'TV masterpiece' is a must-watch after Netflix's Ed Gein story

Monster: The Ed Gein Story has recently landed on Netflix, representing the latest instalment of Ryan Murphy's true crime anthology series on the streaming service, reports the Manchester Evening News.

The programme chronicles real-life murderer and grave robber Ed Gein (portrayed by Charlie Hunnam) during his killing spree, whilst exploring how his case shaped iconic Hollywood horror films The Silence of the Lambs and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, blending reality with fiction.

The eight-episode Netflix series also suggests that both Psycho novelist Robert Bloch and renowned filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock drew inspiration from Gein's brutal crimes.

Nevertheless, this claim was challenged by Bloch who previously stated he absolutely wasn't influenced by Gein and any parallels to Norman Bates were purely coincidental.

Numerous viewers are curious about additional television programmes and films influenced by Gein.

Fascinatingly, one television series consistently celebrated as amongst the finest ever produced was also inspired by Gein, who earned the nickname the Plainville Ghoul.

Enthusiasts have lavished acclaim on this legendary 90s programme on IMDb, with one viewer headlining their 10/10 assessment: "One of the greatest of all time."

The reviewer elaborated: "Is this one of the greatest shows ever made, I think you could make a very strong case to argue the point. Yes it's generally a sci fi show, but it's done in a way that will have a mass appeal, it's why the show ran for so long, and had such a huge following, and still does."

Another exceptional review praised it as "the most intricately perfect work of art". One viewer hailed it as a "TV masterpiece", stating: "This show is still just as entertaining all these years later! I have recently began re-watching the series and I forgot how good it really is."

Another fan declared: "Greatest Science Fiction/Horror television Series of All Time."

The reviewer further elaborated: "I think that as time goes by, this television show will be remembered for much more than what we remember it for today. I think it will be one of the all-time greats. The Truth is out there."

The X-Files first graced our screens back in 1993 and quickly became a worldwide phenomenon, catapulting its then relatively unknown leads Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny to stardom.

The series followed FBI agents Fox Mulder (portrayed by Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) as they delved into paranormal and unexplained mysteries.

Scully, a medical doctor and scientist, was the sceptic of the pair, while Oxford-educated Mulder firmly believed in extraterrestrial phenomena, spurred on by witnessing his younger sister Samantha's alien abduction during their childhood.

Initially marketed as a sci-fi series, The X-Files seamlessly blended multiple genres, encompassing horror, fantasy, and psychological thriller elements.

In its later seasons, The X-Files even dabbled in comedy, which was warmly received by audiences alongside the traditional monster-of-the-week and mythology episodes.

The X-Files had an initial run of nine seasons from 1993 to 2001, before being resurrected in 2016 and again in 2018 for two additional seasons.

The revolutionary series also produced two cinema releases: The X-Files (1998) and I Want to Believe (2008).

What viewers might not realise is that The X-Files drew partial inspiration from The Silence of The Lambs, with Jodie Foster's FBI operative Clarice Starling serving as an early template for Scully.

The Silence of The Lambs itself took cues from the Gein case, with the villain Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine) based on the actual Wisconsin mass murderer. Buffalo Bill kidnapped women, skinned them and donned their flesh much like Gein did with his victims and the bodies he stole from burial grounds.

Furthermore, The X-Files creator Chris Carter disclosed in Book of the Unexplained: Volume II by Jane Goldman how one specific episode also drew from Gein.

Season two, episode 13 entitled Irresistible tracked the investigative pair as they attempted to halt mortuary worker Donald Pfaster (Nick Chinlund), who initially gathered hair and fingernails, before his death obsession escalated to killing.

Carter explained that broadcasting regulations prevented him from explicitly labelling Pfaster a necrophiliac and he had to alter the terminology to 'death fetishist', though he noted that audiences would grasp the underlying meaning and subtlety.

Carter remarked: "It's fascinating, the idea that somebody would want to have sexual contact with the dead. It's so stomach-churning... that there is a fascination, as there is about anything where we can't imagine what could make someone have such a repulsive motivation."

Netflix's Monster: The Ed Gein Story also suggested that other serial killers were inspired by Gein's crimes and spurred on to commit their own, leading to the rise in American serial killers and subsequent emergence of the FBI's Behavioural Sciences Unit spearheaded by psychological profiling pioneers or 'Mindhunters' John E. Douglas and Robert Ressler.

Both The Silence of The Lambs writer Thomas Harris and The X-Files writer Howard Gordon were inspired by the Douglas and Ressler's respective books about profiling.

Within the context of The X-Files universe, this influence is highly evident from Mulder's own background within the Behavioural Sciences Unit.

The X-Files is streaming on Disney Plus and Prime Video now

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is streaming on Netflix now