The Movie That ‘Inspired the Menendez Brothers to Kill Their Parents’ Immediately After Watching It

At the trial of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, one of the witnesses claimed that they were inspired by a 1987 film.

The Menendez Brothers Are at the Heart of a New Netflix Drama Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez, which follows the true story of their parents’ murder.

According to the Los Angeles Times, at the time of the trial, the prosecution’s main witness confused the courtroom by saying that Lyle and Erik Menendez had gotten the idea to murder their parents “from the BBC.”

At first people thought it was the BBC as in the British Broadcasting Corporation, but it was actually the 1987 film. Billionaires Club.

Psychologist L. Jerome Oziel was the therapist for both Menendez brothers and claimed that Erik confessed his misdeeds to him in a session, which he then told his mistress, who then told the police after breaking off the affair.

The LA Times reported that Oziel pointed to the film, while Assistant District Attorney Lester Kuriyama said it “sent a chill down his spine” and tried to persuade the court to allow the film to be shown to the jury.

However, this request was rejected when the judge asked the prosecutor if he was going to “sell popcorn,” and the trial continued.

As for the film itself, Billionaires Club follows the story of a group of men on trial in Los Angeles after running a Ponzi scheme to make money and killing people to get them out of the way.

This is the film that the therapist says inspired Lyle and Erik Menendez, who in 1989 murdered their parents, Jose and Kitty.

They then called the police to claim they had returned home after watching Batman to the cinema and discovered the bodies.

At trial, the defense did not dispute that the brothers murdered their parents, but claimed it was an act of self-defense after years of abuse.

Prosecutors argued they murdered their parents to get their hands on the inheritance money, while Lyle and Erik provided the court with graphic descriptions of the abuse they claimed they suffered at the hands of their father.

Ultimately, they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, but were not given the death penalty.

The brothers were sent to separate maximum security prisons for 22 years, but were reunited in 2018 when Lyle was transferred to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego where Erik had been sent.

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