Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story: what age is it for? 17 alone, 16 with a parent
17 alone, 16 with a parent.
Official US rating: TV-MA. In France, zinema would say 16.
Where to watch itWhere to watch
- Included withWith a subscriptionNetflix · Netflix Standard with Ads
Offers in the United States, collected automatically. Catalogues change often.
Alone, or with you
The official US rating is TV-MA, and we never go below it. Alone from 17; from 16, with an adult or by talking about it afterwards.
The sweet spot: around 17-20, when you can watch a real crime staged as a spectacle without finding it seductive. Why a sweet spot?
The trailer
What it's about
Trapped in a cruel Victorian-era household, Lizzie Borden kills her parents in a gory ax murder that shocks the nation.
Why 17
- The official rating, firstRated TV-MA in the US (mature audiences only). zinema never goes below the country's rating: it explains it.rule
- The murders, shown with the axeThe double murder that made Lizzie Borden famous is not kept off screen: you see the axe blows, the blood spraying, then the bodies and faces covered in blood. The series keeps coming back to these images, sometimes dreamed or highly stylized, like a bath of red.
- A house full of dreadEverything happens inside a harsh, suffocating family, often in the dark: screams, jump scares, terrified faces and a lot of crying. The unease runs from start to finish rather than in isolated scenes.
- Very strong languageThe strongest swear words come back often, especially in three episodes.
- Desire, suggestedIntimate gestures filmed up close, a corset being unlaced, innuendo, and in the last episodes two women sharing a bed, tenderly. Nothing is shown explicitly.
- The restA lot of smoking and drinking, like the adults of the period.
What the series brings
- A portrait of a young woman trapped by what was expected of her at the end of the 19th century.
- A good opening to talk about how TV turns a real crime into a spectacle.
Watching it together
You might mention beforehand that Lizzie Borden really existed, and that the series invents a lot around the little we know about her.
at 17 and up
Why do you think the show makes the images of a crime that really happened look so beautiful?
Season by season
the reading per season, episode by episode · expand
Season 1 · 8 episodes, 51 min on average · zinema reading 14, 13 with a parent · France 15
4 episodes out of 8 at the top of the series. What's in each episode, without telling the story:
| Episode | What's in it |
|---|---|
| 1 · Bloodbath | Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths told; frightening images; scary music; alcohol. |
| 2 · Strong Kitty | Blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; scary music; some swearing. |
| 3 · Whack Job! | Many dark scenes; deaths told; lots of weapons. |
| 4 · R.I.P (Rest in Pestilence) Abby Borden | Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; frightening images; scary music; lots of weapons; a lot of swearing. |
| 5 · 41 | Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; scary music and jump scares; some swearing. |
| 6 · Bed and Breakfast | Many dark scenes; blood, for a long time on screen; deaths shown; scary music and jump scares; a lot of swearing; drugs mentioned. |
| 7 · The Trial of the Century | Deaths told; scary music and jump scares; fights; some swearing; drugs mentioned. |
| 8 · Carnival | Many dark scenes; deaths told; frightening images; scary music and jump scares; some swearing; alcohol. |
See the facts
For the same age, on zinema
- The Highest Stakes 17
- Pinocchio: Unstrung 17
- Shameless 17
- The Shards 17, 16 with a parent
The latest guides
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A zinema reading from September 30, 2026 · the 8 episodes of season 1, watched one by one · the age by zinema's rules for the US and France, and a human reading · report an error · how this guide is made