Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

Yes, the title has been claimed to be a bit 'click-baity.' You're probably thinking you're going to be watching the most hardcore and depraved film ever made. Well... you're not, but that doesn't mean that it's not worth a watch.

It's the - sort of - biography of real life seventies serial killer, Ted Bundy. And, if you're interested in his life then this is definitely going to interest you. Plus it has the - quite bankable - Zac Efron as the titular killer, Bundy and this is where the film starts to draw criticism from some people. They say that, because of Efron's natural good looks and charm, he draws quite a lot of sympathy towards the crazed killer. This may be true, however it's also worth noting that the real life Bundy was also considered attractive and it was his natural charm that allowed him such easy access to his unsuspecting victims, so, in my opinion, the casting is spot on.

In fact, it's Efron that steals the show in his portrayal of the psychopath and this is definitely one for his acting C.V. Now, back to the title again. I've watched other films about Ted Bundy and they were pretty strong stuff, all choosing to show his hideous kills and various crimes. In 'Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile,' unless I'm much mistaken, you don't actually see a single kill. Whereas most other biopics start with the crimes and progress to show Bundy's capture and imprisonment etc, this one pretty much starts off with him getting arrested and the rest is the subsequent trial. Therefore, anyone expecting gore and violence will be sorely let down by the title.

The rest of the cast all play their parts well, including Lily Collins as Bundy's conflicted (main) love interest, plus John Malkovich shows up in the final third as a judge in Bundy's trial. From what I understand the film-makers have done their best to portray the events pretty accurately, even going as far as to recreate photos from Bundy's life and also copy parts of the dialogue from public appearances word for word.

So, as I say, if you're into real life killers and/or Zac Efron then you're in for a real treat here. However, if you're looking for kills and gore then you're not going to find it here.

As many others have stated, this isn't a film about Ted Bundy on one of his murdering sprees. This is about Bundy himself and how he made his way in the world. Someone said at one point they found themselves rooting for him. I never did, but that's because at my age, it's hard to fool me after all the phonies I've met.

Some people will be disappointed because we didn't get to see all the horror he visited on women, but it was a refreshing change of emphasis here.

To see the young women salivating over him in the courtroom, cheering him on, was both shocking and expected. Real footage was used. I remember women doing that over the Menendez brothers.

Part of it is the old takeoff on a Geraldo Show - "Men in Prison and the Women Who Love Them," a phenomenon that happens time and time again. With Bundy, because he was particularly good-looking, it was an even stronger reaction.

Zac Efron is a favorite of mine -he resembles my favorite classic film star, Tyrone Power, and I thought he captured the charm and personality of a whack job really well. Lily Collins is terrific as his girlfriend. Both of these actors are growing into exceptional performers.

In the end "Extremely Wicked" makes a sad statement. Good looks. Confidence, and charm will bring you a long way in this world. We've seen it too often. It's time to start looking at people's souls. The external is, after all, only that.

I love the cast but I think if you want to watch the movie dont watch the Ted Bundy tapes 1st. Watch them after then you will like the movie. As I believe it is told mostly from Elizabeth's point of view. I saw the tapes first then the movie. So I kept scrutinizing the whole time or waiting to see scenes that didnt come up here.

Otherwise great work . Zack and Lilly were great as usual.

There's something about serial killers that we as an audience find undeniably fascinating. I don't really know what it is, other than putting yourself in a world that 99% of us will never come close to. Ted Bundy's story is among America's most notorious, vile, evil, and wicked. However, the film never dives deep enough to give the audience that type of reaction. And you can make the argument that doing so would be exploitive and off putting, and your more than likely right, but I expected to be more unsettled by Zac Efron's turn as Ted Bundy. The last 20 minutes are really well handled though, especially as Lily Collins' 'Liz Kendall' finally begins to invite us into her psyche, but perhaps all too late. Perhaps a story like this does ultimately work much better in a TV series/Documentary format. - i.e. the Netflix one earlier this year.

6.4/10

People forget that Ted Bundy had a plea bargain for only life in prison with no death penalty. He refused it at the last minute which shocked the judge. I still like the 2002 Bundy film with Michael Reilly Burke who also did a great portrayal of Bundy. This is Zac's serious role for once and shows he is a great actor unlike some of his poor comedies.