Search - Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield on DVD

Chad B. (abrnt1) from CABERY, IL
Reviewed on 2/13/2010...

Complete and utter waste of time. The real Ed Gein was not in any way a threatening individual. Kane Hodder (best known for playing Jason in 4 Friday the 13th films) does not capture the look or feel of Gein. This film uses some of the basics of the Ed Gein case, but adds too much standard cliched horror premises. For a better handled film about Gein check out Deranged

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Kane "Jason Voorhees" Hodder should stick to Friday The 13th

Mike | San Jose, CA | 03/09/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Hodder made a name for himself in the Friday the 13th flicks as Jason Voorhees, but he's all wrong for this movie. The Steve Railsback & Carrie Snodgress film "Ed Gein" from 2001 is much closer to what really happened for a number of reasons. First, the shock of the real-life story comes from the fact that Gein was a "normal" guy with a short-circuited brain. Railsback nails the whole "Norman Bates" aspect of Gein without turning him into a cartoon or...as an example...Jason Voorhees. Second, the late Carrie Snodgress nails the character of Gein's whacked-out mother, who forms much of the psychological underpinnings of what he did and why he did it. Third, the 2001 film flows much better as a movie. Ed Gein wasn't an action figure or a hero or a Freddy / Jason / Michael Myers template. Look at how the story was adapted in "Psycho"...a true psychological thriller, not a gore flick. Also look at the original 1974 "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." That film was based on a non-stop air of foreboding and contained very little actual graphic blood & gore. The 2003 remake of TCM features a documentary called "The True Story Behind the Film/Ed Gein: The Ghoul of Plainfield." Watch it and you'll see where the Hodder film lost its focus."

Another ED GEIN tribute

Chris Kennison | Jefferson City, Mo United States | 03/08/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"With ED GEIN, I half expected to see a true depiction of the man that was Ed Gein and the life he led. Something intelligent. Something real and true to his story. Many many films have been based on the sick twisted life that was Ed Gein: Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Silence of the Lambs, House of 1000 corpses.... blah, blah, blah.



First of all, at the time of his arrest, Ed Gein was a 52 years-old, 5'7" inch unassuming, frail, shy, quiet, reserved, farmer who kept to himself. He committed his first murder at the age of 48. When he did commit his murders, they were quick, messy and usually sneak attacks.



So, what do we have with this adaption of ED GEIN? Kane Hodder. Nothing

against Kane Hodder, but he's 6'3", all muscle, far from frail and is attacking people wantonly with axes, shotguns and knives.



He's quite simply, just a ripoff of Leatherface or Jason Voorhees. Stalking his prey, looming over everybody else and staring menacingly at his victims. Why not just call this Texas Chainsaw Massacre 7? To prove my point, Kane Hodder played Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th 7, 8 & 9.



I'm not somebody who gets off on watching movies about people getting hacked and slashed for no real reason, and I'm certainly not somebody who likes seeing real serial killers glorified, but I DID want to see the REAL story. You can't cast a hulking man in the part of a frail old man and expect to do the character justice.



Heck Wallace Shawn would have been better casting or better yet, Bernard Hill.



Not to mention, using flash images from the real crime scene and newspaper clippings of the real man only reminds me of what the movie should have been and it only shows how far off the creators were from giving the title of their movie justice.



If they would take the name ED GEIN off the box and call it something else, it would be worth 2 stars. Like Chainsaw 7 or Voorhees: the prequel. Otherwise, this movie is worthless."

Good as a horror movie, bad if you really want the truth

Aaron Burckhardt | usa | 03/09/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I saw an ad for this in Fangoria and saw that it had Kane Hodder in it and I thought I just had to see this. For being DTV, its got a good production. The first half is creepy, but gets a little boring, but its worth a rental. My only real problem with this movie is that its good as a horror film, but its hardly anything like how it really happened. If you want to see a much better movie about Ed Gein(the actor even looks like him), rent the Ed Gein from a few years back, its got the half faces on it. Its not really a horror film though."