"ED GEIN"....the DVD (straight-to-video movie) review and the true story of the original PSYCHO ED GEIN I've been anxiously awaiting this movie since I announced it in an earlier PCR article a couple of months ago. I was expecting to see it arrive in the theaters, full of fanfare and hype. However, I just happened to wander into a Blockbuster video last night and saw a single copy NEAR the "New Release" shelves. I looked at it, blinked a few times, and then checked it. Sure enough, it was the movie I'd been waiting for.    I watched the movie the other night on DVD, and I think I can pretty much sum up my reaction to it in three words: "Next movie please."    I got the DVD version, and the only extra features were an option to show the Spanish Captioning, and the movie trailer. They didn't even offer scene selection, which was a first for me. When I saw that, and noted the crappy trailer, I knew I was going to be in trouble with this piece of crap. I should have stuck with the movie's website, it's definitely more mood- setting than the movie itself.    The movie was ALMOST an absolute waste of time. I say ALMOST, because, well, it IS a movie about Ed Gein, and you can only go "so" wrong with that. The character of Ed Gein was well-played, but poorly-conceived. This character reminded me of a Forrest Gump gone horribly, horribly wrong. The movie was based on SELECTED true events from the life of Ed Gein, but I feel that in an attempt to make you feel sorry for Ed, they suppressed additional aspects of his life, and altered his personal character to something weaker that you could take pity on. They showed Ed feeling remorse, and being upset over situations he created. This is actually impossible for a psychopath, which is what he was clinically determined to be.    A psychopath doesn't feel remorse; he simply reacts to his environment in a very methodical way based on their concept of what is "correct". Very similar to a person that justifies everything they do, regardless of who, or what, is hurt. They themselves are incapable of feelings for others beyond superficial imitations that they might use in order to attempt to fit in. The closest thing to remorse that is possible for a psychopath to experience would be something like: "Damn, I tore off his face with the crowbar but I think his nose is too damaged for that mobile I'm working on. Perhaps I should have shot him in the chest, and used a skinning knife instead. That way he wouldn't have moved around so much."    Why try to do a "Real Life Story" if you don't at least attempt to tell the WHOLE story, and/or at least ATTEMPT to portray the character in a realistic manner?    What follows is a look at the real Ed Gein versus the movie "Ed Gein." It's a super-spoiler if you don't know anything about Ed Gein and want to see the movie. If you know Ed Gein's story already, then none of this will be especially new to you, and you already know what to expect, so this won't spoil too much. THE REAL DEAL    Ed Gein was a real person, a certified psychopath, that took bodies from an estimated nine or ten graves and used their body parts to make clothing, furniture, and even used their severed skullcaps to serve as bowls for himself. He made 4 separate hanging mobiles constructed from noses, lips, and labia. He made a belt for himself that he wore around the house that consisted solely of nipples. He even had skulls on each of his bedposts.    He sometimes removed the entire corpse, other times, he settled for merely body parts. On occasion he'd return the bodies intact, for no discernible reason, though Ed, himself, claims that there were very few of these. Human skin was used to make lampshades, wrap trash baskets, and as upholstery for chairs. The skin that was in better condition (from more recently interred corpses) was used to make a body suit for himself, complete with face, breasts and female genitilia.    In his earlier years he fantasized about being transformed into a woman, and through this body suit, he felt that he could achieve a temper sense of womanhood. This suit was often worn in a ceremonial fashion to dance under the moon, in his attempt to imitate some of the tribal rituals he'd read about in books on cannibalism and head-hunting. It was believed that some of this ritualism was intended to be a part of a resurrection ceremony he wanted to use on his deceased mother, but to my knowledge, this was never confirmed. The movie touched on this by showing Ed coming out of his house wearing the suit, then he'd wiggled around a little bit and went back inside. Hardly the same thing.    The movie touched upon the fact he wanted to resurrect his mom, and indeed, tried to resurrect a couple of bodies, but the movie leads you to believe he simply tried to say a few incantations, and that's all. It doesn't give you any indication that this was a consuming desire of his. It showed him doing incantations over two bodies, and then when they failed, he'd shrug, put on his leather (butcher's) apron, pull out a book on anatomy, and then the scene would change.    In the early days, Ed had an assistant named Gus. Gus was a simple-minded neighbor who had apparently been coerced by Ed to help him get these bodies. When Gus died (I don't know how), Ed continued his nightly raids at the three local cemeteries on his own. To me, the sheer fact that he convinced even a retarded man to assist him, tells me that Ed, although definitely warped, was not the stupid, nor the sniveling incompetent mentally-challenged individual that this movie portrayed him to be. I've worked with the mentally-challenged before, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that convincing them to do things is NOT a task that is easily done, nor could be done by someone who is also mentally handicapped. The move predictably omitted all reference to Gus, likely due to the fact that the Ed character in the movie couldn't have coerced ANYONE into doing ANYTHING.    