Netflix has just released Monster: The Ed Gein Story, the latest in its Ryan Murphy-made exploration of famed killers. It stars Charlie Hunnam as Ed Gein, the 1950s serial killer so bizarre and infamous he inspired horror movie villains from Norman Bates to Leatherface.
So, how’s it reviewing? That’s the strange part. Despite being released today, Monster: The Ed Gein Story’s Rotten Tomatoes score is…N/A. As in, it does not have one. What that means is that advanced screeners either did not go out to critics, or the embargo is sometime after the show has already launched. I’d bet on the latter.
This can happen, sure, but we’re talking about a show in a series that has produced Dahmer, the fourth most-watched series in Netflix history with 115.6 million views, beating out every season of Bridgerton and, as of now, Wednesday season 2. And that’s a show you’re not previewing early? Strange.
Without fail, there have been controversies surrounding the previous two Monster shows. Dahmer was criticized for sensationalizing the story and not being respectful enough to the victims. The second entry, Monster: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, was lambasted by the Menendez family themselves for what they believed was a poor representation of the brothers, who are still battling their sentence to this day.
Here? This is a show set in the 1950s. Gein died in 1984. There’s no ongoing litigation, and it’s unclear if any distant relatives of victims would protest the series. That said, this is likely to be the violent, most sexually awful series that Murphy has made out of the three of these, and that may draw controversy in its own right.
Netflix, of course, doesn’t show any ratings on the service itself, so it can just throw the series up there and get the 98% of people who do not check Rotten Tomatoes to watch it off the bat. I do expect reviews to start trickling in, and right now there’s just a single one from someone who appears to have watched it overnight. It’s positive! So hey, that’s a perfect 100% score for now. Do not expect that to hold.
Dahmer did not review well among critics, with a 57% score, but fans liked it more, giving it an 82%. The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story fared worse, a 45% critic score and a 58% audience score. As for Ed Gein, I’m not sure, but I am very much interested to see Charlie Hunnam’s performance here, as I simply did not peg him as an actor to take on a transformative role like this, as generally speaking, he sort of always has played the suave Englishman in whatever he’s in. This is about as far from that as you get, and a step up from his last Netflix project, Rebel Moon. I’m going to check out Ed Gein now, and will report back my findings.
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