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Netflix has released a first-look teaser at Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the follow-up to Ryan Murphy’s controversial 2022 series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
The second season in Murphy’s Monsters anthology will tell the harrowing story of brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents, José and Kitty, in 1989.
In the clip, shared on Tuesday (August 20), the two brothers are shown driving up to their parent’s house in the middle of the night.
“On August 20, 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez murdered their parents,” the screen reads.
As they quietly make their way inside, they walk toward a set of doors and open them before pulling the trigger on a shotgun.
Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny will star as parents José and Kitty Menendez, with Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch playing Lyle and Erik Menendez respectively.
The gripping murder case captivated the nation in the Nineties, with the two wealthy brothers from Beverly Hills, California, standing trial for killing their parents.
During the trial, they said that they committed the crimes because they were fearful their father would kill them after they threatened to out him for years of sexual, emotional and physical abuse. The prosecution argued they did it to access their father’s multimillion-dollar estate.
The brothers were eventually convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. To this day, Lyle, 56, and Erik, 53, remain locked up in San Diego’s Richard J Donovan Correctional Facility.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which lands on Netflix on September 18, comes two years after Murphy released the Emmy-nominated Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
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While the latter became an instant sensation for the streamer, it was also condemned by many viewers who felt it was exploitative.
Starring Evan Peters as the notorious real-life serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, the 10-episode series told the story of his heinous crimes largely through the perspective of his victims.
Families of Dahmer’s victims also spoke out, saying the series was re-traumatizing.
“I’m not telling anyone what to watch, I know true crime media is huge right now, but if you’re actually curious about the victims, my family (the Isbells) are pissed about this show,” Eric, the cousin of Dahmer’s 19-year-old victim Errol Lindsey, tweeted at the time.
“It’s retraumatizing over and over again, and for what? How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?”