This Show Kills!

Musical movie on Ed Gein to hit Wisc. theaters
Associated Press

MENASHA, Wis. — An Appleton company is finished making the movie, Ed Gein: The Musical and it will soon be in Wisconsin theaters.

Gein is the murderer and 1950s Plainfield grave robber whose story inspired the movie Psycho. The feature-length movie is directed by Steve Russell and stars Dan Davies as the title character.

The musical/comedy made its big-screen debut Saturday at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley Communication Arts Center in Menasha. It plays off several popular songs, as Elvis Presley's All Shook Up became All Cooked Up and The Sound of Music's My Favorite Things turned into My Demented Things.

Assistant director Jason Buss hopes the word-of-mouth from the debut will propel the film forward.

The filmmakers expect it to be in theaters across the state soon, followed by a DVD release.

Let me first say I may not be the right person to judge what's in good taste but I think making a musical that makes light of a grave robber and killer might be a bad choice. I, like many others, are enamored with serial killers but I generally stick to documentaries and films to recount their crimes and try to understand them. Even horror movies like 'Psycho' and 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (both based on Gein) were created to shock our senses and scare us but this musical kind of insists there's something comical about cutting people's skin off and wearing it as a mask. Maybe its just over my head. I bet it'll be a huge flop. Dahmer would make a much better musical.