Entertainment

Best Menendez Brothers Documentaries

Published

1 month ago

October 8, 2024

Erik Menendez, left, and is brother Lyle, in front of their Beverly Hills home. They are prime suspects in their parents murder.

The Menendez brothers have been again within the headlines since Ryan Murphy’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story launched to the highest of Netflix.

However the notorious case of Lyle and Erik Menendez — convicted for murdering their dad and mom, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989 of their Beverly Hills mansion — has obtained a slew of true-crime TV remedies over time.

The additional we get from the brothers’ 1994 mistrial and retrial, and imprisonment sentence in 1996, the extra public opinion shifts because the Menendez brothers, who’re nonetheless in jail serving life sentences, have claimed their father, José Menendez, sexually and bodily abused them, whereas their mom appeared the opposite manner. Now, their 2023 habeas corpus petition is below evaluation by the Los Angeles District Legal professional’s workplace, as new proof might result in a reevaluation of their sentences.

Victims or villains?

Viewers could be the choose on whether or not justice was carried out or handed down unfairly after bingeing Netflix’s Monsters collection and these different takes on the Menendez brothers and their story.

The Menendez Brothers

Picture Credit score: Ronald L. Soble/Los Angeles Instances/Getty Pictures

In wake of Netflix’s huge hit with Monsters, the streamer introduced The Menendez Documentary would hit shortly after on the streamer and would function the primary interviews with Erik and Lyle Menendez collectively in many years. Launched on Oct. 7, the two-hour documentary hears from the brothers in their very own phrases as they revisit the trial that shocked the nation by way of intensive cellphone interviews. The Campfire Studios undertaking, directed by Argentinian director Alejandro Hartmann, got down to provide “new perception and a recent perspective on a case that individuals solely suppose they know,” per Netflix.
Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed

Picture Credit score: MIKE NELSON/AFP/Getty Pictures

The three-part Peacock docuseries touches on the unique Menendez brothers’ homicide case, however hyperlinks on to their claims of household abuse with a brand new allegation in opposition to their father, José Menendez. The 2023 collection, which premiered one month earlier than Erik and Lyle filed their habeas petition, targeted on former boy band Menudo member Roy Rosselló. The group was signed to a label deal by José, then president of RCA Information. Within the docuseries, Rosselló talks concerning the alleged sexual abuse he endured from the band’s supervisor, Edgardo Diaz, after which one other incident of sexual abuse involving José when Rosselló was 14 years outdated. The docuseries implies that Díaz supplied Rosselló to Menendez as a way to seal the deal.
Menendez Brothers: Victims or Villains

The four-part Fox Nation docuseries bowed in March 2024 that includes testimony from an imprisoned Lyle Menendez, prosecutor Pamela Bozanich and from the brothers’ legal professional, Mark Geragos. There’s additionally appearances by TV host and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, who interviewed Lyle from jail in 2023, and former Saturday Night time Stay solid member Darrell Hammond, who has campaigned for the pair’s jail launch.
Menendez Brothers: Misjudged?

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This 2022 true-crime function directed by Andrea De Brito returned to a standard theme of the therapy the Menendez brothers obtained throughout their homicide trials: Did they kill for cash or due to persistent abuse? This Max providing has archival footage of the brothers’ intertwined by re-enactments carried out by Eric Phelps taking part in Erik Menendez.
Suburban Nightmare: The Menendez Brothers

This 2022 Tubi doc opens with the 1989 911 dispatch name from Lyle Menendez claiming somebody brutally murdered his dad and mom. However the focus finally turns to father José Menendez being onerous on and ultimately sexually abusive in direction of his sons. Right here, the Menendez brothers’ self-defense motive for the murders is explored, full with re-enactments of José stalking his sons of their bedrooms, and of the brutal murders of the dad and mom of their Beverly Hills dwelling.
Legislation and Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders

Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Justin Lubin/NBC

Although not a documentary, this eight-episode NBC miniseries starred Edie Falco as Leslie Abramson, who turned a star defending Erik Menendez at his trial by asking not what the younger males did to their mom and father however why. The ripped-from-the-headlines 2017 dramatization particulars the day-to-day battles within the courtroom, and the media circus that grew across the trial. NBC on the time promised to disclose the “stunning reality of what actually went down when the cameras stopped rolling.”
The Menendez Murders: Erik Tells All

A&E Networks 2017 true-crime documentary had a singular concentrate on Erik Menendez in his personal phrases. Utilizing cellphone interviews, for the primary time in years, he recounted his childhood abuse as his household’s soiled secret to elucidate how that drove him and his brother to homicide their dad and mom. As cultural touchstones, there’s additionally interviews with CNN’s Larry King and star Related Press trial reporter Linda Deutsch.
Fact and Lies: The Menendez Brothers – American Sons, American Murders

Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Photofest

The 2017 ABC documentary targeted on the Menendez brothers as Beverly Hills get together boys who murdered their dad and mom, and promised to disclose “the hidden clues of the Menendez household’s descent into hell.” To get there, the doc exhibits dwelling motion pictures, pictures and testimony from individuals near the Menendez household, in addition to detectives, attorneys and jurors concerned with the notorious case.
Honor Thy Father and Mom: The True Story of the Menendez Murders

Picture Credit score: Ted Soqui/Sygma/Getty Pictures

In 1994, Fox aired its personal tackle the Menendez brothers’ crime and trial. The true crime TV film starred James Farentino as José Menendez, Jill Clayburgh is Kitty Menendez, Billy Warlock as Lyle and David Beron as Erik. As with the CBS film (under), the Fox effort drew criticism for coming after the mistrial of the Menendez brothers, and properly forward of their retrial in 1996.
Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills

The 1994, the CBS TV film, in addition to being an early investigation into the Menendez brothers and the homicide of their dad and mom, was additionally among the many first TV motion pictures primarily based on an notorious case that included a mistrial that 12 months. Larry Elikann directed the marathon four-hour film, with Lyle being performed by Damian Chapa and Eric by Travis Advantageous. Edward James Olmos stuffed the function of José Menendez, whereas Beverly D’Angelo is his spouse Kitty.