11 Menendez Brothers Documentaries to Watch After ‘Monsters’

The Menendez brothers have been back in the headlines since Ryan Murphy Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez released at the top of Netflix.

But the infamous case of Lyle and Erik Menendez — convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989 in their Beverly Hills mansion — has received a number of true-crime TV treatments over the years.

The further we get from the brothers’ 1994 mistrial and retrial and 1996 prison sentence, the more public opinion shifts as the Menendez brothers, who are still in prison serving life sentences, allege that their father , José Menendez, was sexually and physically abused them, while his mother looked the other way. Now, the 2023 habeas corpus petition is being reviewed by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, as new evidence could lead to a reevaluation of their sentences.

Victims or villains?

Viewers can judge whether justice was done or unfairly handed down after Netflix binge Monsters series and these other versions of the Menendez brothers and their story.

The Menéndez brothers

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In the wake of Netflix’s huge success with Monstersthe streamer announced The Menendez Documentary would arrive shortly after on the streamer and feature the first interviews with Erik and Lyle Menendez together in decades. Released on October 7, the two-hour documentary hears from the brothers in their own words as they revisit the trial that shocked the nation through extensive phone interviews. The Campfire Studios project, directed by Argentine director Alejandro Hartmann, aimed to offer “a new vision and a new perspective on a case that people only think they know about”, according to Netflix.
Menéndez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed

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Peacock’s three-part docuseries addresses the Menendez brothers’ original murder case, but is directly tied to their allegations of family abuse with a new allegation against their father, José Menendez. The 2023 series, which premiered a month before Erik and Lyle filed their habeas petition, focused on former boy band Menudo member Roy Rosselló. The group signed a contract with the record label José, then president of RCA Records. In the documentary series, Rosselló talks about the alleged sexual abuse he suffered from the band’s manager, Edgardo Diaz, and then another incident of sexual abuse involving José when Rosselló was 14 years old. The docu-series implies that Díaz offered Rosselló to Menendez as a way to seal the deal.
Menendez brothers: victims or villains

Fox Nation’s four-part docuseries launched in March 2024, featuring testimony from inmate Lyle Menendez, prosecutor Pamela Bozanich, and the brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos. There are also appearances from TV presenter and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, who interviewed Lyle in prison in 2023, and former Saturday night live cast member Darrell Hammond, who campaigned for the pair’s release from prison.
Menéndez Brothers: Misjudged?

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This 2022 true-crime feature film, directed by Andrea De Brito, returned to a common theme of the treatment the Menendez brothers received during their murder trials: Did they kill for money or because of chronic abuse? This offering from Max features archival footage of the brothers intertwined through reenactments performed by Eric Phelps as Erik Menendez.
Suburban Nightmare: The Menendez Brothers

This 2022 Tubi doc begins with Lyle Menendez’s 1989 911 call claiming someone brutally murdered his parents. But the focus ends up turning to father José Menendez being harsh and eventually sexually abusing his children. Here, the Menendez brothers’ self-defense motive for the murders is explored, with reenactments of José chasing his children in their bedrooms and the brutal murders of his parents in their Beverly Hills home.
Law and order, true crime: the Menéndez murders

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Although not a documentary, this eight-episode NBC miniseries starred Edie Falco as Leslie Abramson, who became a star when she defended Erik Menendez at his trial, asking not what the young men did to their mother and father, but why. The ripped-from-the-headlines 2017 dramatization details the daily courtroom battles and the media circus that grew around the trial. At the time, NBC promised to reveal the “shocking truth about what really happened when the cameras stopped rolling.”
The Menendez Murders: Erik Tells All

A&E Networks’ 2017 true crime documentary had a unique focus on Erik Menendez in his own words. Using telephone interviews for the first time in years, he recounted his childhood abuse as his family’s dirty secret to explain how it led him and his brother to murder their parents. As cultural landmarks, there are also interviews with Larry King, from CNN, and Linda Deutsch, trial reporter for the Associated Press.
Truth and Lies: The Menendez Brothers – American Children, American Murders

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The 2017 ABC documentary focused on the Menendez brothers as Beverly Hills partygoers who murdered their parents and promised to reveal “the hidden clues to the Menendez family’s descent into hell.” To get there, the document shows home movies, photos and testimonies from people close to the Menendez family, as well as detectives, lawyers and jurors involved in the infamous case.
Honor Your Father and Your Mother: The True Story of the Menéndez Murders

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In 1994, Fox aired its own take on the Menendez brothers’ crime and trial. The true crime TV movie starred James Farentino as José Menendez, Jill Clayburgh as Kitty Menendez, Billy Warlock as Lyle and David Beron as Erik. As with the CBS film (below), Fox’s effort drew criticism for coming after the Menendez brothers’ mistrial, and well before their 1996 retrial.
Menendez: a murder in Beverly Hills

The 1994 CBS TV movie, in addition to being one of the first investigations into the Menendez brothers and their parents’ murder, was also one of the first TV movies based on an infamous case that included a mistrial in that year. Larry Elikann directed the four-hour movie marathon, with Lyle being played by Damian Chapa and Eric by Travis Fine. Edward James Olmos played the role of José Menendez, while Beverly D’Angelo is his wife Kitty.