Monsters viewers issue warning over ‘horrific’ and ‘graphic’ scene in Netflix’s new No 1 TV show

Series has risen to the top of the Netflix charts in a matter of hours

Netflix viewers have cautioned others on social media about some of the violent content in the streamer’s latest hit series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

The series, a follow-up to Ryan Murphy’s hit 2022 true crime drama Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, tells the story of Erik and Lyle Menendez, two brothers who murdered their parents in Beverly Hills in 1989.

Nicholas Alexander Chavez (General Hospital) and Cooper Koch (They/Them) play the two brothers, while Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny portray their parents.

On social media, viewers shared their shock over the staging of the murder scene, with many describing it as extremely graphic.

“Fam, I’m watching Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story... They didn’t have to make the scene when they killed their parents that graphic. SHEESH,” one person wrote.

“I was actually shaken by how graphic the murder scene was,” another person remarked. “It’s Ryan Murphy, I shouldn’t have been, but it was horrific to watch. Both of the boys are actually incredible.”

Someone else simply wrote: “Gahlee, Monsters is graphic as f***.”

The series has risen to top the most watched TV charts on Netflix, overtaking the streamer’s recent hit The Perfect Couple.

Javier Bardem in ‘Monsters' (MILES CRIST/NETFLIX)

In a three-star review of the series for The Independent, Katie Rosseinsky wrote: “It is not hard to see what drew Ryan Murphy to the case at the centre of his new Netflix offering, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. In 1996, the brothers were convicted of the 1989 murders of their parents, José and Kitty; the siblings had gunned down the multimillionaire couple while they were watching television at their Beverly Hills mansion.

“The guilty verdict came after two high-profile trials, the first of which played out on live television on a relatively new channel, Court TV. America was hooked on the story, which has all the requisite elements for a Murphy adaptation. A brutal crime? A press whirlwind? Vast displays of wealth? Tick, tick, tick.”

She continued: “Thankfully, this latest in the Monster series lacks the gruesome excesses of Dahmer. But it also feels like a muddled mix of the best and worst of Murphy’s oeuvre. It’s likely to please his legions of fans, but may leave his detractors feeling a little queasy.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is available to stream on Netflix now.