Alptraum des Grauens

Considerably above average for a TV made-for. There may be factual changes but to someone not familiar with the details of Bundy's career, they can't be too damaging. And the film sort of stands by itself as a craftsmanlike piece of work on the part of just about everyone concerned with it. Marvin Chomsky directed with economy and efficiency, except perhaps for a bit too much complaining and self-pity on the part of police officers.

He was faced with a problem, namely that viewers already knew how the story "came out," and has at least made an attempt at heightening the suspense by showing only Bundy's shoes plodding along the dark streets before each murder, until his last awful blood feast, when we see his face twisted with passion. Mark Harmon, who elsewhere gives performances that an especially handsome mannequin could turn in, is surprisingly good. He has that phony self-revealing charm, that fleeting smile, that serves as a mask of sanity. He also gives a bang-on definition of "sociopath" to Dick Larson on the other side of the prison bars.

There is some disagreement among knowledgeable visitors to the courtroom when in the course of defending himself Bundy begins to choke up with emotion. "What a performance," mutters one of the cops. "Or maybe," says Larson, "he really is feeling the suffering himself." Well, Dick -- sorry, but the cop was right. It isn't that sociopaths (or anti-social personality disorder, unsocialized type, as they're now called) don't feel their own suffering; it's just that it's fleeting. (There is a pattern that appears in responses to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory that is known to clinicians as "the caught psychopath" pattern.)

There's a lot of depression, yes, but it disappears quickly because sociopaths are so adaptable, so good at exploiting their environments. Bundy is shown constantly cadging butts from friendly visitors. A good sociopath would care much more about the cigarettes than the affection they're getting.

Serial killers (the term didn't really exist until about the time Bundy appeared on the scene) are intrinsically fascinating because there is no part of most of us that can begin to understand their motives. Most homicides take place between friends and relatives. We murder them because they are in a position to hurt us. We value their opinions of us. But the ghastly murder of one stranger after another leaves us stunned. We can't identify ourselves with the killer and we are in awe of someone who has so abused the ritual codes of the communities we draw our shared identities from. It's like mother-son incest.

The pop stuff about Bundy going to Florida because he wanted to be caught and punished is a lot of bunkum. And I always wonder, when I read books or see movies about guys like this, how they get around the way they do? Let's see. Bundy squeezes out of his cell somewhere in the mountains of Colorado. There is a glimpse of him striding through O'Hare in Chicago. Then he turns up in Talahassee, Florida. He escaped with nothing more than the clothes on his back. How did he get from Colorado to Florida in the total absence of material resources? How could he buy a new wardrobe? How could he plunk down a month's rent on a room, plus one month's deposit?

A footnote: When Lisa Birnbach was doing interviews for her College Book in the early 1980s, virtually none of the students at FSU, including members of the sorority that the victims had belonged to, knew who Ted Bundy was. Sic transit gloria Bundi.

A note to any wannabe actors: study Mark Harmon's performance heavily here. You will learn all the tricks to being sauve, slick, sinister and charming. Unfortunately, the part had to be inspired by real events, of 70's wacko Ted Bundy. Masquerading as a law student with a talent of attracting girls seemingly in every port, a different man takes over at night as Harmon stalks and kills young women. This element of the film got a bit redundant after awhile, and really isn't the key. Neither is the endless policework that can be seen weekly on every prime-time cop show. It's Harmon's way of double-talking his girlfriends, and especially, the police. Watching Harmon's scenes on the witness stand or in the questioning room of the police station are your chance to watch a total pro at work. And the actors portraying the cops aren't slouches either. Tons of veterans like M. Emmett Walsh, Frederic Forest and John Ashton are featured. And a very effective performance from unknown journeyman actor George Grizzard, as Bundy's only friend through it all. He comes off very likable as the guy who just can't bring himself to condemn this young buck he admires. The two or three actresses featured here and there do ok as well. The only mis-step for the film is the majorly overdone, if still somewhat creepy music score. It gets a bit B-movie at times, but it adds to the eerieness of the film's tone. Though at 3 hours (4 if you're watching with commercials) it grips you from start to finish. But the real draw, most notably for aspiring actors, is to forget classes and watch Mark Harmon put on a clinic for performing.

Mark Harmon gives a chilling performance as Serial killer Ted Bundy in this 1986 TV movie that played over two nights. Harmon at the time was known for his role on the TV series St. Elsewhere and probably relished playing such a dark character. The movie focuses more on the victims families and the police detectives fight to bring him to justice. There is not any details about his childhood and why he became the monster he became except to say he was cold blooded sociopath who could appear as the guy next door. The police detectives must have thought they were chasing a supernatural phantom as Bundy managed to escape from custody twice. Bundy was eventually caught in 1979 and later executed in Florida in 1989. The movie is now available on DVD from Warner Brothers Archive Collection from Amazon.com and it looks great!! Also check out the True crime TV movies A Killer In The Family and The Deadly Tower on Warner DVD.

If you want to see the most detailed film on Bundy, especially as an adult during his crime spree, then this just over 3 hour, two part TV movie is still without a doubt the best bet. It doesn't detail or show much of his crimes, the scene usually cuts just before the crime, but that's how 80's TV movies usually dealt with the extreme. The film though does show many of Bundy's personal relationships and real nuances more than any other recreation I've seen. Harmon's Golden Globe nominated performance is perhaps the closest anyone has ever come to matching the real Bundy personaS, as multiple as they were. The film details quite well the cunning subtle manipulative aspects of Ted. Bringing girls he had safe relationships with to parties with connected community people, making a friendly, smiley appearance and then quickly taking off. Like a politician, just gradually working everybody little by little, until hopefully one day he could use them for his gain. He was a Psych major, a Law student and a person who had considered getting into politics. Bundy is the type of serial killer that interests me because he was smart. Most serial killers in history, the ones that have been caught at least, were not very intelligent people. There are of course quite a few exceptions, but it is true that predominantly most come from abusive backgrounds, with little money, and have less than average intelligence. It's just a fact. Bundy as well as most of the more interesting serial killers in history, definitely defy those often common factors, especially when it comes to intelligence. This film is pretty standard in it's delivery, but quite detailed and well acted, so very worth the watch. This account was actually praised for how close to fact it was when it came out. The amount of things they have right is pretty impressive, especially when you consider that when this film came out, Bundy still had not even confessed to even one of the murders on record. However the evidence was staggering. As it is well said in this film, the guy could in his mind rationalize anything. The only big knock I have against the film really is the terrible 80's musical score. Thankfully they didn't flood the film with too, too much of it. Just enough to make you very sure you hate it. 7.5/10.

Many of the books and movies about Bundy out there often focuses mainly on the serial killer himself. This movie is no exception, but - it also shows us how the victim's family and the detectives are affected by his horrendous acts. Surely not enough is being told about each of the victims (Ann Rule however does a good job of this in her book), but it is the one movie so far that gives some acknowledgement to them. And otherwise it is a good movie, script, casting, acting and staying to the facts. They do not explicitly show the murders - unlike the movie "Bundy", which btw is awful - and this is a good thing as we are capable of realising the monster he was but not having to feed into the misogynistic viewings that often show women being hurt. It does a great job of balancing telling the story of the victims and their killer in a truthful way without being gruesome and disrespectful to the victims.