Could do with a bit more vitality, but the acting is superb

I knew there was an old axe down cellar; that is all I knew.

• Stefani Koorey quoting Lizzie Borden; The Preliminary Hearing in the Lizzie Borden Case (2005)

Written by Bryce Kass, and directed by Craig William Macneill, Lizzie is based on the cause célèbre of Lizzie Borden (not to be confused with director Lizzie Borden, or extreme porn star/director Lizzy Borden), who was accused and subsequently acquitted of the axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts in 1892, a crime that is stil... read the rest.

Chloë Sevigny is unremarkable here, as the eponymous daughter in the rather oppressive Borden household. When they hire a new maid "Bridget" (Kristen Stewart), the two become friends and as the plot thickens, the renowned story of her axe-wielding and it's aftermath is presented to us. Stewart always comes across for me as a sterile actress; it doesn't matter what part she plays, she always looks completely dead behind the eyes - and in a role, here, that requires a great deal of intensity, she just doesn't deliver. Indeed, much of the entire focus here seems to have less to do with the murders... read the rest.