Netflix's new series Monster: The Ed Gein Story may be drawing in a lot of viewers, but one person who vows not to watch the true crime retelling is Longlegs director and the son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins, Osgood Perkins.
"I wouldn’t watch it with a 10-foot pole,” said the director to TMZ. Perkins added that Netflix has taken the true crime genre and tuned it into "glamorous and meaningful content," and worries that true crime cases are being “reshaped in real time by overlords.”
Played by Joey Pollari, Perkins' late father appears in the series, which shows the actor taking on the role of Norman Bates in Psycho. The Ed Gein Story looks at the films that were inspired by the killer's horrific crimes, including Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 movie Psycho, Tobe Hooper's 1974 slasher The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Jonathan Demme's 1991 psychological horror The Silence of the Lambs.
The show also delves very deeply into Anthony Perkins' personal life. One episode in particular shows the star struggling as a closeted actor and feeling like a 'monster' due to his role as Bates and his sexuality. Although the star's sexuality was an open secret in Hollywood, we don't think Osgood Perkins appreciates his father's business being displayed on the streamer, which no doubt took certain liberties.
Perkins told TMZ that the genre as a whole is "increasingly devoid of context and that the Netflix-ization of real pain is playing for the wrong team." Anthony Perkins remained married to Osgood’s mother until his death from AIDS at age 60 in 1992.
However, the new season is not the first to face controversy. Created by American Horror Story's Ryan Murphy, the first season, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, starring Evan Peters, looked at serial killer and suspected cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer and his string of murders in the '80s. The second, Monsters: The Lyle and Eric Menendez Story, covered the case of the Menendez brothers and the murder of their parents.
Much like The Ed Gein Story, both seasons 1 and 2 faced backlash upon release due to their controversial nature. Murphy has been criticized both by viewers and victims' families over the show taking creative liberties, exaggerating, and fabricating certain details. But this hasn't stopped Murphy, who is already making Monster season 4, which will focus on suspected axe murderer Lizzie Borden.
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