The Black Mass

Ted Bundy and the sorority house.... That's this film.

The first 50-55 minutes is rather boring. Filmed as if you are mouse sitting on Bundy's shoulder - listening to his conversations on the phone, watching as he stalks the women in the sorority house... really rather boring, and drab, just an odd voyeuristic approach. There's zero character development for any character in this film.

At around 55 minutes it gets very brutal and violent. And is conveyed as fairly realistic overall. Rather disturbing in general.

The last 10 minutes is pretty poorly acted police footage outside the house... then past newsreel footage of Bundy in court.

I couldn't really recommend this to anyone.

It wasn't enjoyable as a film... it might be somewhat interesting given the speculation of what happened in the sorority house if one has some sense of morbid curiosity. But as "entertainment" not so much. Has an air of a "snuff film" really. It's not horror or thriller.. it's just brutal violence based on real life... almost exploitive given there were real, undeserving, innocent, victims. It's not at all a condemnation of Bundy as a person or his horrific actions.

Ok so do you know when you get those immediate thoughts before seeing a horror flick "I just know this is gonna be really bad"? That is pretty much the exact feelings you will have when you finish The Black Mass.

Not only have we seen Ted Bundy portrayed so many times before that his story is now extremely repetitive. This goes to the next level and for starters is filmed in perhaps 3 backdrops for the entire movie.

You could be mistaken for calling this movie Ted and the Sorority house. 24 Hours of Ted, or even Ted's five seconds of sickening mayhem.

Meant to be a homage for the victims of Ted Bundy more than anything else. The film is one that had no real value being made. There is not only nothing new here, but you will feel kinda sad watching Ted stalk and then bludgeon young girls to near death in a pretty sickening five to ten minute attack that seems to be the foundations of this entire movie In a nutshell. Other sequences of him imagining a girl ripping open her flesh before him giving himself pleasure are purely odd, and uncomfortable

Again the cover art on the DVD made it look like a slasher/killer teen flick taking place in an isolated cabin. But as soon as you know what the story is about then that was my time to leave it on the shelf, and slowly walk away.

Thankfully the positive reprieve is the bleak seventy minute runtime because honesty there isn't and substance other than watching a deranged man get the chance to live out his sick and twisted fantasies for this brief period.

The is nothing new you will learn and a story that has been regurgitated to the point of looking like colourless, odourless "mass" that begins to fester please I feel I write this review to save your time after I clearly wasted mine.

1/10.

I watched it without knowing anything about the plot. I thought this is a "mindless fun" slasher movie. It's not. There is nothing enjoyable here, too bleak/sad/disturbing. This is how serial killer Ted Bundy spent a day of his life, having a psychotic break. There are positive things here, i mean, this movie takes you to a journey into Bundy's mind. Camera focuses on the victims, not him, but there is nothing voyeuristic here. It's just raw and real. This movie doesn't glorify serial killers as many other movies do. It shows you the truth, the ugliness, nothing charming here, it's a movie about the victims not the monsters. It made me uncomfortable to say the least. And i didn't like it, i was not ready for this. It looked more like a documentary or like a FOUND FOOTAGE than a "normal" movie. It gets a bit satisfying in the end, when it shows some shots from the actual Bundy trial. But overall, it was too disturbing for me.

There is zero entertainment value here but if you find it interesting as it was described, you might like it more than me. It's a journey into the heart of darkness. I got goosebumbs when i realise what the title THE BLACK MASS actually means. It's not a sick movie like so many movies, it doesn't "idolize" serial killers and that's a good thing but still, if i knew what this is about, i would have never watched it.

Ted Bundy seems to live on forever as an inspiration for both books and movies. I recently finished my twenty-fourth book on the serial killer. Kathy Kleiner-Rubin survived a brutal attack at FSU in January of 1978 and filled in the past forty-five years of her life after surviving the assault.

We see Ted shaving in a mirror at the start while mumbling incoherently. He then heads off in his car of choice, the VW Beetle, to a spot near a house where high school girls are having a cheerleading practice on a front lawn.

Mr. Bundy is later seen at a sorority house peeking through the windows while the girls discuss their various problems. At a bathroom window, the peeping Tom watches one of the girls undressing and we get a fantasy sequence with Teddy bloodying up the young lady.

In the early morning hours, the script is fairly accurate in the portrayal of the Chi Omega murders. The film ends abruptly with a description of his final murder. The names are changed and real life footage is used with clips which have been seen many times by anyone interested in the story.

Instead of this movie, I recommend No Man of God, the best of all the Bundy features.

I went in thinking this would be a campy slasher set in the time period that inspired it. Nope. This is a legitimately disturbing serial killer movie.

The soundtrack is of the era and upbeat enough to disarm the audience. The pace is slow, methodical, everything framed from the perspective of a man unnamed for the majority of the runtime. We get to know a group of college girls as he stalks them. The camera peers over his shoulder as he spies on them through their windows. Its all pretty uncomfortable stuff even before the inevitable killings.

I watched this at a small film festival at my local town and out of all the new films they showed, this is the one that really got under my skin. When the violence does finally occur it is blunt, ugly, unstylised and entirely believable. Not entertaining but excruciating. The film allows the audience to sympathise with these girls, but the voyeuristic camera work makes us an accomplice in the atrocities against them. A proper serial killer flick that leaves you feeling nasty. Not an easy watch.

Recommended for fans of Henry: Portait of a Serial Killer (1986), Angst (1983), and The Golden Glove (2019).