Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield

This is only very loosely based on the real events and murders of Ed Gein and is actually more about country cop Bobby Mason than it is about the serial killer.

Gein is your standard loner that is locally only spoken off in hushed tones because his mother and brother died last year and he hasn’t been the same since. The scenes of attack usually involve poor Ed imagining his mother speaking to him rather than the women he picks out for killing. Surely, it is all mommy’s fault.

The town folk is portrayed as plain and almost cartoonish at times. The cop’s momma particularly overplays the matronly lady. She gets so annoying at times that you wish Ed Gein upon her – and sooner rather than later. Bobby is about as one-dimensional and stupid as they come (think Dewey from the Scream films without the humor angle). He is either staring in wide-eyed wonder when making any discovery of any significance or boldly making out with his girlfriend Erica (his boss’ daughter – never a good idea, and his mother may not approve either). This is 2007, so we can go a little steamy, no matter when the story is set.

There is even the inquisitive female (!) journalist hounding the sheriff for details of any crimes. An impromptu press conference brings out all the awful acting in full force. The only person that does  a halfway decent job is Kane Hodder, who plays Ed Gein. Hodder also played Jason Voorhees in the later parts of the Friday The 13th films. In his work as a stunt man he badly burned part of his body. This – as well as his stature – probably is part of the reason he seems to be stuck in murderous roles.

For some reason that I don’t quite understand, some of the really bad scenes are played out in slow motion, which feels totally out of place.

Fittingly, the dialogue falls flat through most of the film, like

“Erica! Erica! Erica! She was right here! Where did she go? Erica!”

or

“Now, we know for sure that you are somewhere on this property. We’d like you to kindly help us in this investigation by coming out and introducing yourself.” “I don’t think he’s home.” “Oh no, he’s home. I can smell him.”

or even,

“Bobby don’t do it. Don’t lower yourself to his level.”

The film has a score of 3,8/10 on imdb, which is too high for my liking.

1/10