Film looks at serial killer’s upbringing, motivations

By David Holmberg
Daily Bruin Staff

Never has a film about a man who murders women and wears their
skin as clothes been so endearing and touching.

Ed Gein inspired such classic horror films as “Silence of
the Lambs” and “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”
The new biographical film, “Ed Gein,” is the first
realistic examination of the man as a human being and looks at what
led his life to become the foundation of many modern thrillers.

Although Gein’s psychological problems began in his
childhood, the film starts in his elder years in a small 1950s
Wisconsin town. The opening sequence is a familiar one to any
horror film fan, with a pair of young lovers kissing in a seemingly
deserted graveyard.

Mysterious sounds scare the lovers off and Gein emerges from an
open grave, interrupted while unearthing a dead body. But there is
an air of sadness surrounding him, instead of the cold insanity
that usually accompanies horror film psychopaths.

This first scene sets up the film as a contrast to the movie
genre that, in essence, stemmed from Gein. Steve Railsback plays
the aging, flannel-clad Gein, and he does it with a quiet respect
that cannot help but provoke sympathy. The opening in the graveyard
reveals that this is not a typical horror film and that any ensuing
violence is not the result of blood-happy amateur filmmakers, but
the actions of an unfortunately disturbed man.

Gein’s mental instability is revealed by his home, which
is worse than that of any confirmed bachelor’s, but perhaps a
step above the average fraternity.

Shrunken heads, human faces and a lamp made of a human backbone
are just a few of the novelties found in his bedroom, while dead
rats and empty pork and bean cans fill the remaining space. To be
fair, he is also a literary man, and owns a number of oft-read
books about cannibals and resurrection of the dead.

It is soon clear where his fascination with the dead originated.
When his mother, whom he worshiped, died, it pushed Gein over an
edge to which he had already been very close.

The ultimate root cause of his problems is then revealed in a
series of flashbacks and hallucinations. His small-town father was
an abusive drunk, while his mother was a Bible-thumping terror. The
combination turned Gein into a classic textbook example of what
happens when a child is mentally and physically mistreated.

Watching memories of his drunken father gut a pig while his
mother screams at young Gein that he is a crying sissy leaves
little room to wonder why he became so horribly disturbed.

In a surprising break from cinematic tradition, the flashbacks
remain in color, instead of the often overused black and white.
This is a wise choice because it forces a recognition that the past
is just as important to the story as the present.

The transitions from childhood to adulthood are then smooth and
indicate Gein’s own misunderstanding of the separation
between reality and fantasy.

Back in the present, digging up dead people in a cemetery is, of
course, not a normal thing to do, but the situation becomes much
worse. Ed’s dead mother Augusta, played by the truly haunting
Carrie Snodgress, begins appearing in visions, ordering him to kill
for the sake of God almighty, telling him that only through these
deaths can she come back to life. Her influence is reinforced by
more remembrances of her nightly sermons about man’s heathen
nature and the glory of God, and Gein hanging on every word.

Augusta’s first demand is the murder of the local
bartender, the aging but promiscuous Mary Hogan (Sally Champlin).
The local alcoholics spend their nights at her bar, and Gein
himself is there most nights for a lonely beer.

While Gein is undoubtedly a social outcast, his actions push
“abnormal” to its outer limits.

After shooting her with his gun, Gein drags Hogan back to his
lovely home. What follows is sickening, not so much because of the
idea or the imagery, but the reality that Gein could have been a
decent man had his childhood not been so dysfunctional. Dancing
under the moon, he wears dead Hogan’s skin like a suit,
howling into the night.

As the movie progresses, so does Gein’s descent into the
blackness of humanity. His mother’s death crushed him,
leaving him lost in the world with no purpose. But does this
warrant Gein’s laughing while trying on dead people’s
severed noses, or eating Mary’s organs?

Whatever opinions exist regarding man’s inherent nature,
directors Martin Kunert and Chuck Parello seem to firmly believe
that Gein was not at fault. In addition to his horrific childhood,
living in a small Wisconsin town also had its detrimental
effects.

Drinking and hunting are the normal way of life in this small
town, and the community of violence must take its toll. Scenes of
the bar regulars heading off for the opening day of hunting make
Gein’s actions seem almost understandable given his
circumstances.

The final gruesome death of shop owner Bernice Worden (Colette
Marshall) is more horrible than any fantasy murder in “The
Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” Her hanging corpse, decapitated
and bled like a pig, is an unquestionably haunting and indelible
image.

Despite the disturbing nature of “Ed Gein,” the
violence is handled with modesty. Few scenes of bloody mutilation
are shown, and instead the movie focuses on what pushed Gein to his
actions. The conclusion then shows actual archive film footage of
Gein’s arrest, placing the movie in the context of reality
and giving it a meaning that most knockoff thrillers hopelessly
lack.

The newest and most accurate film interpretation of the life of
Gein is a tasteful and well-acted reminder that life is scarier
than fiction, especially when it involves a psychologically lonely
man wearing a mask made of human skin.

FILM: “Ed Gein” is now playing at
the GCC Hollywood Galaxy located at 7021 Hollywood Blvd. For
showtimes call (310) 777-FILM.