Murder Made Fiction has catalogued two months worth of fictionalized portrayals of Ed Gein, ranging from the popular (Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Silence of the Lambs, House of 1000 Corpses, and Monster: The Ed Gein Story) to lesser known titles like 1974’s Deranged.
Add Chuck Parello‘s 2000 indie feature Ed Gein to the latter category. The film, which is sometimes also known as In The Light of the Moon, can be difficult to track down (we watched it on the Internet Archive), but it is notable for tackling one of the most sensational stories in true crime and dialling things back significantly.
The result is a film that is so sedate and grounded that it may be a bit too slow for some viewers. After so many texts, however, that pared back approach may just be the biggest selling feature of Ed Gein.
Like many other texts, In The Light of the Moon covers the life of the title character’s life from his older brother’s suspicious death through to his apprehension for the murders of Mary Hogan (played by a wonderfully bawdry Sally Champlin) and Collette Marshall (Carol Mansell), a proxy for real life victim Bernice Worden.
Anchored by two powerhouse performances by Steve Railsback (as Ed) and Carrie Snodgress (as his domineering mother Augusta), Stephen Johnston‘s screenplay highlights how isolated Ed is on the farm and how his mental illness – which manifests as his mother’s controlling voice – makes him confused. To be clear, the film doesn’t excuse the murders as much as it highlights how various factors (the 1950s Wisconsin of it all) contributed to circumstances that allowed Gein to kill.
It’s a very different take on Gein’s story, especially compared to other texts that purport to stick to the truth like Deranged or Ian Brennan’s messy Netflix property. For those seeking what a grounded depiction of the Butcher of Plainsfield, 2000’s Ed Gein or In The Light of the Moon may be the text for you.
If you want even more Murder Made Fiction, be sure to check out the pod’s Patreon feed which has nearly 110 hours of bonus content, including episode by episode coverage of Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story, as well as Peacock’s Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy.
The post Chuck Parello’s ‘Ed Gein’ Is The Closest Approximation of Reality [Murder Made Fiction Podcast] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
