Lizzie Borden Took an Ax

Sometimes slasher flick, sometimes courtroom drama, this Lizzie is a cynically dark, shamefully fun account of an all-American crime.

Christina Ricci does a haunting turn as notorious hatchet swinger Lizzie Borden.

Lizzie Borden Took An Ax: Christina Ricci gave some whacks; and when it all was said and done, it was in fact quite creepy fun.

After hewing reasonably close to the record, at least for the trial, the film goes off the rails in its postscript.

[Ricci] 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.

It’s just a period horror story starring Wednesday Addams as the high-strung monster from the playground jumping-rope rhyme, with costumes and furnishings (and a general lack of extras) that suggest a high-school play.

Oddly constructed, Lifetime’s latest attempt to produce TV movies with more edge isn’t exactly razor-sharp, but strictly based on its camp factor, Lizzie should get the job done.

The movie itself apparently isn’t sure the murders themselves are lurid enough. So it adds a few things that didn’t happen, plus some 21st-century music.

Both actors [Gregg Henry and Billy Campbell] do their level best, as does Clea DuVall as Lizzie's dubious but loyal sister Emma. But they all seem to be participating in a very different movie from Ricci, who flounces, flops and smiles knowingly but offers no insight against the pounding backbeat, like a CW heroine slumming it on Lifetime.

Rather than interest you in Lizzie Borden’s chapter in the history of American criminal justice, the movie makes it all seem hollow and unworthy of persisting in cultural memory for as long as it has.