story to be another Monster success story. But unfortunately, Ryan Murphy and Netflix dropped a clanger with Monster: The Ed Gein Story – and its indefensible, pervasive nastiness well and truly stinks.

Monster has always been controversial – and I hear every critique

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For my shame, I very much enjoyed Ryan Murphy taking on Dahmer and Menendez cases with Monster. Enjoyed might be the wrong word, but I watched in full and appreciated much about them. Dahmer in particular was a truly challenging watch, because the victims’ families were speaking against it and I do think it brought out Murphy’s worst qualities of gratuitous violence. These are indeed violent crimes, and the performances were incredible as was the production value. It had merit, even if it was condemned by many. My enjoyment of Dahmer shouldn’t negate anyone who thought the entire thing was immoral.

The Menendez brothers focussed second season, to me, felt like a force for good. It brought real life world change – about the justice system, about abuse and the central performances were outstanding. In contrast to Dahmer and now Ed Gein, I knew very little about Lyle and Erik Menendez – and despite some typically Ryan Murphy nonsense with the brothers having a sexual tension I do think the portrayals were sympathetic and educated many on what had gone on.

The Ed Gein Story is, put simply, vile

Now we get The Ed Gein Story. Ed Gein, for those uninitiated, was a gruesome killer who inspired Norman Bates in Psycho and Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw. Gein had an obsessed with his mother and with the war crimes of Nazi Germany – particularly those of Ilse Koch. When his mother died, he exhumed graves and murdered and created gruesome furniture from skin inspired by the allegations Koch was picking prisoners from the concentration camp out with tattoos in order to use their skin for her furniture.

It is, clearly, horrible stuff. In The Ed Gein Story, Monster frames not only the unfolding of events that Ed Gein did but also flicks to the times where films were being made inspired by his crimes. At times, you truly feel like Ryan Murphy is in the know and is creating an interesting show in response to the critiques of his true crime productions. When Ed Gein says “You’re the one who can’t look away” – it feels like Ryan Murphy talking directly to us. The hungry audience for horror and horrific acts, and the reason this show keeps getting made as it smashes viewing records on Netflix.

Credit: Netflix

This would be interesting if The Ed Gein Story wasn’t totally consumed by its desire to disgust and traumatise. I have a strong stomach and can sit through extremely miserable film and TV full of despair and gore. But The Ed Gein Story feels tragic at every turn. It’s a traumatising and harrowing story, so that’s natural. But you can’t help but feel like there’s a provocation in this show to TRULY repulse you when it isn’t bringing anything new to the conversation.

In particular, the show relishes in its glorification of Ilse Koch and the truly traumatising horrors inflicted by her and her husband. The portrayals of Ilse Koch as some form of titillating dominatrix in the Penny Dreadfuls Adeline gives to Gein in the show are true. The concept of Koch being portrayed like this is not original, but there is something about watching the controversial visuals that just sit horribly right now.

Whilst the show is trying to show us of course the world view of Ed Gein and trying to put us in the minds of someone obsessing over this, and how his imagination is running wild, I simply don’t want to be there. Social media, especially Twitter, is basically allowing Nazi views to go on unchallenged right now.

Seeing the glorification of Ilse Koch and the sheer relishing she has in what she did just feels like nasty work. That’s before we’ve even got to shots of the preserved vulvas.

Ryan Murphy I defend your wrongs and I defend your rights, but barely any of them are to be found here. As Ed Gein, Charlie Hunnam is no Cooper Koch, Nicholas Alexander Chavez or Evan Peters. There is very little to wow at, just an exhausting eight hours of TV that leave you feel dirty for watching them. It’s the Monster season where Ryan Murphy went too far – and The Ed Gein Story is indefensible.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.