Definitive free-to-watch Lizzie Borden documentary tells true story of horrific axe killings
Ryan Murphy’s Monster series has never claimed to be a one-to-one documentary-like retelling of the story of horrific murderers, and the new season about Lizzie Borden is no different.
It is impossible for Netflix or anyone to truly tell the story of Lizzie Borden with full accuracy because, since it happened in 1892 and no witnesses are alive today, no one knows who murdered her father and stepmother. Despite folklore telling the story of how Lizzie murdered them with an axe, she was acquitted of murder in an incredibly high-profile trial. Short of visiting her house and taking one of their numerous ‘ghost tours’ with Ouija boards, we will never know who killed Abby and Andrew Borden.
The next best thing however is a brilliant documentary that summarises what we do know, and there have been countless docs in the 134 years since it happened. The best by far however is Lizbeth: A Victorian Nightmare, an award-winning doc that is free-to-watch.
The 2010 PBS doc has a whopping 9/10 average rating on IMDb and was produced by filmmaker Ricardo "Ric" Rebelo.
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Rebelo comes from the area where the murder took place and set out to debunk the popular folk rhyme which says that she killed her stepmother with 40 whacks, and did the same to her father.
Lizzie is still believed by most to have carried out the murders but the now-infamous ‘40 whacks’ comment is inaccurate, Andrew Borden was struck 18 to 19 times, and his wife Abby was struck 10 to 11 times.
Lizbeth, which is available to watch on YouTube, tells the story not only of the case but of how it transformed the city of Fall River into a place dominated by true crime tourism.
It features multiple interviews with the at-the-time co-owner of the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Museum Lee-Ann Wilber and was retroactively dedicated to her after her death in 2021.
The museum is placed in the original Borden home where Andrew and Abby were hacked to death with an axe and allow you to stay in the actual room where Abby’s body was found.
The doc has been widely praised by true crime fans, with one viewer on YouTube saying: “An excellent video. I've watched many documentaries on Lizzie and this is one of the best I've seen.”
One review on IMDb said: “I enjoyed this documentary a great deal. I've read several books on Lizzie Borden, and yet the participants in the documentary brought new aspects of the case, such as the personality of Lizzie, giving her dimension.”
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is available to stream on Netflix now.
Topics: True Crime, Netflix, Documentaries, TV and Film, TV
Michael Slavin