“Monsters” came to Netflix on September 19, 2024, and follows the story of brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez who killed their parents, and what events lead to this killing.

  This show is a documentary about the true story of the brothers who shot their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989. The show tells the story of events leading up to and after the killings. It portrays how the case was handled in court in why these brothers choose to kill their parents.

  These brothers went through years of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse from their parents. Their dad sexually abused both of them while their mom did nothing about it. The show goes into much more detail of what these brothers had to go through. 

  This sexual abuse is the reason the brothers gave in court for killing their parents, saying they were acting out of self-defense because they thought their parents were going to kill them or keep hurting them. However, prosecutors argued that this was all a lie and an act they were putting on to create an alibi to get out of going to prison. 

  The show tries to stay close to the facts of what actually happened but many say that it differs from the real story many times. For example, many people believe that the show made Lyle Menendez seem more aggressive than he was in real life and changed his personality. The real Erik Menendez commented on the show, saying that the show contains “vile and appalling character portrayals” and “blatant lies.”

  In 1996, Erik and Lyle were each convicted by a jury of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. They have been in custody with no chance of parole for nearly 35 years. Many people have conflicting views on if the brothers should be released from prison or kept in prison for life. 

  Sophomore Sadie Hendrix does “not think the Menendez brothers deserve to be in jail because their actions were justified by self defense.” 

  The story of the Menendez brothers is a very famous case and I would encourage anyone interested to watch the show and learn more about it.