Spoiler Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menéndez Story. If you've yet to watch the series, or at least its first episode, please exercise caution.
Ryan Murphy’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story arrived on the 2024 TV schedule and was immediately met with controversy for its depiction of the two brothers convicted of murdering their parents more than 30 years ago. That is a conversation that needs to be had, but there is one thing I keep coming back to with the 2024 Netflix series: the vicious double murder sequence in the show’s first episode.
Being a kid of the ‘90s, I’m all too aware of the Menéndez brothers’ case and have spent countless hours reading articles and watching true crime documentaries about them committing parricide. Though I thought I was prepared for the scene where they gun down their parents in their family home, I was not ready for the shockingly violent and gory display on my TV set. And I just have to talk about it…
What Happens To Jose And Kitty Menéndez In Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story?
So, what happens to Jose And Kitty Menéndez, played by Javier Bardem and Chloe Sevigny, respectively, in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story? Well, about 32 minutes into the first episode of the second season of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series based on notorious killers, Lyle and Erik Menéndez (played by Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez, respectively) walk into their family TV room and fire around a dozen rounds from two shotguns into their parents, brutally murdering them.
The two victims are each shot multiple times before finally being put out of their misery around a minute after the sudden attack started. With their parents dead on the floor, Lyle and Erik pick up the spent shells, clean each other off, and dispose of guns before trying to see Batman in theaters to make a false alibi.
With the way the show is structured – it has some non-linear storytelling going on that fills in the blanks throughout the season – we don’t know much about what led to the August 20, 1989, double homicide, but there is enough backstory at that point to give the viewer a basic understanding of why the two wealthy brothers would kill their parents in that fashion.
The Double Murder Sequence Felt Like Something Out Of A Horror Film, Not A True Crime Show
The traumatic and gory scene feels less like it’s from a true crime drama series and more like something out of one of the best horror movies due to its intensity and goriness. While the entire one-minute sequence is terrifying in its depiction of a real-life crime, two moments in particular were especially shocking. First, there’s the moment where Kitty’s hand is partially blown off by a shotgun blast, which lingers on the screen for a couple of seconds before the event continues.
Then, about 20 seconds later, Jose is shot in the back of his head and the blast creates a massive hole in his right eye socket before his lifeless body falls to the couch.
I’ve only had this reaction to a couple of movies in the past, and the best thing I can compare it to is Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room, a great 2016 movie that I stopped momentarily after a certain scene involving an arm hanging out of a doorway and a machete (if you know, you know). I did eventually finish that movie and press play on this show, both scenes were so traumatizing and so realistic I had to take a breather.
I've Read About The Murder Extensively, But Still Wasn't Prepared For What I Saw
There’s an interesting Los Angeles Times article from July 1990 (nearly a year after the murder depicted in the show) that does a great job of describing the severity and viciousness of the attack that resulted in the deaths of Jose and Kitty Menéndez at the hands of their two sons. The article is filled with details about the final moments of the victims’ lives and how the sudden surprise of their sons walking into the room with shotguns was followed by multiple point-blank shots disfiguring and ultimately killing them.
However, despite reading many articles like that, watching documentaries about the murders, and even listening to multiple multi-episode podcasts about the Menéndez brothers, I still wasn’t prepared for the bloodshed in the episode. It went beyond anything I could have imagined, especially the shot of Kitty holding her disfigured hand after her pleas for her son to stop fell upon deaf ears.
The Cold-Blooded Nature Of The Sequence Really Drove Home The Severity Of The Crime
Now that I’ve had time to calm down from the 60-plus seconds of violence I’ve been able to reflect on the scene and what it says about both the severity of the crime and the nature of Ryan Murphy’s latest deep dive into the minds of killers. While Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story could have just alluded the the double murder or depicted it in a way that was less gruesome, the show didn’t shy away from the violence and instead showed just how severe and shocking it was all those years ago.
From someone who is often desensitized to depictions of violence after watching the bloodiest and most brutal movies and shows possible, this was one of the most shocking TV moments in recent memory, even though I knew what was going to happen. Revelations from later in the season don’t erase what Lyle and Erik did to their parents, they do sort or rationalize why the murders were carried out in such a way.
Seriously, I'm Honestly Surprised Netflix Signed Off On This
I’ll be the first to admit that a Netflix subscription gives you access to some crazy content, whether it be all those intense true crime shows or the many sexually explicit movies that call the streamer home. However, the double murder scene in Monsters is far more intense than just about everything on the streamer and I’m honestly surprised Netflix signed off on this.
I’m not one to clutch my pearls or turn up my nose to depictions of violence, but this is pushing things pretty far, even for the streaming service that gave us Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, a limited series that wasn’t without its own controversies upon release. But again, the violence depicted in the scene stresses the severity of the crimes and everything that led to them.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story is currently streaming in full on Netflix. It doesn’t look like the bloodshed will be ending anytime soon, as a third season of the Monster series is in the works with Charlie Hunnam set to play the infamous Ed Gein.
