5 films and TV shows inspired by Ed Gein's crimes
The name ‘Ed Gein’ has echoed through the halls of horror cinema many a time over the years. It’s safe to say, Gein’s penchant for grave robbing and warped obsession with his mother have creeped into some of Hollywood’s most famous characters.
Curious to explore how the media captured the farmer’s hellish crimes? We’ll walk through five landmark films and shows, and what exactly they borrowed from Gein’s real-life horrors.
1. Psycho (1960)
You’ve almost certainly heard of Norman Bates. His unsettling bond with his mother in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho closely mirrors Gein’s own twisted attachment to his mother in Wisconsin. Audiences were horrified, but also fascinated, that this seemingly mild-mannered motel owner could harbour such dark secrets.
Like Bates, Gein grew up under the iron rule of a domineering, deeply religious parent who preached that the outside world was sinful. This upbringing isolated him from his peers and left him emotionally stunted traits we see reflected in Norman’s awkward, almost childlike behaviour.
The most chilling parallel? Both men kept their mothers close. Far too close. In Psycho, Norman preserves his mother’s corpse, propping her up as if she’s still alive. Gein did something eerily similar: when his mother died, he kept her bedroom exactly as it had been and regularly visited her.
2. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
But it’s not just the Gein’s mummy issues that fuelled nightmares. Leatherface’s human-skin masks from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre were also inspired by Ed Gein.
When police raided Gein’s property in 1957, they found chairs upholstered with human skin, bowls made from skulls and masks fashioned from the faces of women. Like Leatherface, Gein was a rural loner who rarely ventured into the outside world, and his secluded home became a dark museum of his obsessions.
While Leatherface’s chainsaw rampages are fictional, the unsettling idea of a killer hiding behind another person’s skin owes everything to Gein. Director Tobe Hooper took these elements and cranked them up to full horror, creating one of cinema’s most enduring and disturbing villains.
3. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
When we think of The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter might steal the spotlight – but it’s 'Buffalo Bill' who draws from Ed Gein’s macabre legacy. Bill’s horrifying habit of skinning his victims to sew together a 'woman suit' mirrors one of Gein’s most grotesque real-life crimes.
In the 1950s, police searching Gein’s farmhouse discovered not only human bones and body parts but also items made from skin – masks, lampshades, and even clothing. Gein admitted to digging up recently buried women who reminded him of his mother, using their remains to create a disturbing 'second skin' he could wear.
Buffalo Bill’s storyline plays directly into this fixation. In the film, he carefully selects female victims, skins them and painstakingly stitches the pieces together in his basement workshop.
4. Deranged (1974)
If you want something a bit on-the-nose, Deranged is your film. It plunges right into the life of a disturbed farmer who hoards his dead mother’s corpse and sculpts grotesque artworks to compensate for loneliness. It’s perhaps the closest thing to a fictionalised documentary about Gein’s descent into cruelty.
The film follows Ezra Cobb, a reclusive farmer who becomes unhinged after the death of his domineering mother. Just like Gein, Cobb keeps her body in the house for a while, unable to let go. When reality finally forces him to bury her, he later returns to dig her up, along with other women’s corpses, bringing them home to 'keep him company'.
5. Monster (Netflix, Season 3)
Most recently, the Netflix anthology Monster dedicates its upcoming third season to the real-life figure himself. With a stellar cast, the series imagines the twisted psychology beneath the horror, spotlighting Gein – no mask, no metaphor, just the man.
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