The Worst Hollywood Adaptations Of True Crime Stories

Ryan Murphy tasted critical acclaim with his shows "Glee" and "American Horror Story," but his latest Netflix venture — a new installment in his biographical anthology series "Monster" — didn't go over well with the critics. To find out what went wrong with it, and for more details on other bad Hollywood true crime adaptations, check out Looper's video above.

The third season of "Monster" is a dramatization of the life of notorious murderer Ed Gein, played here by Charlie Hunnam in his latest TV role. Also known as the Plainfield Ghoul because the majority of his crimes involved exhuming the dead from their graves and desecrating their bodies, Gein has inspired several iconic horror movies, but this latest retelling of his grisly tale is a pale and bloated imitation of those.

The latest "Monster" entry has been panned hard, with the vast majority of Rotten Tomatoes critics unimpressed (at the time of this writing, it holds a damning 17% score on the Tomatometer). Many critics noted that there simply isn't enough story to fill the eight episodes, leading to plot additions that do nothing to elevate the narrative. Murphy takes some extreme liberties with the story, ultimately sensationalizing tragedy. Yet, this isn't the first bad Hollywood adaptation of a true crime story.

The first two seasons of "Monster" (focused on Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez brothers, respectively) drew a lot of criticism, both from professional reviewers and the people involved in the true crime stories that inspired them. The first season (which stars Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer) was particularly controversial, angering the families of Dahmer's victims. They claimed that they were not contacted at all during the production process and that Netflix was cruelly profiting from the murders of their loved ones.

"The victims have children and grandchildren," Rita Isbell, sister of Errol Lindsey, wrote in a piece for Business Insider. "If the show benefited them in some way, it wouldn't feel so harsh and careless. It's sad that they're just making money off of this tragedy." Shirley Hughes, mother of Tony Hughes, spoke with The Guardian on her feelings about the series. "I don't see how they can do that," she said. "I don't see how they can use our names and put stuff out like that out there." Murphy eventually broke his silence over the matter, stating that his team reached out to around 20 individuals but never heard back from anyone.

Away from "Monster," there have been a spate of bad true crime movies about notorious murderers that have drawn a lot of criticism in recent years. Zac Efron's Ted Bundy film "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile" was called out for romanticizing the serial killer and rapist, while Hilary Duff's "The Haunting of Sharon Tate" was accused of exploiting the tragedy of Tate's murder at the hands of Charles Manson's followers. Similar allegations were levied at the film "The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson," with the Charleston City Paper calling it "as gross as it sounds." For more details on these bad Hollywood true crime movie adaptations, check out Looper's video.