True crime drama Monster: The Ed Gein Story has topped the Netflix charts in the UK, despite reviews criticising its graphic nature.
The Ed Gein Story is the third season of the Monster anthology series, which concentrates on a different killer for each season. The first told of the story of infamous murderer Jeffrey Dahmer, while the second followed The Menedez Brothers. Subject Ed Menendez was vocally critical of their portrayal, although showrunner Ryan Murphy defended the season.
This latest chapter follows Ed Gein, played by Charlie Hunnam. In the 1940s and ‘50s, he committed two heinous murders, while also exhuming dead bodies and fashioning keepsakes from their bones and skin. He spent decades in mental health hospitals until his death in 1984, aged 77.
Gein’s infamous crimes have been the inspiration for many horror films, including The Silence Of The Lambs, Psycho, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Monster dramatises his life more directly, although critics have rejected the show’s graphic violence and focus on brutality.
The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan described the season as “utterly devoid of morality”, writing: “What it lacks, and unforgivably so… is any kind of moral dimension or commentary to outweigh the lingering, loving shots of Gein’s own depraved acts.”
The Sydney Morning Herald’s Craig Methieson wrote: “Dreadful in enough ways to be repellent rather than mere trash, the third season of Netflix’s American true-crime anthology chose the wrong monster.” At the time of writing, the season holds a “rotten” score of just 20 per cent on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Nevertheless, viewers seem to have been drawn to the premise. The season is currently number one in the UK Netflix TV show chart, beating hit House Of Guinness to first place. A Netflix press release said the show debuted with 12.2million views during its three-day opening weekend (October 3-5).
In other news, fellow Netflix hit Wednesday will be getting a spin-off based on the character of Uncle Fester, according to the actor who plays him.
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