Netflix 'Monster' Anthology Finally Delivers in Lizzie Borden Season — SkimNews
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- "Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story" is the fourth installment of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan's Netflix anthology and its first female subject, set in late-19th-century Fall River, Massachusetts, with Ella Beatty in the title role.
- The eight-episode series opens with Lizzie's August 4, 1892 axe murders of her father Andrew (Charlie Hunnam) and stepmother Abby (Rebecca Hall), then flashes back four months to April.
- Vicky Krieps plays both housemaid Bridget Sullivan, whose friendship draws Lizzie into violence, and 16th-century Hungarian noblewoman Countess Elizabeth Báthory, whose tale is woven into the narrative.
- The reviewer, who screened only two of the eight episodes, flags concerns about Sarah Paulson appearing as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the trailer, comparing the anachronism to a similarly "clumsy" fabrication in "Monster: The Ed Gein Story" that linked Ted Bundy and Richard Speck.
- The review praises the series' playful, vibrant tone and argues it distinguishes Lizzie from the franchise's prior male killers while depicting the oppressive conditions women faced in the era.
Why it matters: The review positions 'The Lizzie Borden Story' as a tonal reset for the 'Monster' franchise after the criticized Ed Gein season, with its Victorian setting and first female lead breaking from the anthology's prior all-male-killer lineup. Critics' early reservations about Sarah Paulson's Aileen Wuornos cameo echo the cross-season cameo pattern that drew scrutiny in the Bundy-Speck-Gein plotline.
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