You’re being dramatic.
Ted Bundy is one of America’s most notorious serial killers, and he’s being played by the dreamy Zac Efron in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, a film directed by Joe Berlinger that premiered at Sundance Film Festival Jan. 26.
The film is from the point of view of Elizabeth Kloepfer, Bundy’s girlfriend, and follows the court proceedings to presumably see out Bundy’s homicidal life.
Bundy eventually confessed to 30 homicides, although the actual number is unknown. He was a killer who used his looks and charisma to make women feel safe with him. He exploited his charming traits to make women trust him before going in for the kill.
The internet is going crazy over the trailer for this movie.
Many social media users have been voicing their opinions, saying that the makers of the film–and Efron himself–are romanticizing Bundy, violent nature and all.
But here’s why that’s wrong.
The trailer for Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile portrays Bundy as a charming, attractive man, yes. But that’s what he was, and that’s why the producers in the movie did what they did.
During their relationship, Kloepfer didn’t know what Bundy was doing; she was oblivious to all of his crimes because he was so good at hiding who he was.
He was suave and charismatic in court, and plenty of people believed him when he said that he was innocent. He was looked over in lineups because people didn’t believe that someone like him could have committed the crime.
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile isn’t trying to romanticize Ted Bundy.
It’s not trying to write him out to be some super sexy, super charming man for viewers to fall in love with.
The point, however, is to portray exactly the type of man that he was.
Bundy was dating someone who didn’t believe that he was a killer. He was so good at pretending to be someone that he wasn’t that he could get away with multiple homicides.
And these instances happen more often than you think they do.
For instance, think about the new series You. Joe Goldberg is a creepy stalker who falls in love with a woman that has no idea that he’s a killer.
Similar, right? So why didn’t anyone get upset about You?
Bundy is notorious, sure. Everyone knows his name and what he did, and the fact that an upcoming movie is bringing all of that back up again can, in some ways, be sensitive.
But the point is being missed here.
Bundy isn’t being romanticized, or idolized, or made to look like a hero. Efron’s character is meant to portray who Bundy really was: a master of manipulation who used his charm to get away with murder.
