Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019) is about Ted Bundy but shows the events through his girlfriend's eyes. Liz Kendall is a single mother. She meets Ted in a bar and they live together for several years. Then he is arrested. She does not believe the charges; he keeps telling her he is innocent and is convincing every time. The method is not to show the killings. There is almost no violence on screen; what you see is what Liz saw: news, telephone calls, courtroom broadcasts, and a man's continuous denial. The choice caused argument. Some said the film makes Bundy attractive. Its defence is that he genuinely was found attractive and that is precisely the point; dozens of people believed him for years, the courtroom filled with admirers, and his trial was broadcast live. Bundy conducted his own defence, which is true, and the film covers that trial in detail. In the last scene Liz finally asks him directly, and the film shows there the single image it has withheld until then. Joe Berlinger directed. He also made a documentary series about Bundy the same year; one rests on the recordings and the other on fiction. Zac Efron plays Bundy and Lily Collins plays Liz. It is adapted from Liz Kendall's memoir. It runs 110 minutes. Good for: true crime, performance, and accounts told from the victim's side. Less good for: the subject is heavy and the film's handling of Bundy is contested.