The disturbing case of the Menendez brothers brutally murdering their parents might have taken place over three decades ago but it has recently returned to the spotlight.
This is largely due to Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Netflix anthology series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”, which has brought the true crime story to a new generation.
It chronicles the chilling ordeal of the siblings, who were sentenced to life without parole in 1996 for the murder of their parents, José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez.
And while they admitted to initially lying when they told the police that their parents were dead when they arrived home, the brothers eventually confessed to the parricide.
They insisted that they shot them multiple times at close range at their mansion in Beverly Hills on August 20, 1989, in a desperate attempt to free themselves from a lifetime of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of their parents.
The likes of Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch who star as Lyle and Erik, respectively as well as Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny portraying José and Kitty, have been hailed for their riveting performances.
Following the series’ resounding success, the streaming giant has also subsequently released “The Menendez Brothers”, a true crime documentary directed by Alejandro Hartmann.
While the series provides a dramatised version of events, the film does a stellar job of giving viewers a more compressed overview of the story.
It delves into the haunting story of the Menendez brothers and their tumultuous upbringing.
“The Menendez Brothers” does well to present viewers with all sides of the story, allowing streamers to make their own judgements.
The documentary also touches on how Lyle and Erik were portrayed as spoiled rich kids, who slaughtered their parents for money, especially with their extravagant shopping spree just days after the murders.
There are also details about their former misdemeanours, their lavish lifestyle, how they were eventually caught by the police and how they struggled to adjust to prison life.
But the most powerful part of the documentary is how, for the first time, the brothers relayed their sides of the story.
Through recorded phone calls of the brothers with Hartmann from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, where the pair are imprisoned, they recounted how they acted in self-defence to rid themselves of their parents who they insisted finally unleashed hell upon them through various acts of abuse.
The brothers also spoke about how they believed that José, a rich and powerful man, would never set them free or face the consequences of his actions.
Meanwhile, Kitty was portrayed as a mother who did nothing to protect her sons and grappled with her own mental turmoil. In the documentary, Lyle and Erik said that they killed her because they felt like she would never be able to live without their father.
This was in contrast to the prosecution’s argument that she was murdered because she would have prevented them from inheriting José’s fortune.
The details of the case were also intensified by the accounts from their cousin Diane Vander Molen, other family members like Kitty’s sister Joan Vander Molen and the feisty prosecutor Pamela Bozanich.
It also features insight from the journalists who covered it, the jurors and other informed observers.
But the most powerful part of “The Menendez Brothers” is their poignant personal account. It stirs up a range of emotions and gives viewers insight into their mindset at the time of the murders.
While I thoroughly enjoyed “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”, I found the documentary to be more compelling.
As a fan of true crime content, I can honestly say it does a superb job of presenting the circumstances that led to the horrific family tragedy, which was compounded by abuse, greed, family secrets, a toxic home life, generational trauma and entitlement.