Once again, Ryan Murphy has made his murderer too hot.

There's one thing Ryan Murphy is known for and that's making murder a little too sexy.

Murphy and Ian Brennan's latest season Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, focuses on the Menendez brothers, who were convicted in 1996 for the murders of their parents, José and Mary Louise 'Kitty' Menendez.

Watch the trailer here. Post continues after video.

And look, it's a very complicated and layered story, but I've got to say: I'm much more attracted to Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez's portrayal of Lyle and Erik Menendez than I feel I should be.

The Menendez brothers are extremely sexy in this show. Like, I swear in every second scene before they are arrested, they're either topless or in the shower or pool. It's a lot!

This is not all that surprising.

Take a look at the promo image which looks more like a high-fashion underwear campaign than a TV show about two murders.

Is this a TV show about murder or a men's cologne campaign? Image: Netflix.

And I'm not alone.

The internet has gone truly wild with people thirsting over these characters.

Erik has loads of fan edits just like this.

@han.fx

why is he so beautifully handsome (editing the actor, not the “character”!!!!!)#cooperkoch#monstersnetflix#erikmenendez#menendezbrothers#fyp#foryou#cooperkochedit#viral

♬ original sound - HAN

And don't get me started on Lyle, an even more sinister character in the series, who has too many fan edits on TikTok to count.

This is one video set to the soundtrack of Kylie Minogue's 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head'. It has more than 5 million views.

@alexslly

(editing the actor), thank you so much for the 277K! #lylemenendez #menendezbrothers #monstersnetflix #fyp

♬ sonido original - AL3J4NDR0

Some videos are deeply unserious, like this 'prison core' video of Erik who is, reminder, a convicted murderer.

@zizzyloon

He had my dying #menendezbrothers #erikmenendez #monstersshow #monstersnetflix #lyleanderikmenendez #fyp #cooperkochedit #cooperkoch

♬ original sound - Lala

I'm sure most of these videos are made more about the actors themselves —who are both incredible in the series — than the characters, but there's still a lingering desire for the men in the audience's response that feels weird.

Are they supposed to be monsters and not sex symbols?

In season two, the lines are a little blurrier over who exactly the titular 'monsters' are in the story and whether they should receive disdain or sympathy.

Many viewers would argue that the real 'monsters' in the series are the parents who allegedly sexually abused their sons, José and Kitty, played by Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny.

The casting of two fresh-faced young actors in contrast with Bardem and Sevigny, two actors known for playing darker roles, definitely lends itself to this theory.

It's worth noting that José and Kitty don't get sexy edits in the show.

Javier Bardem is the opposite of sexy in this. Image: Getty.

Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter that the series sought to explore "all points of view" in the episodes.

"Two things can be true at the same time. I think they could have killed their parents, and also had been abused. They could have been of ambiguous moral character as young people, and be rehabilitated now."

The series leans into the ambiguity of who the real monsters are.

"I think Cooper and Nicholas are much more empathetic toward the Menendez brothers than I am," Murphy told THR.

"We will never know if they told the truth, we will never know if they were sexually abused for sure. We will never know if the parents were the monsters."

But whether Murphy wants to label them monsters or not, the brothers are still the focus of the series (called Monsters), they did murder their parents, and they still received a very sexy edit.

This isn't the first time that Murphy and Brennan have been accused of turning murderers into sex symbols.

On the first season that told the story of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, the casting of internet crush Evan Peters was an interesting choice. While his acting chops are impressive, there's no denying he makes a very hot murderer.

One of the biggest criticisms was that the show romanticised the 'monster' it portrayed.

It’s okay to praise Evan Peters for his performance, he is a brilliant actor. BUT DO NOT ROMANTICIZE HIM IN THE ROLE AS JEFFREY DAHMER. #DahmerNetflix

— hot girl jo (@sicssorluv) September 21, 2022

This felt wildly tone-deaf considering the seriousness of Dahmer's crimes.

Between 1978 and 1991, Dahmer tortured, murdered and dismembered 17 boys and men, mostly targeting Black men with the killer engaging in necrophilia and cannibalism.

But there is a case to argue that Monsters is simply reflecting the culture it portrays. Whether morally right or not, the Menendez brothers and Dahmer were both subjects of intense adoration from female fans.

The '90s were a weird time in celebrity culture and it's a time both Murphy and Brennan seem fascinated by in the Monsters anthology.

After his arrest in 1991, Dahmer had a legion of devoted women falling at his feet. A year earlier, the Menendez brothers were arrested and similarly had loads of women sending in 'fan mail' to share their sympathies throughout their trials.

This isn't just the case with the stories Murphy explores.

It happened with Zac Efron's turn playing Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. A lot of viewers couldn't get over how attracted they were to Efron in this role, which for better or worse, did reflect the odd cultural fascination women had with the serial killer in his time.

Bundy's looks were a big part of his allure for his victims, which explained casting one of the world's biggest heartthrobs in the role.

So yes, Evan Peters, Cooper Koch and Nicholas Chavez are potentially too sexy to be playing the types of characters to be abhorred, but they do represent a larger problem in the ways murderers were glorified in the past.

The real-life Menendez brothers were tabloid sensations. Image: Netflix.

But wait, what about season three? This is where things get troubling.

Murphy has announced that Ed Gein is the next 'monster' and the actor who will play him is (surprise, surprise) another heartthrob: Sons of Anarchy's verified hottie, Charlie Hunnam.

You may be wondering: was Ed Gein another serial killer who had women under his spell for his good looks and charisma?

Absolutely not. This is a man known as the 'Butcher of Plainfield' who snatched women's dead bodies from cemeteries.

He confessed to killing two women in 1957 and when police searched his home, they found his 'house of horrors' was decorated with the skin, bones, nipples and teeth of dead bodies.

Ryan Murphy, this is not a time to be sexy.

If there's one season that the 'monster' needs to be utterly sexless, it's this one. Your turn, Murphy.

In the meantime, I'll be trying to tilt my algorithm away from Lyle Menendez's topless fan edits because I feel very odd.

Feature image: Netflix.