Death, sex, privilege, lies – the story of how brothers Lyle and Erik Menéndez murdered their wealthy parents in Beverly Hills in 1989 has it all. At least if you’re Ryan Murphy, the high-profile television producer whose specialty is maximalist melodramas covered in blood and spiced up with eroticism.
It has been six years since Murphy signed a staggering £216 million deal with Netflix. That agreement is now coming to an end, and with Monster: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menéndez He ends the series on what he would undoubtedly consider a high point with a nine-part drama that is both incredibly clever and breathtakingly stark. Flashy, exploitative and propulsive, it is Murphy’s high point.
It’s also a sequel of sorts to his controversial 2022 Netflix blockbuster Dahmer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. This gruesome retelling of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer’s crimes was criticized by the families of his victims, who accused Netflix of profiting from their pain and “re-traumatizing (the families).” But the film garnered tens of millions of views, and so a sequel was inevitable.
Less shocking than Dahmer, Monsters is still uncomfortable to watch at times, with detailed references to the sexual abuse the Menéndez brothers say they suffered at the hands of their father, film producer José Menéndez. Like Dahmer, the film struggles against the temptation to glorify its protagonists – convicted murderers currently serving life sentences without parole.
Nevertheless, the film is undeniably worth watching scene by scene. It begins with the arrogant Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and the more sensitive Erik (Cooper Koch) driving in a limousine to a memorial service for their parents José and Kitty in downtown Los Angeles, who they believe were the victims of a mafia attack.
Murphy uses the syrupy pop of fake music duo Milli Vanilli as a way to access the awkward Lyle’s soul. Cheerfully and cluelessly, he performs their song Girl I’m Gonna Miss You at the memorial service for his parents, whom he and his brother shot multiple times with shotguns. The tune reappears at the very end, after the siblings are convicted of double murder and it’s decided that they will serve their sentences in separate prisons.
