Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

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.

By now, people know about Ted Bundy and what a monster he was. But people who are saying this movie is boring, I believe they are missing the point. It's not about the Gorey details of his crimes, it's about Bundy's relationship with people and how manipulative he was.

I am a true crime fan and have always considered myself "too smart to fall for such evil", but I have to admit, there were times when I found myself rooting for Ted Bundy and then realized what I was doing. If you let yourself be fully submerged in the movie and toss out any expectations and what you think you know about Ted Bundy, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at what you are able to feel about someone who was a living nightmare. It made me realize why so many women could have actually fallen for Bundy's tricks.

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.

Before watching 'Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile' I knew of Ted Bundy, but I didn't know any details or really have any information or knowledge about his crimes or him as a person. I would suggest that the more you know about him, the less you will enjoy this film. Or at least you will have to enjoy it on a different level. For me this film did something I didn't expect it to do - it made me almost like Bundy. And it also (at least from the point of view the film was coming from) made me question his guilt for a large part of the runtime. This was a quite masterfully put together film.

Firstly, the performances are outstanding across the board. This is the best performance I have ever seen from Zac Efron. As a comedic actor he does very little for me, however this film was proof that as a serious actor he can carry a film entirely on his own. Also Lily Collins impressed me immensely once again. She had already blown me away in 'To the Bone', and once again here (admittedly I didn't actually recognise her due to the normal weight she had in this film) she was captivating to watch every time she was on screen. The final scene these two share together is some acting of the highest quality.

This is not a film that is trying to shock you with grisly murders and over the top characters. It is something very different to that indeed. In fact in terms of action there is almost none, however the 110 minute runtime flies by. The pacing is exquisite, mostly because the dialogue is so well written. I'll be honest, this film caught me off guard by how good it was. If you're on the edge about seeing it, please do. You'll be very happy you did.

Even if the main particularity of Ted Bundy is indisputably a disconcerting desire for exceptionally barbaric murders, the movie focuses on an unusual seduction ability thanks to a charismatic eloquence and an extraordinary IQ, and then two women who loved him, Liz Kendall and Carole Anne Boone. Indeed, the film does not really deal with the police investigation and modestly eludes the macabre scenes of crimes, but, on the contrary, it highlights the duality of the monster: an odd mix of a successful womanizer and an accomplished serial killer, of Casanova and Jack the ripper, or an unexpected materialization of Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face, the fictional super-villain appearing in comic books published by DC, a criminal obsessed with duality and the conflict between good and evil.

Thus, although Ted Bundy appears or seems 'lovable' in some of the first scenes, the movie depicts us, during the second half, a pathetic seducer of any individual within his tiny environment (the journalists, the jurors, the judge, the audience, ...), able to arrogantly smile like a politician during an election campaign, and devoid of any respect for the victims. This guy will literally sent chills up your spine. The film sadly ends with an exhaustive list of known victims, and as many bruised families.

Great cast, especially Zac Efron unjustly cataloged with movies for decerebrated teenage girls, and excellently supported by Lily Collins, Kaya Scodelario, Angela Sarafyan. The atmosphere of the 70s is faithfully transcribed, with a neat photography. At last, it's quite unique to observe a serial killer through the eyes of a woman who truly loved him and was absolutely not aware of his dark side until the media coverage of the murders.