Created by: Ian Brennan & Ryan Murphy
Starring: Cooper Koch, Javier Bardem, Chloe Sevigny, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Dallas Roberts.
*Contains some sensitive content*
This is the second series from Ryan Murphy’s anthology of Monsters. This series focuses on Erik and Lyle Menendez, who killed their parents in 1989.
TRAILER:
Brace yourselves, though, as there is a lot to unravel with this story due to so much Sexual Abuse they both endured from the hands of their father, Jose Menendez, and their mum, Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez.
I will try to keep this review as short and straightforward as possible, as there is a lot to unravel regarding this case, and some updates are currently happening regarding the Menendez brothers’ *hopeful* release.
I have been following this case for a while now, as it’s a very interesting one and one where I have deep sympathy for the brothers regarding the abuse they experienced from their father from a young age, and their mum not protecting them. Alongside the physical abuse there seems to be emotional abuse too where I have read Lyle, as a young boy, was never granted permission to hang around with any of his friends as his dad always wanted him nearby, he was never allowed to do what he wanted as his father had influence in everything from who he dated to where he would study at college/university.
Lyle was never interested in attending college/university and instead wanted to forge his own path. However, his father forced him to attend Princeton, where he initially complied with his demands. However, his attendance was poor, and he was eventually expelled for plagiarism. Lyle lived on campus while studying at Princeton, but he caused damage by leaving sinks overflowing, throwing his roommates’ belongings out, and repainting his room in violation of university rules.
Lyle has recently completed a university degree in Sociology from the University of California while in prison. He now helps people he meets inside prison become better individuals after they have completed their sentences.
Erik, in high school, wrote a very amateur screenplay with his classmate called “Friends” – not to be confused with the ever-so-popular TV comedy series “Friends.” This screenplay Erik wrote was a story about a wealthy young man who killed his parents in the “perfect murder” for the inheritance money. This became suspicious when the brothers were found to be the ones who killed their parents and tried to claim it was business-related, aiming at a mafia hit, which later became false.
For those genuinely interested in learning more, Wikipedia has a lot of information on this case. YouTube also offers videos of the trial, which were televised in the 1990s and are approximately 3 hours long. There are several to watch.
However, watching Monsters: The Erik and Lyle story, had me cringing at the start due to the funeral scene and the song featured at the funeral, which was dedicated to their mum (this was apparently what was played at Kitty and Jose funeral in real life) – Milli Vanilli – I’m Gonna Miss You.
I have watched this dramatised series a few times, mainly because I find the casting for the Menendez brothers to be a great choice – the comparison between the actors and the real brothers shocked me with the accuracy, despite Ryan Murphy having backlash over this series. Coming out to state he didn’t read up on anything regarding the Menendez brothers, I think he must have known some of the case to get some of the drama similar.
The real Menendez brothers have also criticised the show, and to be honest, as much as I did enjoy watching it, there were a few discrepancies too. A lot was left out, but I found myself crying at a few scenes, especially one of the final scenes where they are split up and taken to separate prisons.
Yes, OK, they are murderers, but by researching down a rabbit hole with this case, and knowing about it for a while, I don’t think they did it for the money. I genuinely believe they killed their parents out of fear as their father was a malicious and dangerous man hope they can finally be released, especially with new evidence which came forward in May 2023 from a member of the band Benudo claiming sexual assaults and rape from Jose Menendez, and a letter from Erik to his cousin a few months before the murder – which is being questioned as to why it was not presented as evidence in the original case.
The show was great, and the information surrounding this case is HUGE. But this is where I will stop and state that I did enjoy it, and very tempted to watch it again!
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! I hope you’ll watch the show, which is now on Netflix, and check out the documentary featuring interviews with the Menendez brothers.
Oh, and one more thing, if anyone is wondering, as I came across it recently in an interview about *that shower scene* in the show, apparently, there has been no prosthetic. This was confirmed by Cooper Koch (who played Erik Menendez) on Entertainment Tonight on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqvjHgh4wFA&ab_channel=EntertainmentTonight
I highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys True crime and Murder/crime TV shows based on real-life events.
I rate this show 5 stars!
Room For A Review 