Lizzie Borden Mayhem

You may recall that I have a bit of a fascination with the Lizzie Borden story. Did she or didn't she? Some days I'm firmly in the stance that she killed her father and step-mother and other days I'm not so sure. In the past week I had a chance to watch the latest Lizzie Borden movie (there are lots of them) Lizzie Borden Took an Axe (2014) which stars Christina Ricci.

I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie. Made for tv, the movie clocks in at an hour and twenty-seven minutes and seemed shorter than that to me. From what I know of the murders, the script seemed to stick fairly closely to the actual facts even if they had to gloss over some things to move the plot along. What made it fun to watch was Ricci. I don't think I'll ever again picture Lizzie without seeing Ricci. Her demeanor is chilling. No one can play wide-eyed innocence like she can, while at the same time making you feel you should never turn your back on her. The other nice hook was the awesome soundtrack. Even The Black Keys perform a song. I had the urge to dance at times.

The film doesn't attempt to cast any doubt that Lizzie carried out the murders. But for some reason, since she is so brazen and it's so unreal, I was still left with doubt. That's why I'm now watching The Lizzie Borden Chronicles. I just wanted more. The Chronicles (streaming on Netflix at the moment) is a tv series released last year that lasted 8 episodes and takes place after Lizzie is acquitted of the murders. Not much is known about Lizzie and her sister (played perfectly by Clea DuVall) after the murders so the series takes off in a crazy direction. Lizzie Borden, still portrayed by Ricci, is now a serial killer. Let me just say that after watching 4 episodes, I fell asleep a few nights ago counting how many people she had murdered rather than sheep. There were that many. The show is outrageous and humorous all at the same time. Which got me thinking. Perhaps the movie and series creators where trying to make the point that it is outlandish to think that a tiny woman could have killed anyone without any evidence ever showing up. Maybe by showing what people believed happened they expose how ridiculous it is.

Watch the movie and the series for the acting, the clothing (!), and the music. It's fun.

If you want to read a bit more about Lizzie Borden, check out my post Lizzie Borden: August 4, 1892