We watched a bootleg of the new "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" last night. It was really good and scary.
Because of my overboard Crime Library fascination and having read nearly every account of every serial killer or weirdo they have ever featured, I was familiar with the Ed Gein story and the similarities that appeared in the Chainsaw film. Unfortunately for viewers thirsty for true gore, the whole chainsaw thing never really happened, but it sure is fun to watch. Most of the movie is without dialogue, you hear alot of the grinding of a chainsaw and screams of the victims, but I have to say the scenes where there was dialogue were damn scary too. The murders were unfathomable. I had to cover my ears a lot to block out some of the heebie jeebies I was getting. That family was fucking psycho, that's for sure. That's another thing that's really unnerving about the movie, the thought of a whole inbred family of homicidal maniacs that includes the local sheriff and there's no escape because everywhere you turn there's another one. And boy were they ever inbred... Nobody wants to think about a thing like that.
In reality though, Ed Gein acted alone and mostly dug up dead bodies from the graveyard and made various arts, crafts and appliances out of body parts. He also killed a few people...he had this big huge house in the woods that he lived in with his brother and his domineering, religious zealot of a mother who verbally abused them and did everything possible to control her boys by brainwashing them into believing that women are loose and sex is a sin for which you will be cast into hell. It's pretty well established that Ed Gein killed his brother when they were kids. Ed bludgeoned him to death and led the police straight to him stating that he had been killed in a fire. The police decided not to investigate further and just accepted that it had been an accident. His mother eventually died after a series of strokes and Ed ultimately blocked off about 75% of the house to preserve exactly as his mother had left it. And then he went about a life of pure insanity and gruesome acts of the most heinous kind before finally being caught and living out the remainder of his days in a mental institution where he was perfectly happy and well behaved until the day he died. The bottom line psychologically, was that his mother had really, really fucked him up.
Posted by Maria at November 15, 2003 02:19 PM | TrackBackI love crime books but went to Barnes & Noble last night and I've read them all, so went to the biography section and almost done reading
"The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club"
by Ralph "Sonny" Barger.
It's been a good read, interesting, think this Sonny guy is leaving alot of the illegal activity out, but still interesting.
I am a real sucker for that true crime stuff. That's for sure. And I have the nightmares to prove it! I'm reading Helter Skelter right now. Even though I have read tons about Manson already, you can never know the true tale until you read Helter Skelter and my dad recently sent me a copy (signed by Vince Bugliosi!) so I'm blowing through it. Crazy book. And for some reason, Manson is the only serial killer I have nightmares about. Every time I read about him, I end up having scary dreams.
Posted by: Maria at November 18, 2003 04:37 PMDonald Gaskins and Gary Heidnik have always given me the creeps. I read Helter Skelter years ago, very good book. We'll have to chat more on our "serial killers"..have to take Ailey to art class...(she got accepted to study at the Bemis Art School downtown, so proud)
Posted by: sandy at November 18, 2003 05:05 PMOh god yeah. Both very creepy. Gaskins scared the bejeezus out of me. Didn't he pretty much kill every single person he ever came into contact with?
Posted by: Maria at November 18, 2003 05:12 PMBy his own admission and bodycount, he claimed 110 kills..I'm sitting here looking at my "The Enclyclopedia of Serial Killers" book...I'm sure you've got this copy by Michael Newton. Gaskins had so rage and hatred for society particulary women...but he was gang raped and passed around in prison by men. He later killed a fellow inmate in prison for raping him. Granted the guy had a shitty mother but....it's fascinating how these men carry such heavy feelings for women. My own brother who is serving a sentence for manslaughter has a beef w/our mom. When people say kids can get over a "divorce" I love to argue w/them. Alot of kids like to blame one of the parents and in a boys case it's usually mother because they hold their fathers in such high regard and it has to be moms fault for daddy leaving. One of Gaskins "step daddies" was brutal to him, I'm sure he blamed his mother for this treatment, for not stopping it and for not protecting him. I have a close friend here whose husband was raped by one of his moms "friends" when he was 11, the guy is now 36 and he absolutely hates his mom. He didn't tell her about the incident untill he was a grown man, but he has more hatred towards her than his attacker, because she put him in that situation to begin with.(his thinking) It's truly scary to think that adults make light of small incidences with children, not knowing the impact it will have and how long it stays in a childs mind. You can't get pissed up drunk and beat the shit out of your kids and think they'll forget, etc....I do feel that if some of the people mentioned in this book had of had different upbringings they never would have committed these heinous crimes, however some of the people in this book are just evil to the core.
Posted by: sandy at November 18, 2003 09:40 PMmaybe I will stick to comedies and Willie Wonka
Posted by: btezra at November 20, 2003 03:07 PM