WHAT IT'S ABOUT: In a decade of the Zodiac, the Son of Sam and the Hillside Stranglers, the serial killer Ted Bundy managed to stand out from the pack. Unlike many of his peers, he was a sociable, upwardly mobile type with a college degree, a long-term girlfriend and a possible future as a lawyer. It was only when his 1979 trial became the first to be nationally televised that America got to see the man who used his good looks and natural charisma to seduce scores of young women before killing them.
Joe Berlinger's "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile" finds its Bundy in none other than Zac Efron, the twinkly-eyed Disney Channel alum. With Lily Collins as Bundy's long-term girlfriend Liz Kendall and Kaya Scodelario as his most loyal admirer, Carole Ann Boone, "Extremely Wicked" dramatizes the peak predatory years of Bundy's life and his eventual downfall.
MY SAY: It's easy to see why Berlinger would be drawn to this story. Berlinger is a director who has focused largely on crime documentaries; his 1996 film, "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills," is a landmark of the genre. Having already delivered a documentary on Bundy for Netflix, "The Ted Bundy Tapes," Berlinger now has a chance to dramatize this chilling case.
