Overview

• Netflix released the eight-part Monster: The Ed Gein Story on October 3, starring Charlie Hunnam as the Wisconsin killer.
• In a new interview, forensic psychiatrist Paul E. Mullen says a case like Gein could recur because technology and immersive media can blur reality for vulnerable people.
• Mullen highlights prevention flags: social isolation, fixation on death, and difficulty separating fantasy from reality.
• He argues Gein’s historical schizophrenia diagnosis would not meet current criteria, suggesting no clear psychiatric disorder by today’s standards.
• Coverage also revisits the real case, noting Gein's crimes came to light after Bernice Worden's murder and that his story influenced films such as Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs.