- 2 days ago
Netflix got more right than you might think.
Welcome to WatchMojo, where we’re breaking down 10 things Netflix’s Lyle and Erik Menendez story portrayed accurately. From shocking courtroom details to family dynamics, this series captured more reality than fiction.
Which part of the Menendez story surprised you the most? Let us know in the comments!
Welcome to WatchMojo, where we’re breaking down 10 things Netflix’s Lyle and Erik Menendez story portrayed accurately. From shocking courtroom details to family dynamics, this series captured more reality than fiction.
Which part of the Menendez story surprised you the most? Let us know in the comments!
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Hey, OJ? OJ?
00:04Yeah, who is that?
00:05I'm, I'm Eric, Eric Menendez.
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at mind-blowing facts of the legendary true crime saga of the Menendez brothers
00:15that Netflix's 2024 miniseries Monsters, The Lyle and Eric Menendez Story, got right.
00:21Given the disturbing nature of the case, viewer discretion is advised.
00:25You are the hypocrite, huh? What about this?
00:29No!
00:34Oh, oh, oh, ay, ay, ay, ay.
00:39Eric and Lyle's crime was initially thought to be a mafia job.
00:42Eric, Eric, did the mafia kill your parents?
00:46No, I'm Lyle. I don't know, it certainly appears as such, but that's what we've got to find out.
00:51Are you afraid the mafia could come after you?
00:53Yeah. Hey, where's your camera?
00:54At first, the sheer brutality surrounding Jose and Kitty Menendez's deaths
00:59led to speculation that due to the former's involvement in the entertainment industry,
01:03he had been engaged in a shady deal that had gone wrong,
01:06leading to an old-school mob hit.
01:08Hey, Mafia, after what we've been through, I'd like to see you try.
01:10Okay, is that a threat?
01:11Hey, come on.
01:13We're targets, okay?
01:15We're getting you full-time security, 24-7, okay?
01:18However, as noted later,
01:20there were a number of factors that didn't align with the Mafia explanation.
01:24Some of these included the fact that shell casings had been collected,
01:28that such hits aren't usually executed at the victim's home,
01:31and, crucially, that Jose's wife had also been slain.
01:34Eventually, it became clear that the couple's sons were responsible,
01:38explaining the anomalies.
01:39I came here so that you tell me I'm not a bad person.
01:44Tell me I'm not a bad person.
01:46You killed your mom and dad, Eric.
01:47Lyle was suspended from Princeton.
01:49You know how you get all this, all this?
01:54Lie, cheat, steal, by the women.
02:01Jose Menendez is portrayed as a cold, cruel, calculating abuser
02:05who describes his contempt for his sons as stemming from their entitlement,
02:09having been raised with countless advantages.
02:12Menendez reportedly wanted Lyle to attend Princeton
02:14in a sort of fulfillment of the American dream.
02:16Well, Lyle was caught plagiarizing a partner psychology lab assignment,
02:21and that's been just that.
02:22Sorry, sorry, sorry, excuse me.
02:24Psychology lab?
02:25What is that?
02:25I've never even heard of that.
02:27However, these dreams were squashed once it was unearthed
02:30that Lyle had, in his first semester, cheated in a psychology class.
02:34The younger Menendez was dealt a one-year suspension,
02:37and the punishment stuck, despite his father's attempts to intervene.
02:40This suspension, and Lyle's inability to hold a job that Jose had secured for him,
02:46reportedly led to Jose's decision to consider editing his sons out of the will.
02:50My son didn't cheat on something important.
02:55Well, unfortunately, we just don't see it that way.
02:57Okay, look, you cheated.
02:58I will beat the hell out of him for it.
03:01Two family members testified on Eric and Lyle's behalf.
03:04This is done.
03:05This is done.
03:06You understand?
03:08No more between you two.
03:09And you are never, never to touch him.
03:12Not ever.
03:14Monsters reveals that the Menendez brothers' alleged abuse by their mother and father
03:18wasn't exactly a secret.
03:20This is true, and backed up by court testimony.
03:23Their cousin, Diane VanderMolen, testified that in 1976,
03:27Lyle had confided in her about the inhumane treatment that his father had subjected them to.
03:31I mean, I'm proud of you.
03:32I'm proud of you, Lyle.
03:33Because finally, you are doing something.
03:36Great!
03:37That's my boy.
03:38Good!
03:39Eric made his choice.
03:41Per VanderMolen's testimony, she attempted to bring this up with Lyle's mother, Kitty,
03:46who brushed her off and denied that such a thing could take place.
