There’s a point early on in Monsters: The Lyle & Erik Menendez Story where you’ll be torn between voyeurism and credulity.
How could any of this outlandish story be real? Yet some of it is. It’s almost as if the viewer is challenged to determine between truth and TV excess, despite the fact none of us are jurors for America’s gruesome crime-of-the-decade.
It is a 9 episode car-crash in slow-mo where the drama is so compelling you can’t look away, even if you are sceptical of the whole thing.
The dramatisation of the 1989 murders of José (Javier Bardem) and Kitty Menéndez (Chloë Sevigny), at the hands of their sons, Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik (Cooper Koch) is the latest work by prolific producers Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan.
It surely is a bloody valentine to 1980s Beverly Hills where wealth and a loveless family imploded one night via sawn-off shotguns. The case was also one of America’s early media trials, where the accused behaved like rock stars and a nation was fascinated by arrogance, truth and heinous behaviour.
Murphy wraps the story in pastel ’80s colours, Dynasty-like fashion, and a pop culture soundtrack including Milli Vanilli, Vanilla Ice, Kenny G, Snap! and even Crowded House. It lures you into a Hollywood Babylon.
Yet it is the complex relationship between Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik (Cooper Koch) that drives the series. They exist within their own twisted fortress, forced into a man-child bond for survival due to the mental abuse of their parents.
As the series progesses it is clear there is no holding back on their devotion to one another, nor the abuse at the hands of their parents.
Mistakes made by two arrogant young men following the brutal slaughter of their parents make for compelling storytelling. How could they be so stupid? But it is equally conflicting to accept in this version of events, especially when the camera just loves their semi-naked, gleaming torsos in manspreading, homoerotic sequences.
Characters existing outside the mansion work hard to keep it real: psychiatrist Dr. Jerome Oziel (Dallas Roberts), attorney Leslie Abramson (Ari Graynor) and Vanity Fair journalist Dominick Dunne (Nathan Lane). They search for logic, motive, reality through seemingly tall tales from two young men whose selfish pursuit of vanity can’t be questioned.
Just when you are ready to reach for the remote at the theatrics of it all, Murphy wheels out episode 5, “The Hurt Man” in which Cooper Koch delivers a shattering one-take episode-long performance that is so remarkable it feels improvised. This alone is Emmy-worthy and it’s as if all the histrionics have been worth it.
For all the faults of the series, notably its inability to restrain, the performances of the ensemble rescue it from crumbling under its own weight. And because of this it ultimately succeeds. Cooper Koch offers many layers to Erik while Nicholas Alexander Chavez is equally magnetic as the domineering, erratic Lyle.
Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny are given more to do in the second half of the series, even if the point of view is from the two boys.
Ari Graynor and Nathan Lane are excellent at maintaining reason, if as opposing Greek Chorus perspectives.
The series takes too long to get to the media circus trial/s and to reach its conclusion.
But you’ve come this far. You’re in deep, if only to satisfy your own curiosity that Erik & Lyle deserve what they got, or that you deserved better for your commitment.
Monsters: The Lyle & Erik Menendez Story is now screening on Netflix.
links to content on ABC
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