Zac Efron's Ted Bundy Film EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL AND VILE Is for True Crime Enthusiasts - Sundance Review
One of my most anticipated films at Sundance this year was Zac Efron’s Ted Bundy movie Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. For years I’ve been fascinated by the subject matter of serial killers, and Ted Bundy has always been one of more of the interesting ones because of his likeable personality.
While I liked the movie, it wasn’t the film that I was hoping for. It’s not the kind of movie that I thought it would be. It mostly focused on the relationship that Bundy had with the woman he was spending time with when he was caught. This is the same woman who turned him in. In the process, it follows the events of his arrests and everything that happened through his trial.
You can see all of the real footage of the trials online because the whole thing was televised. That real footage is much more interesting to watch than the dramatization of it. In fact, that new Netflix series The Ted Bundy Tapes will give you the best rundown of Ted Bundy that you can watch.
I know this may sound kind of demented, but I was hoping that it would dramatize Bundy’s grisly killing spree, more like David Fincher’s Zodiac. But regardless, Efron was great in the role. He gave an impressive performance, and I thought that he was perfect as Bundy. He even had some similarities in his look. I just think it should have have been a differently focused movie. This played out more like a Lifetime original movie with big stars and good acting.
I know a lot of people aren’t happy that Efron is playing this character because some people don’t think it’s right to over-sexualize the character because he raped and murdered a lot of women, which I understand, but at the same time, it was his good looks and charm that helped him do his disturbing and deadly deeds.
The movie also stars Lily Collins as the single mother Liz Kloepfer, whom Bundy was in a relationship with for years in the movie.
A picture of domestic bliss, the happy couple seems to have it all figured out … until, out of nowhere, their perfect life is shattered. Ted is arrested and charged with a series of increasingly grisly murders. Concern soon turns to paranoia—and, as evidence piles up, Liz is forced to consider that the man with whom she shares her life could actually be a psychopath.
The movie comes from true-crime documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger, and if you’re interested in Ted Bundy’s story or a true crime enthusiast then this is a movie you might want to check out.
