Customer Reviews

Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Hodder made a name for himself in the Friday the 13th flicks as Jason Voorhees, but he's all wrong for this movie. The Steve Railsback & Carrie Snodgress film "Ed Gein" from 2001 is much closer to what really happened for a number of reasons. First, the shock of the real-life story comes from the fact that Gein was a "normal" guy with a short-circuited brain. Railsback nails the whole "Norman Bates" aspect of Gein without turning him into a cartoon or...as an example...Jason Voorhees. Second, the late Carrie Snodgress nails the character of Gein's whacked-out mother, who forms much of the psychological underpinnings of what he did and why he did it. Third, the 2001 film flows much better as a movie. Ed Gein wasn't an action figure or a hero or a Freddy / Jason / Michael Myers template. Look at how the story was adapted in "Psycho"...a true psychological thriller, not a gore flick. Also look at the original 1974 "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." That film was based on a non-stop air of foreboding and contained very little actual graphic blood & gore. The 2003 remake of TCM features a documentary called "The True Story Behind the Film/Ed Gein: The Ghoul of Plainfield." Watch it and you'll see where the Hodder film lost its focus.

With ED GEIN, I half expected to see a true depiction of the man that was Ed Gein and the life he led. Something intelligent. Something real and true to his story. Many many films have been based on the sick twisted life that was Ed Gein: Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Silence of the Lambs, House of 1000 corpses.... blah, blah, blah.

First of all, at the time of his arrest, Ed Gein was a 52 years-old, 5'7" inch unassuming, frail, shy, quiet, reserved, farmer who kept to himself. He committed his first murder at the age of 48. When he did commit his murders, they were quick, messy and usually sneak attacks.

So, what do we have with this adaption of ED GEIN? Kane Hodder. Nothing
against Kane Hodder, but he's 6'3", all muscle, far from frail and is attacking people wantonly with axes, shotguns and knives.

He's quite simply, just a ripoff of Leatherface or Jason Voorhees. Stalking his prey, looming over everybody else and staring menacingly at his victims. Why not just call this Texas Chainsaw Massacre 7? To prove my point, Kane Hodder played Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th 7, 8 & 9.

I'm not somebody who gets off on watching movies about people getting hacked and slashed for no real reason, and I'm certainly not somebody who likes seeing real serial killers glorified, but I DID want to see the REAL story. You can't cast a hulking man in the part of a frail old man and expect to do the character justice.

Heck Wallace Shawn would have been better casting or better yet, Bernard Hill.

Not to mention, using flash images from the real crime scene and newspaper clippings of the real man only reminds me of what the movie should have been and it only shows how far off the creators were from giving the title of their movie justice.

If they would take the name ED GEIN off the box and call it something else, it would be worth 2 stars. Like Chainsaw 7 or Voorhees: the prequel. Otherwise, this movie is worthless.

I saw an ad for this in Fangoria and saw that it had Kane Hodder in it and I thought I just had to see this. For being DTV, its got a good production. The first half is creepy, but gets a little boring, but its worth a rental. My only real problem with this movie is that its good as a horror film, but its hardly anything like how it really happened. If you want to see a much better movie about Ed Gein(the actor even looks like him), rent the Ed Gein from a few years back, its got the half faces on it. Its not really a horror film though.

..it doesn't work as a looka t the real Ed Gein, or as a slasher film. I only bought this because of Kane Hodder, but there is really not much offered here. If you must absolutely watch this by any means rent it only, you will save yourself the trouble and can get something better. I have nothing good to say. I gave it two stars and not one because it was bearable. I was able to at least finish it through all the way without falling asleep.

The only real thing in this movie was some of the pictures shown in the beginning. The person who played Ed was'nt even close to resembling Mr. Gein in any physical way and the movie did'nt even tell the real story. This is so sad to see because it misleads people. What's even worse is crappy movies like this have even got the most ignorant of people thinking that even The texas chainsaw massacre was real, so sad

This movie is probably one of the worst Ed Gein movies that I've seen. The main character is NOTHING like the real Gein. The story is so inaccurate that it isn't even funny. If you truly want a more accurate movie on the life of Gein, rent the 2001 version. This movie is nothing more then your typical slasher movie and you can rent these for a dine a dozen. If you want to truly see this movie, just rent it, don't waste your money buying it.

