The landscape of modern television has been indelibly shaped by the "prestige true crime" genre, a movement arguably spearheaded by the collaborative genius of Ryan Murphy and his frequent musical collaborator, Mac Quayle. Their latest venture, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, represents a chilling deep dive into one of the most foundational figures in American criminal history. As the third installment in the Monster anthology series—following the massive, albeit controversial, successes of the Jeffrey Dahmer and Menendez Brothers chapters—the Ed Gein narrative presented a unique challenge: how to score the life of a man whose crimes were so macabre they birthed the modern slasher genre.
During a recent IndieWire Craft Roundtable, composer Mac Quayle pulled back the curtain on the creative process behind the series’ score. Quayle, an Emmy-winning veteran known for his work on Mr. Robot and American Horror Story, revealed that the heart of the show’s identity lies in a single, versatile theme designed to capture the duality of Ed Gein’s terrifying notoriety and his deeply pathological relationship with his mother.
Main Facts: Scoring the "Plainfield Butcher"
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is more than a simple retelling of a crime; it is an exploration of the psychological rot beneath the surface of mid-century Americana. Ed Gein, known as the "Butcher of Plainfield," was not just a murderer but a body snatcher whose penchant for fashioning trophies from human remains served as the direct inspiration for iconic cinematic villains such as Norman Bates (Psycho), Leatherface (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre), and Buffalo Bill (The Silence of the Lambs).
To anchor a story with such heavy cultural baggage, Mac Quayle understood that the music could not merely be "scary." It needed to be structural. The primary fact of the score’s development was the creation of a "creepy theme" that could serve as a chameleon, shifting its emotional weight depending on the narrative context. Quayle’s objective was to create a musical throughline that could survive the transition from a horrific discovery to a somber funeral, and even into moments of perceived "uplift" within the distorted reality of the Gein household.
Chronology: From Initial Concept to Narrative Throughline
The development of the Ed Gein score followed a rigorous chronological path, beginning with the foundational "creep factor" that defines the Monster brand.
- The Initial Pitch: Quayle’s first task was to distill the essence of Ed Gein into a signature sound. He began with the "creepy" elements—dissonant tones or unsettling melodies that reflected Gein’s fractured psyche. This was the first material presented to showrunner Ryan Murphy.
- The Mother-Son Dynamic: Once the "creepy" baseline was established, Quayle expanded the theme to encompass Gein’s mother, Augusta. Given that Gein’s crimes were inextricably linked to his obsessive, religious, and abusive relationship with her, the music had to bridge the gap between the living and the dead.
- Testing Versatility: As the series moved into post-production, Quayle began the process of "reinterpreting" his core theme. He tested the melody against different emotional beats. Could the same notes that signaled a murder also evoke the profound sadness of a funeral?
- The "Uplifting" Pivot: The final stage of the chronological development was the most difficult: finding the "major chord" version of the theme. This allowed the score to mirror Gein’s own delusions, where his horrific actions were often filtered through a lens of domestic "normalcy" or religious fervor.
Supporting Data: The Roundtable Context
Quayle’s insights were shared as part of a wider discussion featuring some of the most influential composers working in television today. This context is vital, as it highlights how the current "Golden Age" of TV relies heavily on sophisticated, film-quality scoring.
The roundtable included:
- Jeff Russo (Alien: Earth): Discussing the challenges of honoring a legendary franchise while forging a new sonic path.
- Kris Bowers (Spider-Noir): Exploring the intersection of jazz and noir within a superhero framework.
- Amanda Jones (Murderbot): Detailing the synthetic and robotic textures required for sci-fi.
- John Paesano (The Boroughs): Focusing on the suburban eerie.
- Brenton Vivian (The Madison): Discussing the melodic requirements of sprawling dramas.
The data gathered from this panel suggests a trend toward "Thematic Elasticity." Like Quayle, these composers are moving away from wall-to-wall "mood music" and toward strong, central motifs that are manipulated throughout the season. This provides a sense of continuity that is essential for the binge-watching era, where viewers consume hours of content in a single sitting and require musical "anchors" to stay grounded in the story.
Official Responses: Quayle on the "Luck" of Composition
In his own words, Quayle described the discovery of the theme’s versatility as a moment of creative serendipity. "I just was like, ‘Okay I need a creepy theme for Ed and his mother.’ And I’m hoping it’s going to be able to do some other things," Quayle told the panel.
The technical brilliance of Quayle’s work lies in his use of reharmonization. By keeping the core melody—the sequence of notes that the audience recognizes as "Ed"—but changing the underlying chords, he was able to manipulate the audience’s emotional response without them even realizing it.
"Sure enough, I took it for a funeral scene and I made it sad, and I was like ‘Whew, it worked.’ It was dramatic," Quayle remarked. "Then, later on, I needed an uplifting version. I reharmonized it, a few major chords, and boom, it worked. So I kind of lucked out that the theme could do all those things."
This "luck," as Quayle calls it, is actually the result of decades of experience in electronic and orchestral arrangement. By creating a theme that was simple enough to be recognizable but complex enough to be harmonically flexible, Quayle ensured that the series would have a unified "voice."
Implications: Music as a Psychological Mirror
The implications of Quayle’s scoring techniques extend beyond the technicalities of music theory; they touch upon the ethics and aesthetics of the true crime genre. Ryan Murphy’s Monster series has often been criticized for "humanizing" monsters. However, from a craft perspective, Quayle’s score suggests that the music is not humanizing the killer, but rather mirroring his internal state.
When the theme becomes "uplifting," the audience is not being told that Ed Gein is a good person; rather, the music is placing the audience inside Gein’s head. To Gein, his world made sense. To him, his rituals were perhaps comforting or "right." By using a major-chord version of a "creepy" theme, Quayle creates a sense of "unreliable narration" through sound. This adds a layer of psychological depth that elevates the show from a standard slasher to a character study.
Furthermore, the success of this "versatile theme" approach sets a blueprint for future anthology series. As television budgets grow and the competition for viewer attention intensifies, the role of the composer is shifting from "background noise" to "narrative architect." Quayle’s work on Ed Gein proves that a well-constructed theme can do the heavy lifting of storytelling, providing a sense of tragic inevitability that words alone cannot convey.
Conclusion: The Legacy of the Sound
As Monster: The Ed Gein Story prepares to haunt audiences, the focus will inevitably be on the performances and the gruesome details of the Plainfield crimes. However, the true spine of the series is the sonic landscape engineered by Mac Quayle. By starting with the "creepy" and finding the "sad" and the "uplifting" within it, Quayle has created a musical mirror for one of history’s most distorted minds.
The IndieWire roundtable serves as a reminder that the music of television is currently in a state of high art. Whether it is the synth-heavy dread of Alien: Earth or the reharmonized tragedies of Ed Gein, composers are no longer just filling space—they are defining the very soul of the medium. For Quayle, the "Monster" theme is a testament to the power of a single idea, meticulously crafted to withstand the darkness of its subject matter.
Lina Irawan
Dwi Wanna
Ali Ikhwan
