Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)

Directed by Joe Berlinger

Starring Zac Efron, Lily Collins, Kaya Scodelario and John Malkovich.

I was so excited to watch this film, so you can imagine my disappointment when the only positive thing about this film was the acting.

I really struggled to focus whilst watching this film. The beginning of the film where they were setting everything up for Bundy to be arrested for the first time felt very rushed. This then completely threw me off and made it even more difficult to focus. I do question, if I perhaps had not watched the Ted Bundy Tapes documentary on Netflix, I may have enjoyed the film more because then, I would not have known Ted Bundy’s storyline before hand. I would have only known that he was America’s most notorious serial killer.

Most critics are praising Efron's performance as the only positive factor of the film, and while his performance was excellent. I feel like they didn’t change his appearance enough, throughout the film, to show Bundy’s terrifying ability to drastically change his appearance to escape suspicion. The filmmakers could have gone into so much more detail with Efron’s character, but failed to do so in what seems like a fear of glamorising the crimes Bundy committed.

While I agree with some that Collins role seemed to be a bit reduced, I really think she did an excellent job, for me she stole every scene she was in.  Kaya Scodelario’s performance as Carol-Anne, for me was absolutely chilling, she really was believable in her ability to portray a woman who solely believed that Bundy was innocent.    

I understand that there is a difficulty to making sure you do not create a film which glamorizes Ted Bundy and the horrific crimes that he committed, the film still felt like it missed the mark. It lacks focus, it spends so much time recreating events that are already public record, that the fresh perspective that it is trying to give us gets lost in the vage narrative it has provided.

To summarise, the acting may have been brilliant, the lack of focus and vage storyline creates one very overhyped but ultimately rather boring film.

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