Streaming columnist NICK OVERALL says Netflix is back with another twisted true-crime series this month that’s already doing numbers worldwide.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story tells the disturbing tale of how in 1996 two brothers were convicted for the murder of their parents in a trial that was televised across the US.

What gave this case so much public interest was the darkly intriguing circumstances that surrounded the notorious killings.

Brothers Lyle and Erik were only 21 and 18 at the time they shot their parents with a shotgun more than a dozen times at their mansion in Beverly Hills.

In court, the brothers told the jury they killed their father out of fear he was trying to murder them when they threatened to go public with years of abuse they had suffered at his hands, abuse that their mother had allowed.

However, the prosecution accused the brothers of trying to cash in on their family’s multi-million dollar estate.

So what’s the real reason? Netflix’s new, heavily dramatised show digs for an answer.

The series comes from Ryan Murphy, the same showrunner behind Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.

That series came out two years ago and remains, in this columnist’s opinion, the most disturbing true-crime series to hit screens since the streaming era began.

Evan Peters gave a remarkable performance as the titular murderer who killed more than a dozen victims in the 1980s.

The series gained notoriety for its depiction of violence which often crossed a line into gratuitous.

Real-life families of victims then complained of its insensitivity, accusing the show’s producers of exploiting tragedy.

But the controversy and furore only fuelled interest in the show.

Now, Murphy and Netflix have turned the “Monster” title into something of a crime anthology series, hence its inclusion in this new show about the Menendez brothers.

Like the notorious trial that once caused so much controversy in the 1990s, this retelling on Netflix has, similarly, split audiences.

“No way Netflix dropped a show on the Menendez brothers and titled it ‘monsters’… those boys were abused throughout their whole lives by their father and their mother allowed it… how are they the monsters?,” one popular tweet reads.

“Nobody should have to explain to you why killing makes you a monster,” says another in reply.

The commentary across any online channel in response to this show follows a similar line of argument.

Like what audiences saw in the Dahmer story, it’s the cast here that has made this new series so compelling and taken it to Netflix’s most-watched show this month.

Javier Bardem plays Jose, the father of Lyle and Erik.

Bardem is no stranger to playing monsters, take No Country For Old Men or Skyfall as just two quick examples, and here he turns on his chilling charm yet again.

Equally fascinating is Bloodline star Chloe Sevigny’s performance as the boys’ mother, Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez.

Less known are the two actors playing the brothers themselves.

Nicholas Chavez and Copper Koch play Lyle and Erik respectively, both offering intriguing performances that have audiences questioning whether they really are victims or should be locked up for life.

Whereas Dahmer felt like it was often trying to instil pure horror in its viewers, this new series tries to get people more swept up in the scandal of it all.

It has certainly been softened compared to Dahmer, perhaps as a result of some of the backlash, but a warning that the Lyle and Erik Menendez story still carries an R18+ rating and a justified one at that.

At this stage, it is too early to say how the series will hold up in the long term.

With a subject matter as confronting as this, it takes a few years for audiences to properly digest it.

Regardless, the wild success of this new installment in the true-crime canon proves there is more of a morbid appetite for it than ever before.