(Credits: Netflix)

By now, you must have already stumbled upon the creepy trailer of the latest season of the Monster anthology series on Netflix, The Ed Gein Story. It’s hard not to notice; even harder to be unnoticed.

Charlie Hunnam’s Ed Gein says it quite rightly, breaking the fourth wall, “You’re the one who can’t look away.” But who’s to blame? Monster: The Ed Gein Story’s trailer was a haunting preview of a man-made monster and his gruesome doings that inspired Hollywood for decades. Think Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs.

The trailer gave an overview of his victims, which includes Addison Rae portraying Evelyn, a babysitter. Scheduled to premiere on October 3rd, Monster: The Ed Gein Story tells the story of a man who was driven by seclusion, psychosis, and “an all-consuming obsession with his mother,” Augusta, to become a cold-blooded serial killer whose tales are enough to snatch away a good night’s sleep.

Ed Gein didn’t just kill. He desecrated his victims to turn their corpses into suits and masks he would wear, as seen in the haunting trailer of The Ed Gein Story. “It’s mind-blowing how influential one strange man in the middle of Wisconsin in a barn can be,” Ian Brennan says to Tudum. “I can’t think of another person who is really that influential to a genre of television and film,” he continued.

But bringing the serial killer to the screen was no cakewalk for Hunnam, who previously had no clue he would be the monster of The Ed Gein Story. To become Gein, he reportedly read and viewed everything he could to better grasp the subject of the Netflix project. However, that’s not all. The transformation inherently demanded a massive physical transformation.

“I lost almost 30 pounds just to get a more malnourished, light frame. Ed was incredibly lithe. And so that was a big part of the physicality,” Hunnam explained. He spent time introspecting on the source of his energy, which was neither “confident” nor “front-foot type.”

“How to not take up a lot of space, not to be sort of front and centre and too confident in my physicality was really important,” he added.

One of the significant triggers of Gein’s portrayal, particularly his high-pitched tone, was his toxic relationship with his mother, who wanted a daughter. As the only human contact in his world, for Gein, it was utmost important that he became what his mother wanted him to be. Besides Hunnam as Gein, you can find glimpses of Ed’s mother, played by Laurie Metcalf, his only friend, Adeline, played by Suzanna Son, Tom Hollander as Psycho director Alfred Hitchcock, and Rae, as mentioned before, in the trailer.

Speaking of the opportunity, Rae fangirled over Hunnam, Metcalf, and Son. “I’ve never worked on a production that felt so intentional in every piece. And I think that is really inspiring to be around.” For those who still haven’t checked the trailer, it’s right below. Do it before the monster awakens in The Ed Gein Story on October 3rd.