guided by gein


HITCHCOCK (2012) Starring Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren


and Scarlett Johansson Directed by Sacha Gervasi Written by John J. McLaughlin Fox Searchlight Pictures


The biopic is easily one of the most loathsome cat-


egories of film but with his screenplay for Hitchcock, John J. McLaughlin (Black Swan) cleverly sidesteps many of the clichés and pitfalls with a beautifully written piece that is both emotionally resonant and absolutely hilarious. And this is all the more impressive consider- ing the book it’s based on, Stephen Rebello’s Alfred Hitch- cock and the Making of Psycho (1990), is a fact-based account of the creation of the film that provides few clues for the main dramatic thrust of McLaughlin’s script – the creative collaboration between Hitchcock and his long- suffering wife, Alma Reville. Hitchcock deals with the director’s angst-ridden efforts


to bring Psycho to the screen. In 1960, at the height of his commercial success, critics were starting to write him off, praising a crop of French upstarts such as Henri- Georges Clouzot (Les diaboliques) and Claude Chabrol (Le Beau Serge) as the new masters of suspense. Desperate to de- liver something completely un- expected, Hitchcock adapted Robert Bloch’s novel Psycho (1959), which was inspired by the exploits of real-life killer and human taxidermist Ed Gein. Although still under contract to


Paramount, the studio wasn’t in- terested in producing a lurid film whose antagonist was a psychopathic transvestite. So Hitchcock financed the it himself with Paramount agree- ing to distribute. As we all know, the gamble paid off. Surprisingly, the character of Ed Gein plays a significant


role in the film too. He’s portrayed as a pop culture con- struct as filtered through Hitchcock’s playfully macabre imagination, and we actually see him committing his ghastly deeds, including laying in bed with mother’s ex- humed corpse. Essayed by gravelly voiced Canadian actor Michael Wincott (Alien: Resurrection, The Crow), he ap- pears in a number of expressionist sequences as a dark muse of sorts, encouraging the filmmaker to stay on course until he locates the throbbing, exposed nerve of his grisly tale. Best known for the amazing documentary Anvil: The


Story of Anvil, director Sacha Gervasi proves to be a highly capable narrative filmmaker as well. As Alfred and Alma respectively, Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren are typ- ically brilliant. Enclosed in some completely naturalistic prosthetics courtesy of Howard Berger, Hopkins delivers one of his greatest performances. But as fantastic as he is, it’s perhaps Mirren who steals the show with an un- forgettable turn as a woman who, until now, has never received her proper due as both Hitchcock’s devoted wife and most important creative advisor. Hitchcock is a powerful portrait of an artist completely dedicated to his craft, and possibly the greatest film about


a filmmaker since Tim Burton’s magnificent Ed Wood. stuart f. andrews


RM28


The Master’s Muse: Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) imagines chatting with Ed Gein (Michael Wincott) in Hitchcock.


ED GEIN (2000) Directed by Chuck Parello


Of all the films that have been inspired by or based on Gein, Chuck Par-


ello’s In the Light of the Moon, retitled by Tartan Films to fit in its DVD line of eponymously titled serial killer films, is the most accurate portrayal to date. Steve Railsback, who rose to fame as Charles Manson in Helter Skelter (1976), is superb as the socially awkward introvert with a spec- tacularly morbid pastime. Parello, who wrote and directed the criminally underrated Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer Part 2, stayed true to the salient facts of the case as revealed in Gein’s 1968 murder trial and the subse-


quent 1981 book by Judge Robert H. Gollmar, Edward Gein: America’s Most Bizarre Murderer. The film deals with Gein’s past involving his parents (with a fairly effective turn by Carrie Snodgress


as Mrs. Gein) and brother (here, the theory of his murder at the hands of Ed is supported), via flash- backs and hallucinations, in order to build sympathy for his later ghastly goings-on. We also see some of what was gleaned from police interviews with Gein, and his later court proceedings, such as his use of newspaper obituaries to find fresh cadavers (also touched upon in Deranged), and a nice Gein-y moment as he howls and dances under the moon in his woman suit. There are several Easter eggs derived from smaller aspects of the Gein case, as well, such as


the shrunken heads found by visitors to his home that are casually explained away as trophies sent from a cousin who was in the war. Despite some major creative speculating, Ed Gein is by far the most true to its namesake’s tortured life. gm/dn


ED GEIN: THE BUTCHER OF PLAINFIELD (2007) Directed by Michael Feifer


“Inspired by the true story of one of the most gruesome killers in Amer-


ican history,” claims the tagline. Well, get inspired harder. If you’re going to put an actual person’s name in the title of a movie, don’t make it about someone completely different. As tantalizing as it may seem to have former Jason Voorhees actor Kane Hodder star in a speaking role, his version of Gein is that of a hulking monster rather than the slight, meek killer. Here, he kidnaps a local lawman’s daughter and it’s a race against time to catch him. In a further departure from reality, Michael Berryman co-stars as


Gein’s grave-robbing buddy who has a change of heart. The whole affair is horribly scripted and acted, and feels like more of an attempt to rebuild the Gein mythology around Hodder’s boogeyman resume. Regardless, that tagline is BS. dn


ED GEIN: THE MUSICAL (2010) Directed by Steve Russell


Wisconsin resident and budding actor Dan Davies wrote and starred


in this $9000 shot-on-video musical adaptation based on Gein and in- spired by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s Cannibal: The Musical and Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Other than a trailer online, a Facebook page and a few re- gional screenings and PBS airings, this film remains unseen, however, the soundtrack is available on Amazon, and features songs such as “Death be a Lady” and “All Cooked Up,” should you want to imagine


Gein with a golden throat. Given the reach of his fame, this one was bound to happen sooner or later. gm


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