When the lure of digging up bodies began to fade, Ed upped the stakes by killing people and at least partially eating them. Just to show how twisted he was, he even took their meat to the house of a friend to share it with them, claiming it was deer meat from a deer he caught, while making jokes about the victims. This was represented in the film by Ed Gein trying to confide in a drinking buddy of his about the murders he'd committed. The friend thought Ed was telling a joke, and laughed. Ed enjoyed creating the laughter so much that he told the story again to another woman to get the same response, but was left upset, and confused, when the woman didn't find it funny. Later in the film he was shown bringing meat to his friend's house, and eating it with them. Ok, that's close I suppose, and possibly close enough, but it's misrepresenting Ed, by distancing the events.    He "spoke" with his dead mother on a regular basis, and was convinced that she wanted him to kill people as punishment for their "risqué" behavior, as a tool of God's will. This was included in the film as a series of hallucinations. It's definitely close, and at least fairly realistic, but not portrayed NEARLY as well as it was shown in the "Psycho" movie series. The only thing I appreciated about it was that as a true psychotic, Ed never would have screamed in rage at his mom like the Psycho character, because he would have been incapable of feeling the necessary emotions required to do so.    He was eventually caught and charged with killing one local woman, and when the police went to his house to look around, they found evidence of cannibalism, and found two sets of "fresh" female genitilia that were taken from women that were never identified nor their bodies ever found (unless you count some of his skin lampshades, or assorted furniture). The women have since been tentatively identified, but there is apparently no way to confirm it, even though the car of one of the women was found on Ed's property, and the murder scene of the other victim matched the scenes of Ed's known victims. They also counted ten skins removed from skulls, located inside a single drum, and several others scattered about the house. The victim that Ed was charged with killing, was found in the basement; headless, strung upside-down, and gutted, similar to the treatment of bleeding a deer carcass in preparation for cutting it into edible portions. Her heart was found in a saucepan on his stove, and her head had been turned into a macabre ornament suspended from the ceiling by twine that was tied to nails driven into her ears. In 1956 a judge found Ed to be insane (no kidding, really?!) and sent him a state hospital were he stayed for ten years.    No one knows for certain how many people he killed, possibly because of the fact that he had so many body parts from the local cemetery. As noted earlier, it is believed that he robbed nine or ten graves, and some of those bodies were returned completely intact.   He is believed to have only killed 4 people, but in case no one else is keeping track: ten complete faces, 4 mobiles made of noses/lips, a skin suit mask, and his last victim's head was turned into a hanging ornament. These items seem to me, to indicate that there were more than just 4 murders involved here. Ten complete faces couldn't have ALL been from the graves, because there were bodies that were returned intact. Lets say that 7 faces came from that, Where did the noses and lips come from for his 4 mobiles? What about the face used for his skinsuit? At that time, forensic science wasn't very thorough, and DNA testing wasn't used. Although an effort was made to determine how many bodies were present, it's readily apparent that they were guessing, rather than scientifically determining how many different people were involved.    Ed willingly confessed to several murders and grave robberies, and when his stay at the hospital was completed, Ed was ordered up for trial for the single murder he was picked up for. He was found innocent by reason of insanity, by the judge, and released back to his hometown, where he died 20 years later. (So in other words, if you're going to kill, do it in a big huge glorious macabre spectacle, and they'll let you off easy.) In the movie, it mentions his stay in the hospital, and then says that he died of a stroke. No reference to the actual charge against him, or the fact that he was released, because of course, you can't feel sorry for a guy that kills without penalty. The judge suspected that Ed also played a role in his brother's death in a brush fire, but there were no clues to support this (I don't know if Ed confessed to this, or not). There were also two missing hunters that had died after hiring Ed to be their hunting guide (apparently, Ed was mentally capable enough to be selected for this job). One hunter's jacket was found just outside of town, and although Gein claimed to know where the body was, he claimed that the death was caused by a neighbor. Police never followed up on the case!?    The Ed Gein in this movie however was basically a partially mentally challenged individual growing up in an abusive household, who then found himself unable to properly cope with the loss of his mother. The story itself omitted most of the stuff that made this man so scary. (Sure, the main elements of his insanity were touched upon, but most were not portrayed in a manner that's consistent with the surrounding elements. For example, the "skinsuit" scene. He's out there for about 5 seconds, and then wanders back into his house. No ritual.)    It also shows him killing his brother in defense of his mother's "good name." Ed asks, "Why would you talk about her like that?" and then he clubs him with the butt of his gun and set's fire to the body. Later in the movie, he is haunted by this event, and very upset and remorseful. Again, this is NOT how a psychopath acts.    No mention was made of the hunters that hired him either, omitted probably to avoid audience confusion as to the hunters' motive in hiring what was supposed to be at least partially retarded man. The end result is that you now have a lame movie of a guy who kills people because he can't adjust to life due to his troubled past. It showed a few gross objects, souvenirs, and projects made from corpses, but for the most part, basically rushed past the true horror that was Ed Gein. It felt like a made-for-TV, after-school special, with additional semi-decent gore effects and REALLY bad acting throughout.    The only redeeming item in the whole thing was a lamp constructed out of a spinal column that I'm considering imitating in plastic, and a few other corpse gore scenes. ©2001 Michael Scott deadguy@email.msn.com The Deadguy's Dementia header graphic is a creation of Michael Scott

