Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Lizzie’ (2012)

Written by Scott Edwards 

​When looking up some of history’s greatest murder cases, you will always find the one about Lizzy Borden. Even though the old nursery rhyme tells the story about what happened in the Borden house so many years ago, many people do not understand the significance of it. Although Lizzy Borden was acquitted from the charges of murdering her parents, everyone still believes that she did commit them, but she was able to live out the rest of her life, prison free. 

Lizzy Allen is having a hard time coping with the rapid changes in her life. Although she is seeking counseling from Dr. Fredricks, she does not seem to be getting any better. Having nightmares and daydreams about her past, she is still not willing to open up about what happened to her so many years ago as a little girl. Fredricks has been trying his hardest to get Lizzy to come clean about what she remembers, but she is still shut down and will not allow her memories to come back. 

Moving back into her childhood home with boyfriend Jason, the nightmares start to get worse instead of better. Not wanting to take the medication that her doctor has prescribed, Lizzy has to try to fight her way free of the terrors in her mind, but when they become too real for her to handle, she decides that being over medicated is the way to clear her head. Being shown images in her mind that are not her own, Lizzy has to go and ask the doctor for more help, but if she does not follow his instructions, her mind will only allow the terrors she sees to get worse.

Lizzie follows Lizzy Allen as she is trying to get her life back on track. Having suffered something traumatic in her childhood, she is not willing to let her memories come back to resolve what actually happened to her. Depending on her boyfriend and therapist for help, Lizzy’s mind shows her scenes of her childhood, along with the images of what happened in her childhood home many years before she was born. Having moved into the Lizzie Borden house as a child, and now living in it as an adult, secrets are unlocked in her mind that would drive anyone mad. Not being able to close her eyes thanks to the images coming to her from her daydreams along with her nightmares, Lizzy has to find a way to cope with them and maintain a normal life.

A dark and twisted film that will leave you wondering what parts actually happened versus what was going on in her mind. It is not a movie for everyone as you have to be willing to watch sections of it over to make sure you understand what is really happening, and if what you’re seeing is in the real world, or the dream world. I rather enjoyed the interactions between Lizzy and her therapist as he tried his hardest to unlock the secrets of her mind. As she is not willing to let her childhood memories come back in the office. Instead, she witnesses them every day and every night all thanks to the wonder of staying within the walls of the Borden house. Stay Scared.

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