‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’ Teases Domestic Violence, Empathy for the Brothers in Final Trailer

The latest trailer for Ryan Murphy’s “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” calls into question who the real monsters are in the infamous true crime case.

The second installment in Murphy and Ian Brennan’s “Monster” anthology series will follow the Menéndez brothers in the moments before they killed their parents and the trial that followed.

José Menéndez, played by Javier Bardem, opens the trailer released Tuesday with a monologue about why he was so hard on his kids, comparing his physical abuse of them to a spiky collar for a dog: he would only hurt them if they disobeyed.

“You know what I think? I feel I didn’t hit you hard enough, so as a father that is my fault, and I am sorry,” José concludes as he slaps Lyle, played by Nicholas Alexander Chavez.

Watch the trailer below:

The trailer also outlines their mother Kitty’s outlook on parenting the two of them. While sitting in what looks like a principal’s office, Chloë Sevigny’s character reveals that she regretted having both of her sons as they sit on the couch next to her.

“I hate my kids, may as well come out and say it,” Kitty says lamenting that she could have been a movie star. “They’re parasites actually. They have turned us into people we don’t want to be, and I regret having you.”

Between cuts of manicured tennis courts and car jams to the 1989 Milli Vanilli hit “Blame It On the Rain,” their father is portrayed verbally and physically abusing the boys. As the two approach the house with their rifles, Lyle seems more uneasy than his younger brother Erik (Cooper Koch).

The Menéndez trial was one of the first to captivate modern America. Court TV’s live coverage of the legal event is even credited as putting their network on the map. On Aug. 20, 1989, the boys walked into the mansion where they lived and shot their own parents. By the end of the onslaught, José was shot six times and Kitty 10. Though the brothers initially denied having involvement in the murders, they later admitted they were responsible.

“I see what happens when kids don’t get the nurturing they need,” defense attorney Leslie Abramson, played by Ari Graynor, says in the trailer as a clip of Kitty chugging from a wine bottle flashes on screen. The trailer also alludes to other misconduct that their father José engaged in with the boys.

The prosecution in the ’90s trial argued that Lyle and Erik murdered their parents so that they could inherit their vast fortune. As evidence, they pointed to the spending spree both brothers went on shortly after José and Kitty’s deaths. However, the defense countered that the brothers, who always had access to money, never needed to kill their parents to get more. Instead they proposed that they lashed out due to the emotional and physical abuse they suffered at the hands of their father. The defense also contested that José sexually assaulted both of his sons from childhood and their mother knew all along.

After two deadlocked juries, the trial ended with the brothers convicted on two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder. The pair was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“I suddenly saw how cruel it was what was going on in that house,” Erik says in the trailer sitting on a park bench. “We could never escape it and I was always going to choose my brother over my parents.”

“Monsters” is the successor to “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.” That true crime drama premiered in 2022 and became a major Netflix hit, scoring over 115.6 million views in its first 91 days. That makes it the fourth most-watched Netflix series behind “Squid Game” Season 1, “Wednesday” Season 1 and “Stranger Things” Season 4.

“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” premieres Sept. 19 on Netflix.

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