If you want better sexual content level
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Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story Review
Bottom Line
Choose it for bold performances, gothic period style, and unapologetic camp. Skip it if you want a historically grounded Borden retelling or a restrained eight-episode drama; several reviewers found the inventions, gore, and detours excessive.
Best for
Best for viewers who enjoy performance-driven gothic melodrama, dark camp, bold visual style, and speculative true-crime retellings that prioritize mood over strict history.
Not for
Not for viewers seeking a careful historical reconstruction, subtle treatment of female rage, or a tightly paced season focused only on the Borden case.
Verdict
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story earns its strongest notices for performance and presentation. Rebecca Hall and Sarah Paulson are repeatedly singled out, while Ella Beatty and Vicky Krieps also draw substantial praise; reviewers likewise respond to the ornate production design, vivid period textures, sound work, and adventurous soundtrack. The central tradeoff is historical credibility. Many sources object to invented relationships, altered events, the Aileen Wuornos detour, and a tendency to turn an unresolved case into blood-soaked feminist melodrama. That same excess is exactly what some reviewers enjoy, finding the season energetic, funny, gothic, and highly watchable. The result is a sharply mixed season: visually confident and strongly acted, but often criticized as overlong, tonally unstable, and far removed from the known record.
Feature Scorecards
Summary
53 reviewed features-
Very positive 4.5-5.018 (34%)
-
Positive 3.5-4.49 (17%)
-
Neutral 2.5-3.410 (19%)
-
Negative 1.5-2.415 (28%)
-
Very negative below 1.51 (2%)
Pros
-
Acting is the clearest consensus strength. Multiple reviews praised the cast as excellent or able to sell the heightened material, though a few felt the writing limited what performers could do.
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Ornate interiors, haunted textures, and convincing period presentation earned strong praise across several reviews.
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The cross-era, female-killer framing struck several reviewers as fresh and unusual, with one calling the project unique on television.
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Casting drew strong praise, from Beatty's immediate fit for Lizzie to broader comments about an impressive ensemble.
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Audience reactions reported in one article included viewers finishing all eight episodes in a single sitting.
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Sarah Paulson's Aileen Wuornos transformation was praised for hair and makeup work that convincingly nails the look.
Cons
-
Historical faithfulness is the most consistent weakness. Reviews repeatedly faulted fabricated relationships, altered events, and major liberties with an unresolved case.
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Realism is a major weakness, with several reviews describing the series as salacious, implausible, or far removed from known history.
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Sexual content drew some of the strongest disagreement: critics often saw fetishistic or misplaced sexualization, while one reviewer enjoyed its bold directness.
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Multiple reviewers felt eight episodes was too much for the material, citing padding, side quests, and a format that feels longer than necessary.
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The gore is similarly divisive. Several critics found it lurid, fetishistic, or unnecessary, while another embraced the blood-soaked excess as part of the fun.
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The eight-episode run was repeatedly criticized for padding, tonal impatience, and detours that slow the central story.
Cast & Creators
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Aileen WuornosPaulson receives some of the season's strongest praise for her committed Aileen Wuornos, though one review says the performance adds little new despite that commitment.
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Abby BordenHall is one of the strongest points of agreement, repeatedly described as a scene-stealer and top performer even when one review faults the material for limiting her character.
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Elizabeth BáthoryKrieps is widely praised as Bridget, including 'superb' notices, while one review is much cooler on her Elizabeth Báthory performance.
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Lizzie BordenBeatty is often praised as engaging and capable of carrying the story, though some reviewers find her blankness hard to read or her range limited.
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EmmaLourd is part of an ensemble praised for understanding the show's heightened register, and another article includes her in an explicitly impressive cast.
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Andrew BordenHunnam draws mixed notices: one review praises the ensemble's heightened-register work, another calls him understated, and a third says the writing leaves his character underdeveloped.
