Our society craves the gruesome details of true crime. Television shows, movies, books and podcasts all get produced to feed America’s fascination with true crime. Serial killers who killed dozens of people, will, years later, get even more attention than they did when they were murdering in cold blood. It’s like a bad car crash: You just can’t look away.
The latest fix? Ted Bundy. Zac Efron plays the notoriously handsome killer in “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.” It’s feature length film that first premiered at Sundance Film Festival, just premiered at The Tribeca Film Festival, and comes out on Netflix on Friday, May 3rd.
From 1974 to 1978, Ted Bundy murdered at least 30 young women across seven states, including Washington, Utah and Florida. For over a decade, Bundy denied his crimes. Bundy didn’t confess to his crimes until shortly before he was executed by the state of Florida.
The film is shown through the perspective of Bundy’s longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth “Liz” Kendall, played by Lily Collins. The script was adapted from Liz’s book “The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy,” which came out in 1981.
Ted and Liz met at a college bar in Seattle, quickly falling head over heels with each other. The first half of the film follows the couple’s, at first, seemingly happy relationship.But over the years, Bundy begins to catch law enforcement’s attention, causing a rift in their romance. Bundy was first accused of a kidnapping and, later, murder.
As time goes on, the charges get more and more serious, causing Bundy to give up his life with Liz and spend his days in prisons waiting for his next trial. This phase of Bundy’s life is shown in the second half of the film. One thing is certain: Bundy’s believes he’s innocent and needs to convince everyone he’s innocent. For years, Liz believes him. She’s confused: Is the kind, loving and charming man that raised her daughter with her actually Wicked and Evil? Throughout his many trials, Bundy never pleads guilty, despite the evidence against him growing increasingly substantial.
Through the course of the film, the viewer hardly sees Bundy being violent. We only hear about the details of the evidence, followed by Bundy’s plea of innocence. This plays in Ted Bundy’s favor. The jury, and at some points even Bundy’s judge, and the audience of the film are captivated by Bundy’s good looks and charm. A well-dressed and personable man, with a compelling smile. The audience at Bundy’s trials were filled with young women who felt the same way. They were attracted to this evil man, the same way society is so intrigued with the details of story of the true crime.
It’s important that we as viewers don’t let Bundy’s good looks outweigh his crimes against women. The violence wasn’t the focus of the film, but it should be the first thing noted when talking about Ted Bundy. Charming or not, this man was a serial killer.
Not seeing any first hand violence from Bundy is exactly what it was like for Liz. For years, she didn’t want to believe what the trials were saying. She didn’t want to believe the evidence.
The highlight of movie was Efron’s performance. Efron was so convincing as Bundy, particularly in his media and courtroom appearances. He worked the jury and the judge. The judge even told Bundy it would be an honor to have him work as an attorney under him. Most importantly, Ted Bundy charmed 30+ women, which led to their demise.
To see Zac Efron as Ted Bundy you can watch “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” on Netflix starting May 3.
Sammi Fisher is the former Editor-in-Cheif & Senior Editor of the New School Free Press. Prior, she spent a year as the Arts & Culture Editor.
