Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story

Our Review

Ryan Murphy’s true-crime anthology turns to its first female subject: Lizzie Borden, tried and acquitted for the 1892 ax murders of her father and stepmother. Ella Beatty takes the title role, with Charlie Hunnam, Rebecca Hall, and Sarah Paulson in support. Murphy’s Monster formula is by now familiar — splashy casting, opulent period detail, and a thesis that the accused was both victim and monster — and the Lizzie Borden material suits it: the case remains genuinely unresolved, the trial a spectacle of class and gender politics, and the legend (the rhyme, the burned dress, the pigeon-killing rumor) richer than most. Expect the usual tug-of-war between empathy and exploitation; when the anthology lands (Dahmer, the Menendez season) it’s gripping television, and when it doesn’t (Capote-adjacent stretches), it’s a stylish Wikipedia read-along. The period design is superb, Beatty is a find, and the courtroom stretch is the strongest run of episodes. Watch it for the atmosphere and the lead performance; take the psychology with a grain of salt.