Matt's Rail          by Matt Drinnenberg
Greetings one and all.

IT'S ELECTRIC!
I was very excited to learn that Electric Light Orchestra has started to tour in support of their newest release, "ZOOM". From what I understand, the only original member of ELO is Jeff Lynn, but hey, ELO IS JEFF LYNN!!!  Naturally, I got tickets the moment they went on sale. When they do "Mr Blue Sky" I'll be sure to sing along for Scott (G.) and Mike.

GEORGE HARRISON
The things you learn reading Pop Culture. I was TOTALLY under the impression [George] Harrison had only weeks to live. Let's hope Ringo wasn't merely extending true friendship to George by not divulging the sad truth, if it is.

"SMITH"SONIAN
Congrats to Phillip Smith on his studly performance in making two difficult catches in the outfield in the zone championship. And, Happy Birthday!

FANTASY FOOTBALL
I'm sure some of our readers (and writers) know of Fantasy Football. They thereby know that the season will quickly be upon us, meaning that leagues across the land pooling their picks, so each "owner" will know when he selects his first pick. My league has recently done this, and I'm ecstatic to report I've landed the #1 pick, meaning I will get the end-all-be-all of fantasy football---Marshall Faulk of the Rams.
   I know that Mike also has a love for fantasy football, and a few years ago, we went head-to-head. I don't remember what the bet was for, but I do believe I recall he whipped me soundly. Hate to admit it, but I'm a "truth" guy. I also don't think we ever settled the bet, now that I think about it. So Mike, I guess I owe you. I just don't remember what!
   Anyways, I thought it would be fun for Mike and I to "do it again" and go mano y mano. I'll be getting with Mr.Smith to solidify the competition....if he isn't "SCARED", that is.

