Review of Lizzie Borden Took an Ax (2014) by Bumblebee Z — 27 Mar 2017

I've been a fan of Christina Ricci since The Addams Family, and she was the reason I saw this movie. She's perfect in the role of a campy evil character. Her acting was as good and as fun to watch as ever. She does a great job playing the title character as a cunning sociopath. How much that resembles the real historical Lizzie Borden is more than I can say, but I would not mistake this movie as a documentary.

As a period drama, this movie looks very good. Though it's a little slow, I was never bored.

I would suggesting reading the overview of the historical murder in Wikipedia to help separate fact from fiction. In many ways this is an interesting dramatization, but it does embellish the story.

The one thing I didn't like about this movie was the really obnoxious, bizarrely anachronistic country rock sound track. Listening to too-loud twangy rock while watching characters go about their business in an 1892 period drama was just so weird. At times I thought they were using that music to try to appeal to a teenage audience, and at times I thought they were using it to try to make Lizzie Borden seem like a modern sociopathic murderer, a century ahead of her time. I would have preferred period music as faithful as the costumes and set design, which were well done.

If you like Christina Ricci, and you like period dramas, see it!