I’m not quite sure why Lifetime felt compelled to commission a movie about the infamous Lizzie Borden case, save for the chance to have star Christina Ricci pose with a bloody ax and/or include the movie’s clever tagline: “It’s Time to Bury the Hatchet.” So kudos for that.
But once you get past those two elements, there’s not a whole lot to recommend “Lizzie Borden Took An Ax,” premiering Saturday night on Lifetime. I could understand if the movie offered a different take on the familiar case: That on a hot August day in 1892, Andrew Borden and his second wife, Abby, were slaughtered with an ax in their Fall River, Mass. house (she upstairs, he downstairs) — with Andrew’s daughter, 32-year-old spinster Lizzie, charged with the horrific murders.
Borden’s trial was one of the first “tabloid,” circus-like media spectacles in US history, and her subsequent acquittal — the (all-male) jury felt a woman could never commit such a heinous act — left many unanswered questions about the case, none of which are answered here.
Futhermore, the movie is underscored by a raucous, heavy-metal soundtrack — and lots of slow-motion photography — which makes it feel more like an episode of “Elementary” or “Headbangers Ball” than a mature, dramatic take on what Lifetime itself calls the Borden parents’ “brutal murder.” Add in the social media element — Twitter hashtags #LizzieIsInnocent and #LizzieIsGuilty — and you’ve got the recipe for a sophomoric sojourn into mediocre melodrama.
Ricci, who starred in ABC’s short-lived “Pan Am” a few seasons back, is a seasoned, respected actress, but doesn’t add much depth here to her TV portrayal of Lizzie, a rebellious sort (she steals from her stepmother and barks at her strict father) living in a stifling, emotionless house with her sister, Emma. Blame some of that on the movie’s writing. “I’ve always wanted more — more than she’s wanted,” Lizzie says of her older sister. When Emma leaves to visit a friend who’s just had a baby, we know something is about to happen at home . . . because it’s telegraphed by Lizzie: “Sometimes I have a feeling that something terrible is going to happen there,” she says about the Borden house. Ya think? Oh, and then she gives her cold-fish father a long, hard hug — just so we’re sure we’re about to see an glinting ax and lots of gushing blood.
Lizzie comes across more as a whiny, moody teen than a psychotic murderess, and Ricci is much-too-attractive to play the dowdy, crazy-eyed Lizzie familiar from those faded black-and-white photos (just sayin’).
What I did find interesting in “Lizzie Borden Took An Ax” is the narrative attention paid to Emma Borden, mostly an afterthought in the numerous retellings of the whole sordid saga (some even consider her a suspect in the murders, even though she wasn’t home at the time). Played by Clea DuVall (“Argo”), Emma supports her accused sister throughout the trial — even lies on the witness stand for Lizzie — but you know that, beneath her seemingly unwavering veneer, she has just the faintest pang of doubt about La Liz’s innocence.
The ubiquitous Billy Campbell is also on hand for a forgettable turn as Lizzie’s lawyer, Jennings, and the movie shows its hand in the final scene, which tries to tie up all the loose ends in a (bloody) bow — but doesn’t leave much of a lasting impact.