With “Dahmer – Monster: The Story of Jeffrey Dahmer”, Netflix has proven once again that the streaming service is always good for a real surprise hit. That’s not to say it wasn’t clear from the start that Ryan Murphy’s true crime format had some serious hit potential. It was unpredictable in this form that “Dahmer” shoots through the roof, collects record after record and is still one of the most talked about series of the year.
But since “Dahmer” is a miniseries, fans shouldn’t hope for a second season. The chronicle of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (Evan Peters) is completely and surely told, the first season took care of that and covered all perspectives (victims, perpetrators, authorities, cult by fans) as far as possible. Still, it seems that episode 8 of the series is already hinting at what Ryan Murphy and his team might do in the future.
It’s not a big spoiler if you haven’t started “Dahmer” or are just starting the series: In episode 8, there is a short narrative detour that focuses not on Jeffrey Dahmer, but on Edward “Ed” Gein. The serial killer and corpse rapist who landed the roles of Leatherface in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs and Norman Bates in Psycho“ functions are visualized in a series of a few minutes.
In episode 8, the police finally managed to get hold of Jeffrey Dahmer after he did some more digging in his apartment. His father Lionel (Richard Jenkins) and his lawyer try to advise Jeffrey in a conversation that he should plead insanity before his conviction. In other words, Jeffrey is supposed to fool the judge into thinking he’s crazy. This would give the murderer of 17 people the chance to spend the rest of his life in a mental institution rather than in prison. And that’s where Ed Gein comes in.
Lionel tells his son about the case – and we as viewers are also introduced to the horrific case in an atmospheric film: After the death of his mother, Gein murdered a 51-year-old innkeeper in 1954, for whom he was a kind of mother-son relationship. to arise. Because she flirted with other men in front of Gein, the then 39-year-old was forced to kill the woman and keep her body in his house.
Three years later, Ed Gein committed the next murder. His victim: Bernice Worden, who allegedly stole her husband from another woman, who then allegedly committed suicide. Gein shot the 58-year-old. A few days later, police found the woman’s body on his farm… decapitated, gutted and hanging from the ceiling like a piece of deer in the barn.
When the police searched Gein’s property, they found numerous remains of several bodies (at least 15) that Gein had obtained by stealing bodies from the local cemetery. Gein had only used female corpses and made suits such as masks from human skin, boxes from female genitals and bowls from skulls.
Since Gein was found not guilty, he was committed to the Medota Mental Health Institute in Wisconsin. In November 1968 there was a new attack, in which Gein was declared guilty but also insane. He was then referred back to the medical facility, where he died of complications from lung failure on July 26, 1984.
First off, nothing has been suggested in that regard by Ryan Murphy or Netflix. Instead, only speculations should be voiced here, which were fueled a bit by episode 8 of “Dahmer”. Because it seems quite logical if Ryan Murphy would take on the serial killer Ed Gein in his own series. Not just because, unlike Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson, or Ted Bundy, Gein seems almost fresh. Gein’s life story gives another chance to stage an incredibly gripping horror drama.
While “Dahmer – Monster” focused mainly on the father-son relationship in relation to Jeffrey Dahmer’s family situation, Ryan Murphy could shed light on a new dynamic within the family in Ed Gein’s case. The almost pathological relationship between Ed Gein and his mother again betrays a lot of tension, which confronts the viewer under completely different circumstances with the question of who is responsible for Gein being able to do such things.
Given that Ryan Murphy is already heavily involved in true crime and has a particularly strong penchant for horror material, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if the announcement was made in the near future that he was working on a series about Ed Gein. Whether that will actually be the case remains to be seen. Before that, we can expect his new series on Netflix on October 13 with “The Watcher”, which is again based on a true story. You can watch the trailer here: