A 'bats--t insane' new true crime doc purports to interview a serial killer from beyond the grave

Talking with ghosts.
(Image credit: Discovery+)

America's true crime obsession has officially reached its logical and absurd endpoint.

The forthcoming Discovery+ documentary Ed Gein: The Real Psycho reportedly includes an exclusive new interview with Ed Gein, the notorious serial killer who inspired Norman Bates in Psycho and Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs — which is surprising, to say the least, since Gein died in 1984. Rather, Gein is reached for comment — from beyond the grave! — by the paranormal investigator and filmmaker Steve Shippy and the "renowned psychic medium" Cindy Kaza.

Writes The Daily Beast in its blistering review of the doc, "Ed Gein: The Real Psycho is simultaneously disrespectful to the dead (and viewers' intelligence) and comical in its shameless deceptiveness." Uh, yikes!

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If you still want to watch the "bats--t insane" documentary (which Den of Geek was slightly warmer on, calling it a "surprisingly fun whistle past a graveyard"), it will be available on Discovery+ on Friday. Still, you might want to steel yourself by reading The Daily Beast's full review here. Jeva Lange

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.