This article reviews "Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story," the latest installment in Netflix's Monster anthology series by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. It details how the show retells the infamous story of Lizzie Borden, focusing on her relationship with Bridget Sullivan and her stepmother Abby’s treatment of her. While acknowledging lurid moments that may be gratuitous, the review praises the restrained approach taken in the first episode and the chemistry between Ella Beatty and Vicky Krieps. The show also incorporates a modern-day storyline featuring Sarah Paulson as Aileen Wuornos.
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Story summary
Netflix released "Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story," the fourth installment in Ryan Murphy's Monster anthology series. Set in Fall River, Massachusetts, the film retells the infamous true crime story about Lizzie Borden, who is depicted as killing her stepmother Abby and father Andrew with an axe, following abusive treatment by her family. The narrative begins four months before the murders, showing Lizzie's deteriorating relationship with her domineering stepmother Abby, who insults her appearance and criticizes her heavily during menstruation periods. After firing their maid, Bridget Sullivan, takes over the role despite witnessing unsettling scenes. The film aims to explore the lurid details surrounding one of America’s most notorious unsolved crimes.
Written for “Lizzie Borden Story_series” on 2026-09-18,
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The Lizzie Borden Story on Netflix is the fourth entry in the Monster anthology series created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan.
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Story → create → Murphy
The previous seasons had their share of lurid-for-lurid’s-sake scenes and weird timeline shifts.
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seasons → have → scenes
Will we see them in the story of the Fall River, Massachusetts woman accused of killing her parents?
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we → see → parents
Opening Shot: Stage curtains open and a toy piano with the name “LIZZIE” on it starts to play.
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name → open → it
We see Lizzie Borden (Ella Beatty) do exactly as the famous schoolyard rhyme about her said she did: She takes an axe and kills her stepmother Abby (Rebecca Hall) with what seems like “40 whacks”, and then kills her father Andrew (Charlie Hunnam) with what seems like the 41 whacks in the rhyme.
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what → see → rhyme
Four months earlier, Lizzie is living under the dictatorial reign of Abby, who constantly berates her for being stupid and keeps trying to marry her off to men who tell Lizzie she has a horse face.
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she → live → face
Abby is especially upset at how heavy Lizzie’s menses are, especially when it ruins her fainting couch.
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it → ruin → couch
After they impetuously fire their maid, Bridget Sullivan (Vicky Krieps) wins the job by cleaning the blood stain on the fainting couch.
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Sullivan → fire → couch
Lizzie is taken with how bold and brash Bridget — whom Abby and Andrew call “Margaret,” the name of their previous maid — is.
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Abby → take → maid
Bridget knows that Lizzie is a special person, and she tells Lizzie the tale of Elizabeth Báthory (Krieps), who bathed in the blood of murdered virgins back in the late 1500s.
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who → know → 1500s
What Shows Will It Remind You Of?
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It → remind → You
This is the fourth installment of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Monster anthology series, following seasons about Jeffrey Dahmer, the Menendez bothers and Ed Gein.
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This → follow → Dahmer
Like with all of the entries in the Monster anthology, Murphy and Brennan can’t seem to avoid lurid moments that seem to be unnecessary, like some gruesome visuals we see as Bridget tells Lizzie about Elizabeth Báthory.
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Bridget → seem → Báthory
But, for the most part, the beginning of Lizzie Borden’s story is relatively restrained, and bolstered by the chemistry between Beatty and Krieps.
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beginning → bolster → Beatty
The leadup to the murders, as well as the sensational trial that eventually acquitted Borden of those killings, will be examined, centering on Lizzie’s relationship with Bridget as well as Abby’s dissatisfaction with her life in general and Lizzie in particular.
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that → acquit → life
The show will also veer to a more modern timeframe, with Murphy muse Sarah Paulson playing serial killer Aileen Wuornos.
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Paulson → veer → Wuornos
A very 1980s soundtrack is likely what will pull both timelines together.
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what → pull → timelines
If Brennan and Murphy, along with directors Max Winkler and Sarah Adina Smith, keep the relatively restrained approach we saw in the first episode, we’re going to enjoy seeing how things led to the axe murders and the trial.
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things → keep → murders
If the group starts to do what they tend to do, which is get silly, bloody and indulgent, then that’s a whole other matter.
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that → start → what
Ella Beatty makes Lizzie Borden less creepy and more, well, weird, which puts us in the strange frame of mind to actually root for the woman who was accused of hacking her parents to death.
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who → make → death
The nudity in the first episode is mostly confined to the story of Elizabeth Báthory, though sex is implied elsewhere.
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sex → confine → Báthory
Parting Shot: Lizzie and Bridget take a “blood bath” (it’s actually cherry juice) together in Lizzie’s dove sanctuary.
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it → take → sanctuary
The Lizzie Borden Story tells Borden’s story without most of the gimmickry we see in Brennan and Murphy’s productions.
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we → tell → productions
There’s still time for things to fly off the rails, but we’re enjoying the relative restraint so far.
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we → ’ → restraint
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie.
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he → write → himself
His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
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writing → appear → Times
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