I'll be covering ground already covered by previous reviewers, but hell, I wanna put my two cents in. This is another movie using a famous serial killer's name with the sole purpose of selling a horror film rather than telling a docudrama. Of course this doesn't stop the film makers from slapping the ol' "Based on a True Story" tag on in the beginning. "Based" being the key word here. 95% of this film is fiction, just so you know. Don't think this is how it all went down. I may be no expert on Ed Gein or anything, but I've read two books on the case, and I am able to smell the B.S., and there is alot of it in this film. Oh sure, one or two things may be accurate, but not the important stuff. This is a true crime case run through the cliched horror movie machine. Watching this strictly as a horror film is a disappointment as well considering it is so cliched, and you feel like you've seen it many times before(and you have). Everything's over dramatized for the sake of the viewers. Subplots and characters added, and of course the climax has to be so much more...climactic. There's an effective scene or two here and there, but wouldn't it be nice to actually watch a true docudrama about the Ed Gein case? You'd have to make it a suspense/drama to do it right, not do it as a horror movie. Kinda like that Ted Bundy film, The Deliberate Stranger with Mark Harmon. But exploiting a real crime to make a schlock horror film is insulting to the audience as well as those who were victims or affected by the real crime. What's the point of a movie like this if you're not gonna do it right? There are so many horror/suspense films that have taken their ideas from the Gein case anyway, so why not do something unique if you're gonna go to the source? Hell, just look at the cover! Obviously the intent(and influence) of this film was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, not the Ed Gein story. I like Kane Hodder, what healthy, God fearing American doesn't? But the casting was obviously to lure us horror fans as opposed to being realistic. Same goes for Michael Berryman, who's given the thankless role of Gein's graverobbing partner. WTF?? How's that for an inaccuracy? Though Berryman may be the second name in the credits, his role is a cameo. But I will say, I dare you not to laugh out loud when Gein hooks his corpse up to the back of his truck and drives away dragging him. Basically, this is a waste of time for both true crime fans as well as horror fans. You really want something that will make your skin crawl? Try reading an Ed Gein book or watching a documentary. Fictionalized Gein films have absolutely nothing on reality for horror.

You've heard several negative reviews about this film. I know some about the real Mr. Gein, and this is nothing like him. They created him (in the film) as a towering mass of brutality. Almost like a Jason...or Michael Myers?
If you are interested in a film that depicts more of the real Ed, then try "Ed Gein", or "Deranged". However, "Deranged" has a B rated goofy quality to it. However, it still beats this version of Gein's life. Ed Gein Butcher of Plainfield is something you might want to watch if you have no interest in the real Gein? To be honest, I tried watching it twice. The first time "booooo", the second I tried approaching it in a non-judgemental way. No matter how you look at it the movie is not good :( The acting stinks, script stinks, It's boring all the way around itself. If you want an original movie (with out Gein) try "Trick r Treat". Best Halloween film I've seen in years. Spend your cash on that, not this.
Thank you

Never in the 70+ years that I've been watching films have I ever watched a movie quite as bad
as Ed Gein. Save your time and money, take a walk or ??

RC Napper

This movie was completely idiotic. It was basically a love story with Officer McStudly dating Princess Blondie with sprinkles of a very loosely based version of Ed Gein. This is not a true crime film.

The woman (Adrienne Frantz) playing the female love interest was completely unbelievable in her role and I found myself disappointed at the end when she didn't get killed. She was that terrible. She delivered some sort of high pitched whiny monologue at the end about how Ed didn't have the right to decide when people died - only god did. The guy playing Ed Gein was the only believable actor portraying real emotions in the movie. As such, he was the only one you could empathize with in the film. Everyone else was one dimensional and unbelievably stupid.

This isn't even a movie for people who like bad horror. I like bad horror - this was just a bad love story. If you want a good recent horror film, get Trailer Park of Terror.