Director Alejandro Hartmann’s new Netflix documentary, The Menendez Brothers, The Mehas arrived just a few short weeks after the series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, hit the streaming service. Both offer very different narratives concerning the shocking 1993 murder of Jose and Mary Menendez in Beverley Hills, which was ultimately confessed to by their two sons, Lyle and Erik Menendez.

It was originally thought that the brothers had taken a 12-gauge shotgun to their parents simply to pick up their $15 million inheritance, but at their trial three and a half years later, a more complicated picture emerged. Lyle and Erik claimed they’d been mentally, physically, and sexually abused by their father from the age of six, and that they had fired 15 shells into him and their mother only after Lyle had threatened Jose with revealing their secret, and subsequently felt their own lives to be in danger. According to them, this is why Lyle and Erik killed their parents.

The Menendez Brothers Documentary On Netflix Is Perfect To Watch After Monsters

The Documentary Shows Lyle And Erik In a Very Different Light

The Menendez Brothers is a timely reminder that there are two sides to this tragic tale. The series has settled on the notion that Kyle and Erik were cold, callous, financially motivated murderers, while the documentary suggests the more nuanced conclusion that they were driven to kill by years of abuse and familial dysfunction. Ultimately, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story supports the first-degree murder conviction that put Erik and Lyle Menendez behind bars for life without parole, and The Menendez Brothers suggests a lesser manslaughter charge should have been brought.

“Both brothers testified to the father’s sexual abuse”

The documentary features first-hand interviews with both brothers, but also with their LA prosecutor Leslie Abramson, who still insists “that whole defense was fabricated“; footage of the original trial in which both brothers testified to their father’s sexual abuse appears to contradict her, with Kyle and Erik’s emotional appearances seeming heartfelt and real – whereas they are portrayed in the series as far more calculating and manipulative, particularly in scenes where, post-murder, they go on a spending spree picking up Porsche’s and Rolex’s.

How The Menendez Brothers Differs From Netflix’s Monsters

The Series And The Documentary Take Very Different Views

 The differences between the documentary and series are stark: In Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Jose is seen as controlling and abusive, but the sexual abuse is purely emotional – in The Menendez Brothers, it is both explicit and shocking. Similarly, the series leaves out the testimony of their cousin Diane, who reveals Lyle had told her of the abuse as an eight-year-old, and that she approached Kitty with it but was dismissed. The series features highly suggestive homoerotic, incestuous scenes involving the two boys, whereas The Menendez Brothers simply shows Erik’s on-stand admission that Lyle had molested him once.

The two productions treat OJ Simpson’s effect on the verdicts very differently. In their 1993 mistrial, in which the jury could not reach a verdict, it was felt the boys’ version of events had been effectual; however, their second trial, which began a week after OJ’s acquittal, saw Judge Stanley Weisberg refuse to hear much of the defense’s salient abuse testimony, resulting in a speedy, unanimous guilty verdict. The series saw this as part of then-District Attorney Gil Garcetti’s re-election bid, while the documentary majored on a vengeful Judge backed by a wounded justice system.

What The Menendez Brothers Have Said About Netflix’s Monsters

Both Brothers Have Roundly Condemned Monsters

The Menendez Brothers is implicit in its support for Erik and Lyle’s version of events – and yet spurns the opportunity to include last year’s allegations by Ray Rosello, of boy band Menudo, who said he was drugged and raped by Jose when he was head of RCA. That revelation has prompted the current LA District Attorney to re-open the case and consider that new evidence, something that both Lyle and Erik have called for. Erik, in particular, had a scathing response to Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story for casting doubt upon the sexual abuse allegations.

Lyle, meanwhile, insists that in prison he has become a sexual abuse counselor for other inmates, again lending support to his and his brother’s stated defense. A third trial appears inevitable, and both The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and The Menendez Brothers will have contributed to bringing it about. Public opinion on the matter appears to have shifted in recent times, with a loud and persistent “Free The Menendi” campaign in full flow on social media outlet TikTok, which has been persuaded that the documentary’s take on the murders is the correct one.