Ed Gein

REVIEW
Gein was the real-life serial killer/all-around weirdo from Wisconsin who was the inspiration for both Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This rather belated biopic, sadly, can't hold a candle to either of those classics, or to the only other (largely fictionalized) Gein film, the effective Disturbed, which features an inspired performance by Roberts Blossom. Here Gein is well played by Railsback (who also played Manson in Helter Skelter), but the film itself is tired and without inspiration. We learn almost nothing about the man or how his sick mind worked, and the only "insight" we do get is banal conjecture about his mother-obsession, which, of course, was far better handled in Hitchcock's classic. This isn't a terribly bad movie, just a redundant and pointless one. (aka: In the Light of the Moon)