The judge in Ted Bundy’s trial pronounced the serial murderer’s deeds Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile, which is an inspired title for Joe Berlinger‘s new movie (2019) on Netflix.
As Bundy Zac Ephron is compelling, never phony, never trying for sympathy. Lily Collins is just right and just fine in a good role here: that of Bundy’s anguished girlfriend, Liz. The film partly deals with Liz’s love relationship with a morally worthless man. She herself is far from morally worthless, for, early on, she submits Bundy’s name to the police, afterward suffering long-lived guilt because she doesn’t know whether Bundy is, in truth, culpable for what he is being accused of.
Needless to say, the public-record information in this well-made film is appallingly ugly. I wonder about the pain and shock of all the parents (and other family members) of the daughters whose bodies Bundy treated as though they were foul manure. Again, morally worthless.
Extremely Wicked is recommendable. There are critics who dismissed it. I disagree with them.
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