11 Movies Inspired by Ed Gein’s Hideous Crimes

The iconic 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film is based on a novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. Bloch wrote the story in the 1950s while living just 35 miles from Gein’s hometown of Plainsfield. In an eerie coincidence, although the murderer in Psycho bears many similarities to his crimes, Gein was not arrested–and his crimes didn’t become known–until Bloch had nearly completed the book. The author later said that he was surprised to discover “how closely the imaginary character I'd created resembled the real Ed Gein both in overt act and apparent motivation." 

Related: 9 Fiction Books Inspired by Real-Life Crime 

The story of Psycho follows Norman Bates, a disturbed young motel owner harvesting a deeply messed-up relationship with his domineering mother. Hitchcock’s movie went on to inspire four sequels and a remake, as well as the prequel TV series Bates Motel.  

The second film from exploitation director William Girdler, 1972’s Three On a Meathook follows four young women who seek help from local farmers after their car breaks down during a weekend outing. Unfortunately, as the movie’s title suggests, it’s all downhill from there for the young ladies. Similar to at least one of the women murdered by Gein, the victims in the movie are hung from meathooks. The killer in the movie, Frank, also has a Gein-like relationship with his deceased mother, and a penchant for cooking and eating human meat (it’s uncertain whether Gein was a cannibal, although it’s largely assumed he was). 

Despite marketing that touted this seminal 1974 horror film as being “based on a true story,” it’s more accurate to say that Texas Chain Saw Massacre was slightly inspired by the crimes of Ed Gein. According to actor Gunnar Hansen, who originated the role of the skin-mask-wearing Leatherface, the film’s creative team of Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel “decided to have a family of killers who had some of the characteristics of Gein: the skin masks, the furniture made from bones, the possibility of cannibalism.” Leatherface in particular has strong similarities to Gein, particularly with regards to his unresolved mother issues—the mummified corpse of the family matriarch is kept in the house. 

Despite a change in name, this low-budget, strangely comedic 1974 film is a fairly straight-forward, surprisingly accurate Ed Gein movie. It follows Ezra Cobb (Roberts Blossom), who lives in an unspecified part of the midwestern U.S. with his religious zealot of a mother. When she dies, Ezra becomes obsessed with digging up and repurposing corpses, before finally turning to murder in order to satiate his bizarre compulsions. 

Related: Was Ed Gein the Most Misunderstood Killer in American History? 

This low budget 1980 slasher film from director William Lustig has gained a cult following (and a remake starring Elijah Wood) since its release. Joe Spinell stars as Frank Zito, a disturbed young man with a deranged relationship to his deceased mother and a fondness for decorating with human scalps. Frank sows mayhem across Manhattan, collecting gruesome souvenirs of his crimes, a la Ed Gein.

Perhaps the most well-known Gein movie, and certainly one that has most-enhanced the killer's notoriety is The Silence of the Lambs. This 1991 movie, based on the book of the same name by Thomas Harris, follows James Gumb —aka Buffalo Bill—a flesh-obsessed serial killer who leaves his victims to starve in a well until their skin becomes slack enough to remove and fashion into a suit. If there's one character more frightening than Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter, it's a character based on Ed Gein.  

Related: 6 Freaky Reads for Hannibal Lecter Fans

Steve Buscemi stars as the titular Ed in this bizarre 1993 dark comedy. After hardware store clerk Ed’s mother dies, he’s heartbroken. When a traveling salesman says he can bring Ed’s mother back to life, Ed jumps at any chance to see her reborn. But when Mabel returns, she has a new thirst for blood and taste for human flesh—and Ed may decide it’s time to cut the umbilical cord once and for all. 

Perhaps more than any other movie on this list, 2000’s In the Light of the Moon/Ed Gein remains faithful to real-life events. The film follows Gein’s childhood, depicts the suspicious accident that caused the death of Gein’s brother (who disapproved of the intense relationship Ed had with their mother), explores Gein’s crimes, and ends with his time spent in a psychiatric institution following his conviction. 

This 2007 movie made the odd decision to fictionalize huge aspects of the Gein story. The plot focuses around Gein kidnapping the local sheriff’s girlfriend and daughter, which wasn’t on the long list of Gein’s actual crimes. Given how horrific his life actually was, it’s odd that the movie embellishes so much. 

Related: Rediscovering Harold Schechter’s “Outcry” 32 Years After Ed Gein’s Death 

The title says it all. This parody features song and dance numbers that take place in the main character’s head—kind of like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, but with more grave robbing.

This unremittingly bleak 2014 movie was adapted from the 1973 book of the same name by Mr. Cheerful himself, Cormac McCarthy. The story was reportedly inspired by newspaper reports McCarthy read about a possible killer operating in Sevier County, Tennessee, but the interests of the lead character are very similar to Gein’s. The story follows an Appalachian loner named Lester Ballard who discovers his necrophiliac tendencies when he comes upon a dead couple in their car. When his dead lovers are destroyed in a fire, Lester begins hunting for new ones. Co-written and co-directed by James Franco, Child of God is—as previously mentioned—a desperately bleak look at the evil committed by an isolated, ill man.