Till next time,
Take care and God Bless,
Matt

Hello gang! Shall we begin?

MARKY MARK AND THE MONKEY BUNCH
How about those Apes? I must admit that I came out of the movie hating it! I think I may have expected too much. However, after a second viewing (when you get to see movies for free you tend to abuse the privilege) I started to warm to it. Like Nolan, I didn't expect much out of Mark Wahlberg, but, like he did in "Boogie Nights" and "Three Kings," he continues to surprise me. The incorporating of some classic lines from the original was witty and how ironic is it that Charlton Heston is the only ape on the planet who owns a gun? (LOL!! That's right!---N) If you see it again, look for Linda Harrison (who played Nova in the original) in a few brief scenes. When the original "Apes" film was made, she was married to producer Richard Zanuck, which I'm sure helped her get the part. Now that I think of it, she was also "David's" mother in "Cocoon," also produced by Zanuck. There is a great story about how Zanuck promised the role of Ellen Brody in "Jaws" to his wife. Unfortunately, he was trumped by the head of Universal Studios, Sid Sheinberg, who had promised the role to HIS wife, Lorraine Gary. The story goes that when Zanuck told Sheinberg how disappointed Harrison would be, Sheinberg picked up the phone and called the producer of the then in production "Airport 1975." "Fred," Sheinberg said into the phone, "you've got another passenger on your plane." A lucky break for Harrison, who was spared the humiliation of "Jaws the Revenge," which, believe me, will be high on my list of worse sequels ever!

IT WAS 20 YEARS AGO TODAY
On August 1, 1981, an upstart cable station calling itself MTV hit the airwaves. It's first video: "Video Killed The Radio Star" by The Bugles. Over the next two decades, the station would make stars out of such bands as A-ha, Duran-Duran and the ever-popular Milli Vanilli. The music video gave such burgeoning filmmakers such as Russell Mulcahy and David Fincher their start. Other personal MTV faves include "Beavis and Butthead," the complete broadcast of "Live Aid" and the debut of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video, which I remember most for airing the same day I opened my movie poster store in Tampa. On the negative side, MTV has also exposed the world to Nina Blackwood, Tom Green and "Jackass."

EXQUISE ME? BAKING POWDER?
Not since the much-discussed Matt and Mike debacle entitled "50%? I said 15%" has conjective hearing been a problem. This past week, a waitress at a Panama City, Florida "Hooters" restaurant filed suit against the company for breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation. According to Jodee Berry, the restaurant manager challenged the waitress to a contest to see who could sell the most beer in April of this year. The winner, she states, would win a new Toyota. Imagine her surprise, after she was declared the winner, when she was given the keys to a brand new toy Yoda! That's right. Her prize was an action-figure of the wise old Jedi master himself! No word on if the packaging was in mint condition or not. (Yeah, I heard about this. I have to believe there were no printed-out rules-of-play that specified what the prize was and that it was only heard verbally to be a new toy Yoda/Toyota. ---N)

ANOTHER FREE BIRD
Sad to report the passing of Leon Wilkeson, bass guitarist and one of the founding members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, who passed away from natural causes last Friday. Wilkeson, who survived the 1977 plane crash that killed Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines, had suffered from chronic liver and lung disease. If you recall, last month my son and I saw Skynyrd, and Phillip kept pointing out the fact that Wilkeson would have on a different hat for each song. From a cowboy hat to a fireman's helmet, from a beanie with a propeller to a top hat "a la Slash," he kept the crowd entertained.

GO HUSKIES
I am on my way this weekend to Great Bend, Kansas, where the American Legion state tournament will be played. My son Phillip's team, the Lansing Huskies, will compete against seven other teams for the right to represent Kansas in the national tournament. Keep your fingers crossed. I'll have the outcome next week. (We all wish Phillip the best of luck, of course! ---Nolan)

Have a great week!