03:49Andy Cano, another cousin, also testified that Eric had once made a similar revelation.
03:54Well, it kind of seems like it was always happening, because,
03:57I mean, I was always afraid of him.
03:58Your dad or Lyle?
03:59My dad.
04:00I was never afraid of Lyle.
04:01I always felt like Lyle was my, uh, my protector.
04:07Eric's therapist's mistress went to the authorities.
04:09He kept telling me that Eric was coming after me, and I kept having nightmares.
04:16At the time of the murders, Eric had been seeing Dr. L. Jerome Ozeal, a therapist.
04:20In fact, it was to Ozeal that Eric first confessed to the murders, as we see early on in the first episode of Monsters.
04:27Indeed.
04:28Ozeal recorded their sessions, and his tapes were admitted as evidence after the doctor stated that Eric and Lyle had made threats against him,
04:35which violated their confidentiality agreement.
04:37I know that it's very last minute, but, um, is there any way that I could see you today?
04:43It's locked.
04:45Uh, looks like I have a two o'clock, if that works for you.
04:49Ozeal was engaged in an extramarital affair with one Judelon Smith, who had been made privy to the recordings,
04:55and revealed their existence to police after Ozeal refused to leave his wife for her.
05:00He said my mom was a witch who was going to poison me.
05:04He used the word thorns to hypnotize me.
05:07So whenever he would say thorns, my mind would just go blank.
05:10Craig Signorelli wore a wire to lunch with Eric.
05:13If you want to help, um, Eric and help us with our investigation, there is something you can do.
05:20Signorelli was high school friends with Eric Menendez,
05:23and the two even wrote a screenplay called Friends,
05:25which, as we'll get into a little later, played a significant role in the brother's case.
05:30Eric reportedly confessed to Craig 12 days after his parents' deaths,
05:34with the latter claiming that after the admission,
05:36the two, quote, just went on with the conversation after that.
05:39Sounds like you're doing good.
05:41Yeah, I am.
05:43I don't think my dad would want me to mope around.
05:47You know, I think he'd want me to live.
05:51Upon learning he was a suspect,
05:53Signorelli repeated Eric's confession to them
05:55and signaled his willingness to cooperate by wearing a wire to Gladstone's,
05:59a popular local fish restaurant.
06:01Ultimately, as depicted on Monsters,
06:03Craig was unable to get Eric to repeat his earlier statements.
06:06I think with a few quick rewrites, like, we could totally sell it.
06:10Yeah, maybe.
06:12And now, you know, we could, uh, we could make it more believable, you know?
06:15The brother's alibi.
06:18Are you having trouble hearing me?
06:20The 9.50 screening of Batman.
06:22Yeah, but it's 10.40 now.
06:24I know, but that's the one that we want to see.
06:26Can you help me out here?
06:27My girlfriend is in there.
06:28Tell her the last half is the best.
06:29An early scene from Monsters depicts Lyle and Eric becoming increasingly frustrated
06:35as they try to procure tickets to see Tim Burton's 1989 superhero film Batman.
06:40This aligns with the real-life alibi the two concocted in order to avoid arousing suspicion,
06:44as well as any speculation that they could have been involved with their parents' deaths.
06:48So, I am enjoying some fine wine and some fine cheese, and I'm making sure that people see us.
06:54Because we've been here, what, four hours now?
06:58You know what they say, time flies when you're at the taste.
07:01Their story at the time was that they had gone to see the Burton film again
07:04after being unable to get into the James Bond film Licensed to Kill.
07:07It was also reported that they had bought tickets for the Taste of L.A. Festival,
07:11held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium,
07:13as further, quote-unquote, proof that they couldn't be responsible.
07:17Slower, please.
07:21Thanks.
07:22Enjoy the show.
07:24The infamous post-crime spending spree.
07:26And as far as transportation goes?
07:28Well, you have the limousine.
07:30Right, but for both of us.
07:34You're asking for a second limousine?
07:37Yeah, that'd be great.
07:37In Netflix's Monsters, veteran journalist and filmmaker Dominic Dunn,
07:41as portrayed by Nathan Lane,
07:43is shown to be a passionate advocate for justice and murder victims,
07:46and his 1990 article, Nightmare on Elm Drive,
07:49formed the basis of the public's understanding of the Menendez case.
07:53I do think Lyle was a genius on the witness stand.
07:59Maybe an evil genius.
08:01But I can't say the same about Eric.
08:03One crucial element was Eric and Lyle's extravagant spending,
08:07which is depicted on the show.
