Taken all together, Lizzie Borden Took an Axe is unsatisfying on
every level. It doesn’t dig deep enough to make Borden a deliciously
evil villain that still inspires some loyalty, like Hannibal Lecter or
Joe Carroll. The procedural elements detailing the trial amount to
dueling monologues from the prosecution and defense, making them more
dry than dramatic. (And shallow, too: You see the hoards of press and
gawkers at the trial, but their impact is never explored.) It doesn’t
shed any new light on the century-old case. And the camp doesn’t go
over-the-top enough to fulfill any kind of cheesy midnight-movie
craving.