As pretty much anyone will tell you, true crime and serial killers are having a real moment right now. Everyone and anyone is listening to true crime podcasts, watched the latest Netflix series, even Channel 9 has got on board. But arguably there are no serial killers more iconic than that of Ted Bundy.
Bundy has really come into his own this year. 2019 marks 30 years since he was put to death, and to honour that, he’s been talked about more this year than he has since he was at large. Enter the new biopic starring Zac Efron, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile.
Zac Efron flexes his acting chops as Ted Bundy in the new biopic about the killer, which is a pleasant and unnerving change from his usual type of flex.
At first, the choice of Zefron to play the prolific murderer might seem a strange choice. He is after all known as a teen heartthrob (turned adult heartthrob). But that’s why it’s such perfect casting. Bundy himself often used seduction and charm to lure his victims to their violent and brutal deaths.
And one look at the trailer will tell you that Efron possesses the uncanny and unsettling ability to expertly skate the line between drop-your-pants charming, and shit-your-pants terrifying. Which in my opinion only makes Ted Bundy’s true threat all the more terrifying.
The film follows the story of the Ted Bundy murders and trial from the perspective of his longtime partner Elizabeth Kloepfer, played by Lily James. What starts as a love story quickly devolves into the horror she must have lived as her suspicions grew. The film finally crescendos as Kloepfer’s fear and guilt over what the man she loved did to those women becomes all-encompassing.
Set for release on May 3rd on Netflix, Extremely Wicked was directed by Joe Berlinger, who also created the documentary The Ted Bundy Tapes also available on Netflix.
Watch the trailer below, feel the chills, and get excited. I know I am.
