Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more

 

Ed Gein (2000)

Director: Chuck Parello

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Ever since 'Wisconsin necrophile' Ed Gein first made the news at the time of his arrest in 1957, he's remained a figure of such grisly fascination that film-makers have felt it viable to revisit his memorably macabre exploits at regular intervals. Psycho is merely the finest, most famous film to use his crimes for inspiration; others include The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Deranged (until now most faithful to the facts) and The Silence of the Lambs. Here the director never flinches from providing the requisite disturbing images, but his is a surprisingly sober response to a potentially salacious subject. After shy, gentle Ed (Railsback - Charlie Manson in Helter Skelter) disinters a woman from the local cemetery, we proceed, via key encounters (friendly barmaid, sympathetic shopkeeper) and flashbacks and fantasies mostly featuring his nine-years-dead but still dangerously influential religious-nut mom (Snodgress), to the cops' discovery of the mausoleum, abattoir, ossuary, offbeat eatery, eccentric furniture warehouse and walk-in wardrobe that the decrepit family farmhouse had become. As with the best scenes of Deranged, the conjunction of colourful case history, odd impulses, gallows humour, low budget austerity and genuinely grotesque iconography produces a felicitous and engaging variant of American Gothic.

Author: GA 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide


  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields





Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.