Psycho: The Lost Tapes of Ed Gein

First off, the three podcasters in this are really, really annoying, laughing and joking around about Ed Gein's murders and laughing about the victims...

Let's just all admit that podcasting is not a genuine form of media when clowns like this are included in a documentary that has actual experts, from people in the town to the author of what's the quintessential Ed Gein biography...

Why these podcaster clowns are included is a mystery, but it's probably because the filmmakers felt that most young people can relate to young jokers, or something...

As for the titular interview tapes: they take about ten lines from Gein and try making a four-part doc with them, and that's a tall order...

With horror-movie music and a few shots making Gein look formidable, it's really the case of taking who's more a backwoods Barney Fife type than a Norman Bates or Buffalo Bill and making a contrived terrorizing study, which doesn't gel here at all...

However it's not a terrible documentary as you do learn some things about Gein... but learning/educating audiences isn't what passes for documentaries anymore...

For True Crime, books are always the best bet because there aren't any repetitive facts, opinions, speculations or photos, and best yet, no annoyingly childish podcasters.

There is some interesting information - but is it enough, and compelling enough to put up with the annoying older pontificating gentlemen and their monotone lazy tongue speak? Nope. I made it thru almost two episodes before I just could no longer take it. And then they intermittently throw in a couple of younger bloggers and commentors, who try to dredge up excitement for this "fantastic find ", but fall exceptionally short and then they look exactly as they are - a little too happy to be included in this pile of nonsense with no substance to add to the conversation. Not really worth watching.

Like a lot of these shocking docu-series, you realize the producers do all they can to stre-e-e-e-etch 90 minutes worth of material into four hours, and it really dilutes the finished product. The premise is a bit shaky, in that we're never told why these "lost tapes" have never been heard, not even by Gein's biographers. We're just supposed to accept that they are unearthed treasures. The tapes are somewhat interesting but anticlimactic because Gein doesn't have much to say. We hear from a few experts, a few interesting people who actually knew Ed Gein, a good cross section of contributors, and three sophomoric podcasters who, I guess are there for color but seem to think the whole topic is one big joke and end up dumbing down the documentary significantly. All the while, we see the same stock footage and hear the same audio clips over and over, even within the same episode. If all that superfluous filler had been trimmed it could have been an interesting and tight project. Not bad overall, but way too long.

...as I found this 4-part documentary on Ed Gein VERY interesting! Sure, the guys from Last Podcast from the Left are annoying as hell but everyone else interviewed here has some interesting and informative things to say about this infamous man. Sure, I've seen all of the archival footage of Ed and know his story (found Harold Schechter's book "Deviant" to be excellent as well as a few other books) but the interviews of the current and former Plainfield residents, seeing the cemetery and the Gein family graves, seeing the town itself were all new to me.

In Chapter 4 now where the documentary is discussing "Psycho" (and will go on to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "The Silence of the Lambs" I hope).

VERY interesting altogether!! Read the reviews but check this film out if you are at all interested in who spawned Norman Bates, Leatherface, and Buffalo Bill.

Ed Gein, often considered the prototypical serial killer before the concept gained widespread recognition, has left an indelible mark on popular culture. His gruesome actions have served as inspiration for numerous movies, shows, and books, most notably contributing to the creation of the Norman Bates archetype.

This series delves into Gein's early life, shedding light on his upbringing and the dynamics with his parents, with a particular focus on his relationship with his mother. However, the narrative takes a somewhat scattered approach, jumping from one intriguing event to another, interspersed with macabre commentary from various bloggers and fanboys. The excessive enthusiasm displayed by these individuals upon hearing Gein's long-lost voice recordings from police interviews can be a bit overwhelming.

Perhaps a more effective approach would have been a dramatization that carefully pieces together the story from its beginnings, allowing the events to unfold without the overshadowing influence of overly exuberant fan perspectives. Not worth it.