08:08The two traveled, dined, and spent extensively,
08:11buying luxury cars, watches, properties,
08:14and even investing in a Buffalo Wing restaurant.
08:17The brothers reportedly spent, between the two of them,
08:20over $700,000 prior to being arrested.
08:23Look, another TCBY.
08:26It's a freaking gold mine.
08:29See, this is exactly what I want to do with Mr. Buffalo.
08:31Everywhere that there's a TCBY,
08:33there should be a Mr. Buffalo across the street.
08:35Lyle was going bald.
08:36You are the hypocrite, huh?
08:38What about this?
08:43One of the most shocking Monsters moments
08:49has nothing to do with the sordid details
08:52of the Menendez's upbringing,
08:53or what happened to the brothers' parents.
08:55Rather, it's the out-of-left-field reveal
08:57that Lyle regularly wears a hairpiece,
09:00which is violently torn off by Kitty Menendez
09:02during an argument with her son.
09:04How long have you had that?
09:06Like, uh, three years ago? Four?
09:12Jose Menendez made the decision for his son,
09:15claiming that, quote,
09:16to be successful, Lyle would need a thick head of hair.
09:19As noted by Robert Rand in his book,
09:22The Menendez Murders,
09:23Lyle's toupee was glued to his scalp,
09:25and having it removed in such a way
09:27would have been extremely painful for him.
09:29You want to be a killer, right?
09:32Yeah.
09:32Right?
09:33Yeah.
09:33You want to succeed in business?
09:36Yes, sir.
09:37You want to go into politics?
09:39Then you're going to have a good head of hair, right?
09:41Lyle and Eric became friendly with O.J. Simpson.
09:44We're in a little cell block today.
09:45What?
09:50We've got a VIP coming in.
09:52In what seems like an impossible coincidence,
09:55one Monsters episode ends with O.J. Simpson
09:57being moved into the jail cell next to Eric Menendez's,
10:00following the former's 1994 apprehension
10:02for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
10:05O.J. Simpson is in that Port Bronco without cowlings.
10:09O.J. according to the CHP has a gun to his head
10:11and is saying that he wants to be driven to his mother's.
10:15Eric attempts to console an unseen O.J.
10:18and gives him legal advice.
10:20Although it's easy to dismiss the scene
10:21as a dream sequence or a fantastical Hollywood fabrication,
10:24this actually happened.
10:26Beyond that,
10:26Lyle also developed a rapport
10:28with the disgraced former NFL player
10:30and even wrote him a letter imploring Simpson
10:32to plead guilty for ending Brown Simpson and Goldman's lives.
10:36Hey, hey.
10:38O.J.?
10:39O.J.?
10:41Yeah, who is that?
10:42I'm, I'm Eric.
10:44Eric Menendez.
10:46Before we continue,
10:47be sure to subscribe to our channel
10:48and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
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10:57make sure you go into your settings
10:58and switch on notifications.
10:59Eric's Revealing Screenplay
11:03It's not a shitty screenplay.
11:05It's actually really good.
11:06Boys, I'd like us to stay focused.
11:07Friends is something that Craig and me put a lot of work into.
11:10And you haven't even read it.
11:11Sometimes, the truth really is stranger than fiction.
11:14In a moment that seems like it was written
11:16for a Netflix true crime drama,
11:18it's revealed that Eric Menendez,
11:20along with the aforementioned Craig Signorelli,
11:23wrote a film script in which Hamilton Cromwell,
11:25the protagonist,
11:26takes his parents' lives in order to claim an exorbitant inheritance.
11:30It was kind of inspired by that movie,
11:32The Billionaire Boys Club.
11:34My father was not a man to show his emotions.
11:39Sometimes he would tell me that I was not worthy to be his son.
11:43While the 66-page script was deemed inadmissible as evidence,
11:46its resemblance to the events of the Menendez case is striking.
11:50As Signorelli later explained,
11:52The deaths of his and Menendez's fictional main character's parents
11:55was a means of getting from point A to point B,
11:58so that Cromwell can come into a significant sum of money
12:01and exact an evil scheme.
12:03That is the dumbest f***ing title I've ever heard.
12:05No wonder it never sold.
12:06And you didn't tell Craig what we did, did you?
12:08Which Monsters moment shocked you the most?
12:10Let us know in the comments.
12:14Check out these other clips from WatchMojo.
12:16And be sure to subscribe and ring the bell
12:18to be notified about our latest videos.
12:22We'll see you next time.
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