View all 53 feature scores and cast & creators
Compared With Category Average
Compared with other TV Shows, this product is above average in makeup quality, villain quality, plot originality, near average in character development, casting quality, below average in faithfulness to source material, educational value, realism.
Comparison summary
53 compared features-
Above average 0.4+ pts higher12 (23%)
-
Same as average within 0.3 pts11 (21%)
-
Below average 0.4+ pts lower30 (57%)
Largest category differences
| Attribute | This product | Category average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| faithfulness to source material | 1.7 | 3.9 | -2.3 |
| educational value | 2.0 | 4.5 | -2.5 |
| realism | 1.4 | 3.5 | -2.1 |
| episode pacing | 1.5 | 3.4 | -1.9 |
| accent authenticity | 1.5 | 3.4 | -1.9 |
| makeup quality | 5.0 | 3.2 | +1.8 |
| writing quality | 1.8 | 3.4 | -1.7 |
| character likability | 2.0 | 3.6 | -1.6 |
Consider This Instead
If you want better educational value
Choose High Value Target: The Hunt For Saddam. It scores 4.4 vs 2.0 for educational value, with a 3.6 overall score.
If you want better accent authenticity
Choose The Beast In Me. It scores 5.0 vs 1.5 for accent authenticity, with a 3.8 overall score.
If you want better character likability
Choose Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials, Season 1. It scores 5.0 vs 2.0 for character likability, with a 3.4 overall score.
Compared in Reviews
Products reviewers directly compared with this model, grouped into quick takeaways.
2003 film Monster
- Compared: Sarah Paulson's Aileen Wuornos performance Sarah Paulson's Aileen Wuornos performance is favorably compared with Charlize Theron's Oscar-winning turn in the 2003 film Monster.
American horror story
- Similar: fictionalized storytelling style The reviewer says the season increasingly resembles American horror story as the Monster franchise becomes more fictionalized.
FAQ
Is Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story historically accurate?
Reviewers repeatedly say no. The season uses the real case as a starting point but invents relationships, changes events, and takes major liberties with unresolved history.
What do reviewers like most about the season?
Acting and presentation lead the praise, especially the performances, period production design, visual texture, sound work, and some of the music choices.
How are the performances?
The cast is the clearest strength. Rebecca Hall and Sarah Paulson receive especially strong praise, while Ella Beatty and Vicky Krieps are also frequently highlighted.
Is the series very graphic?
Yes, and reactions are split. Several reviewers criticize the gore and sexual material as excessive or fetishistic, while others enjoy the deliberately lurid, blood-soaked style.
Does the Aileen Wuornos storyline work?
Opinions are divided. Some call the detour refreshing or narratively expansive, while others find it heavy-handed and distracting from the stronger Borden-family story.
Is the eight-episode season well paced?
Several reviewers think it is too long, citing filler, side stories, and tonal detours. Others still find the show highly watchable or bingeable despite the sprawl.
Sample Expert Reviews We Analyzed
These are a few of the reviews included in our analysis.
Video Reviews
YouTube - Heavy Spoilers
- Review score
- 3.5
YouTube - Media Melanie TV
- Review score
- 1.7
Article Reviews
heraldnews.com
What did Netflix's 'Monster' get right about real Lizzie Borden history, and what did it get wrong? Let's fact-check this wild comic fantasy.
- Review score
- 1.3
hollywoodreporter.com
Brennan peels back the curtain into his and Ryan Murphy's 'Monster' selection process, how they landed on the infamous female axe murderer...
- Review score
- 4.7
hellomagazine.com
Ryan Murphy's new crime drama, Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, has finally arrived on Netflix – and viewers are binge-watching all eight...
- Review score
- 4.3
sundayguardianlive.com
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story reimagines the infamous 1892 murder case through Ella Beatty’s haunting performance. Ryan Murphy and Ian...
- Review score
- 4.4
avclub.com
Ryan Murphy's over-the-top true crime saga returns for another ludicrous season, led by Ella Beatty as a supposed axe murderer.
- Review score
- 1.9
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