Quick Verdict: Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story
| Feature | Details |
| Title | Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story (Season 4) |
| Platform | Netflix |
| Genre | True Crime / Historical Horror & Drama |
| Family Watch? | Strictly No (Excessive bloodshed, gruesome content, and adult scenes) |
| What Works? | Excellent production design, atmospheric sets, and strong performances |
| What Doesn’t Work? | Painfully slow pacing, excessive gore, heavy creative liberties, and repetitive plot |
| Final Rating & Verdict | 6.5 / 10 — Skip unless you are a die-hard fan of the Monster franchise. |
Is Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story a Standalone Season?
A series titled Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story has just been released on Netflix; it is the fourth season of the Monster series. You can watch any season first because the story of each season is completely independent. Basically, it is an anthology series.
So, it doesn’t matter whether you watch season one or season four first; you can pick any of them, and all seasons are available in Hindi.
Can You Watch Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story With Family?
You certainly cannot watch any of the seasons with your family; there is excessive brutal bloodshed and gruesome content. In fact, forget about watching it with family, don’t even make the mistake of watching it while eating.
As I mentioned, the content is extremely gruesome, so it will likely kill your appetite.
It does feature adult content. Usually, when people watch adult material, they might get aroused or, to put it colloquially, feel a tingling sensation between their legs. However, this series kills even that kind of arousal; that is the nature of the content it serves up.
If you’re looking for an anthology that deals with intimacy and adult themes without making everything about sex or shock value, Lust Stories 3 takes a noticeably different approach. The franchise still has its share of bold content, but this time, the stories also dig into relationships, loneliness, communication, and emotional intimacy. I’ve discussed that side of the anthology in my “Waiting Hai vs Lust Stories 3: The OTT Weekend Watch Guide”
Because of this, you might feel like stopping the series multiple times and watching something else that’s certainly how I felt.
Whether it’s at the dinner table, in the bathroom, or anywhere else in the house, you encounter a sense of revulsion everywhere.
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story Plot
The story revolves around Lizzie Borden, a young woman from a wealthy family. Sadly, however, her parents do not like her. Her father dislikes her because he wanted a son, not a daughter, and he has grown weary of living in a household filled only with girls; he has two daughters but has been unable to father a son.
As for her mother, Abby, she dislikes Lizzie because she is her stepmother and was unable to have children of her own. Consequently, Andrew Lizzie’s father never got the son he wanted.
So, the family wants Lizzie to get married and leave home so they can finally be free of her. However and you’ll hear dialogue in the series describing her as having a face “like a horse’s” no one is willing to marry her. To make matters worse, her behavior is making life hell for her family.
Amidst this, a maid enters the picture a woman of partial Irish descent. She arrives, handles everything efficiently, and does a great job with her tasks. She also engages in quite a few adult activities, and together, she and Lizzie hatch a plan to put an end to the “parents chapter” once and for all.
You’ll have to watch the series to see what happens next. If they go through with it, the show reveals whether or not they get caught by the police.
What Doesn’t Work in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story?
The Story Takes Too Many Creative Liberties
To be honest, I found the series deeply frustrating. It felt heavily laden with feminism and sheer absurdity, yet at the same time, there were aspects of it that I found genuinely interesting.
The absurdity stems from the fact that while the events are inspired by real-life incidents, what is actually depicted on screen almost certainly didn’t happen that way.
There is a lot of excessive fictionalization here; “creative freedom” has clearly been taken too far, with the series portraying events that seem to have little basis in what actually happened. Yet, they show whatever they please.
The storytelling feels uneven, and I found the historical accuracy to be virtually non-existent; I don’t believe the events depicted actually happened that way back then.
The Feminist and LGBTQ Themes
From start to finish, you get the feeling that feminism is being forcibly injected into the series even in places where it isn’t needed. Be prepared; you will definitely feel that way.
Furthermore, the way the LGBTQ themes were handled was also, in a sense, a contributing factor to why the series turned out so appalling.
The Adult Scenes Don’t Work
The thing is, when watching a series, our interest often hinges on certain elements like the inclusion of adult scenes which implies that the actresses (or the characters being portrayed) should be attractive.
However, in this series, the characters have horse-like faces and unsightly teeth; they are just strange-looking people.
The story spans two timelines one around 1875 and another around 1980 and features LGBTQ and lesbian characters in both. Yet, their appearance is absolutely terrible; the moment the second timeline begins, the sight of them makes you want to stop watching the series altogether.
But there is another peculiar thing here: none of the protagonists are good-looking, whereas all the antagonists are quite attractive.
I don’t know if the real-life figures this story is based on actually looked that hideous, or if the makers fictionalized it that way. Regardless, it fails to generate much interest.
You likely won’t enjoy a single adult scene in the series; watching them will only make you feel repulsed. In fact, many elements in the show whether it’s the food or scenes involving body cutting are visually grotesque.
The Gore Gets Excessive
I don’t have an issue with bloodshed—show as much as you want but the characters here are practically bathing in blood. I mean, this series just wasn’t for me.
The Pacing Is Painfully Slow
And the story moves at a snail’s pace; it drags so much. I feel the entire series could have easily concluded in four episodes or even three, for that matter. It was just unnecessarily stretched out like chewing gum.
After a while, you just feel like the story is over, as there isn’t anything particularly interesting left to see.
It Lacks the Usual Monster Intensity
Also, you don’t quite feel that familiar intensity associated with the Monster series in this installment. Many of the creative choices come across as deeply disturbing.
What Works in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story?
Production Design and Atmosphere
Technically, the series is excellent.
The production budget is impressive, and the atmosphere is amazing. All the sets look fantastic; I felt like the series truly transported me to that era.
Performances
The performances are outstanding, and there are absolutely no major flaws when it comes to the technical aspects.
Is Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story Worth Watching?
All in all, I feel this series ranks at the bottom compared to the other seasons released so far. I wouldn’t call it absolute garbage, but it depicts so many disturbing elements that likely weren’t necessary yet were included anyway making it very difficult to watch.
The biggest issue is its length; it feels like a grueling ordeal that almost compels you to quit watching. I pushed through to the end, but otherwise, you’d likely struggle to move forward; you’d start getting bored as early as the fourth or fifth episode.
The series gives us very few reasons to keep watching. There is no real mystery regarding what will happen next; we pretty much know beforehand exactly what the characters are going to do, which leads to boredom. Still, if you enjoyed the Monster series, you might want to give this a try. You might like it.
Personally, I didn’t like this series much, so I’m rating it 6.5 out of 10.