I’m really into historical tabloid crime stories, and despite living in MA, I have failed to further explore Lizzie Borden’s case so when I realized that Christina Ricci was going to be in a series called The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, and there was a tv movie before that, I was in. Of course, I knew that it was probably not going to be historically accurate, but heh, sometimes that works too. I have seen Lizzie Borden Took an Ax and the first two episodes of The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, and you don’t need to see the movie to enjoy the series, which I suspect is trying to harvest some of the fans of Bates Motel.
Lizzie Borden Took an Ax does not tell the story chronologically. It is not always obvious if something happened, is a delusion, a thought represented visually or actually occurred. Lizzie Borden Took an Ax thinks that it is enough to juxtapose modern music in a nineteenth century setting to make it interesting, and it really isn’t. Think Reign except worse.
Because the titular character is played by Ricci, of course there is no doubt that the titular character did it, but Lizzie Borden Took an Ax also remains divided until the final episode as to who they want the titular character to be: a sociopathic party girl who doesn’t realize that she looks like she obviously did it, a woman driven mad by society’s rules and a domineering father or a manipulative survivor of abuse in complete control of her actions. Unlike the series, they throw everything at the wall until the end, and it doesn’t work at building tension so they should have just gone with one version like the series.
If you’re a completist like me, you will watch Lizzie Borden Took an Ax anyway, but you really don’t have to. It is disappointing that many of the great actors featured in Lizzie Borden Took an Ax are not in the series: Stephen McHattie (which is necessary), Billy Campbell and Gregg Henry so it may actually help NOT to see the movie to enjoy the series.