‘Monster,’ the TV Show, Devolves Into a Poor Impersonation of ‘Monster’ the Movie — SkimNews
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- "Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story" is Season 4 of Netflix's Ryan Murphy anthology, framed around three female killers—Lizzie Borden, Elizabeth Báthory, and Aileen Wuornos—organized by the review as a 'rule of thirds'
- Sarah Paulson plays Aileen Wuornos in a meta movie-within-a-show that also features Joey Pollari as Anthony Perkins, Golden Garnick as Ted Levine, and Brock Powell as Gunner Hansen, with Paulson's take read as a 'loose, almost farcical impression' of Charlize Theron's Oscar-winning turn
- Ella Beatty, daughter of Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, plays Lizzie as 'perpetually blank,' the belittled daughter of funeral-parlor father Andrew (Charlie Hunnam) and cruel stepmother Abby (Rebecca Hall)
- Rebecca Hall's Abby is the review's standout, turning flat writing into 'cartoonish villain' comedy that peaks in a poisoned-seafood projectile-vomiting scene Hunnam headlines by growling 'It was the cardamom!'
- Vicky Krieps plays dual roles as Bridget, Lizzie's under-explored romantic interest, and Elizabeth Báthory, the 16th-century 'Blood Countess' whose parallels to Lizzie the reviewer calls 'heavy-handed'
- The review cites Roger Ebert's 2003 review of the film 'Monster,' which called Theron's work an 'embodiment' that empathizes without excusing—contrasting it with the TV series, which the critic says merely states what the 2003 film made viewers feel
- The show is streaming on Netflix, with the critic concluding that one work is art and the other 'just an impression'
Why it matters: For Ryan Murphy, the Season 4 verdict marks a franchise-first low—critics say the anthology, once anchored by Dahmer's breakout, has devolved into self-cannibalization, staging Sarah Paulson as Wuornos inside a movie-within-a-show alongside Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates and Ted Levine as Buffalo Bill rather than building fresh commentary. For Netflix, a property pitched as prestige serial-killer drama now reads as the same 'victim-as-murderer' thesis recycled from Charlize Theron's 2003 film, with the Wuornos thread described as 'perfunctory' rather than planned.
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