The Menendez Brothers Share Their Side of the Story in New Documentary — Watch Trailer and Get Release Date
Thirty years later, convicted murderers Lyle and Erik Menendez are shedding more light on what really happened leading up to that fateful night in 1989.
In The Menendez Brothers, an upcoming documentary set for release on Netflix Monday, Oct. 7, the infamous brothers (who are serving life in prison for murdering their parents) are speaking out about the shocking crime and the trials that followed. Interviews with the two men were given via phone from Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County, Calif, where they claim that “so much hasn’t been told.”
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“It was like an incredible soap opera,” states one of the interview subjects in the clip embedded above. The trailer sets up the high profile case by detailing the wealth and privilege involved in the Beverly Hills, Calif. tale, which ended with the deaths of successful businessman José Menendez and his wife and “caring mother” Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez. The documentary will also explore the recent TikTok movement that aims to help free the brothers, ushering in a new era for the case that’s now being looked at with fresh eyes.
The documentary’s trailer comes on the heels of Ryan Murphy’s just-released Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story series, which Erik recently spoke out against.
“I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show,” the statement reads. “I can only believe they were done so on purpose. It is with a heavy heart that I say I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.”
Erik added that “it is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward — back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women… So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander.”
Monsters — the second installment of Netflix’s Monster true-crime anthology, following the Evan Peters-starring Dahmer — debuted Thursday on the streamer, with Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch starring as Lyle and Erik, respectively. Oscar winner Javier Bardem co-stars as their father José, with Chloe Sevigny as their mother Kitty. Murphy serves as co-creator and showrunner along with Ian Brennan.
Watch the trailer for the upcoming documentary by pressing PLAY above, then tell us in the comments if you’ll be watching.
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