Best documentaries about the Menendez brothers

Since then, the Menendez brothers have been back in the headlines Ryan Murphys Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez launched at the top of Netflix.

But the infamous case of Lyle and Erik Menendez — who were convicted of murdering their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989 — has been covered in true crime stories on TV several times over the years.

As we move further back from the brothers' mistrial and retrial in 1994 and their prison sentence in 1996, public opinion shifts as the Menendez brothers, still in prison and serving life sentences, claim Her father, José Menendez, sexually and physically abused her while her mother looked away. Her 2023 habeas corpus petition is currently being reviewed by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office as new evidence could lead to a reevaluation of her sentences.

Victims or villains?

Viewers can judge for themselves whether justice was served or dealt with unfairly after Netflix bingeing Monster series and these other versions of the Menendez brothers and their story.

The Menendez brothers

Image source: Ronald L. Soble/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

After the great success of Netflix with Monsterthe streamer announced The Menendez documentary would debut on the streamer shortly thereafter and feature the first joint interviews with Erik and Lyle Menendez in decades. Released on October 7, the two-hour documentary hears the brothers in their own words as they relive the trial that shocked the nation in extensive telephone interviews. The Campfire Studios project, directed by Argentine director Alejandro Hartmann, aimed to “provide new insights and a new perspective on a case that people only think they know,” according to Netflix.
Menendez + Menudo: Betrayed Boys

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The three-part Peacock documentary delves into the Menendez brothers' original murder case, but follows up directly from their allegations of family abuse with a new accusation 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 was signed by José, then president of RCA Records. In the docuseries, Rosselló talks about the alleged sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of the band's manager, Edgardo Diaz, and another incident of sexual abuse involving José when Rosselló was 14 years old. The documentation suggests that Díaz Menendez offered Rosselló to seal the deal.
Menendez Brothers: Victims or Villains

Fox Nation's four-part docuseries was released in March 2024 and features testimony from incarcerated Lyle Menendez, prosecutor Pamela Bozanich and the brothers' attorney Mark Geragos. There are also appearances by television presenter and comedian Rosie O'Donnell, who interviewed Lyle from prison in 2023 and earlier Saturday Night Live Actor Darrell Hammond, who campaigned for the couple's release from prison.
Menendez Brothers: Misjudged?

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

This 2022 Tubi documentary begins with Lyle Menendez's 1989 911 call claiming someone brutally murdered his parents. But ultimately the focus is on father José Menendez treating his sons harshly and eventually sexually abusing them. Here, the Menendez brothers' self-defense motive for the murders is explored, including reenactments of José stalking his sons in their bedrooms and the brutal murders of the parents in their Beverly Hills home.
Law and Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders

Image Credit: Courtesy of Justin Lubin/NBC

Although not a documentary, this eight-part NBC miniseries starred Edie Falco as Leslie Abramson, who became a star when he defended Erik Menendez at his trial by not asking what her mother's young men were doing and did to her father, but why. The ripped-from-the-headlines 2017 dramatization details the day-to-day arguments in the courtroom and the media frenzy that developed 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 it all

A&E Networks' 2017 true crime documentary had, in his own words, a unique focus on Erik Menendez. In telephone interviews, he told for the first time in years that childhood abuse was his family's dirty secret and explained how it drove him and his brother to murder their parents. As cultural touchstones, there are also interviews with CNN's Larry King and Associated Press star trial reporter Linda Deutsch.
Truth and Lies: The Menendez Brothers – American Sons, American Murders

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The 2017 ABC documentary focused on the Menendez brothers as Beverly Hills party boys who murdered their parents and promised to reveal “the hidden clues to the Menendez family's descent into hell.” To get there, the documentary features private videos, photos and statements from people close to the Menendez family, as well as detectives, lawyers and jurors involved in the infamous case.
Honor Your Father and Mother: The True Story of the Menendez 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. Like the CBS film (below), Fox's action drew criticism because it came after the Menendez brothers' mistrial and well before the retrial in 1996.
Menendez: A Murder in Beverly Hills

The 1994 CBS TV movie was not only an early investigation of the Menendez brothers and their parents' murder, but also one of the first TV movies based on an infamous case that included a mistrial that year. Larry Elikann directed the four-hour marathon film, Lyle was played by Damian Chapa and Eric was played by Travis Fine. Edward James Olmos took on the role of José Menendez, while Beverly D'Angelo played his wife Kitty.