In theory, a killer but not a serial killer. Gein was heavily influenced by the memory of his religiously fanatical and controlling
mother. Whilst rumoured, Gein wasnt a cannibal nor did he ever use the bodies for sexual gratification claiming "They smelt to bad". Gein killed the 2 women (both middle-aged women with similarities to his
mother or in the
case of his
first victim, the barowner, an opposite "dirty" version) and pillaged the graves around his hometown Plainfield in order to create the bodysuit, a tapestry of different womens
skin (including a vagina) that he wore round his home and the surronding area.
Gein underwent many physcological examinations after his incarceration and it is still highly argued whether he was criminally insane (which he was found to be by the doctors). Some see Gein as a cunning, tactful
fox of a man who carefully hides himself behind his lopsided grin, whilst others (throughout his life, the citizens of Plainfield) percieved Gein as a sort of village
idiot.
His motive for killing could also be argued however
one could guess, through just seeing his
house (his living area an absolute squalor including a sink filled with sand, or the areas which he boarded up and isolated from the rest of the
house - these where his mothers living area, kept immaculately clean) that Gein dug up the bodies and such and crafted the women suit for 2 main reasons:
1) To gratify and immortalize his
mother, in a gesture of showing and tangibly seeing how much he loved her, and having her be with him instead of the terrible disheartining isolation he endured.
2) To get back at her, in a vegenful sense, for all the trauma and suffering she put him through with his developing years. In a "Take-this-you-bitch" sort of
way.
"Silence of the Lambs" - 'Buffalo Bills' skinsuit.
"Physco" - The controlling, insane, motherlike figure dominating her son.
"Texas Chainsaw Massacre" - Perhaps the most influenced by Ed Gein. The squalor in which the
family leaves whilst some areas remain immaculately clean (The grandparents room with the little preserved
doggy). Furniture like Gein who fashioned soup bowls out of skull caps, chairs out of
skin, drums out of
skin, a drawshade made of human lips. And of course, Leatherfaces mask bearing striking resemblance to Geins own 9-12 masks he had in the pileup of rubbish.
