Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)

Directed by: Joe Berlinger | 110 minutes | biography, crime | Actors: Lily Collins, Zac Efron, Kaya Scodelario, Haley Joel Osment, Terry Kinney, Angela Sarafyan, Sydney Vollmer, Macie Carosino, Ava Inman, Morgan Pyle, James Hetfield, John Malkovich, Richard K. Jones, Justin INman, Grace Victoria Cox , Alan B. Jones, Jim Parsons, Jeffrey Donovan, Maya Berlinger, Derek Snow

Ted Bundy is hardly known in the Netherlands, but in America it is a contaminated name. Along with fine characters like Joel Rifkin and John Wayne Gacy, Bundy belongs in the extreme category of deranged serial killers. The special thing about Bundy was that he seemed to have everything. Intelligent, strikingly handsome, charming and happily married. But all that luck wasn’t enough to stop Bundy. At least thirty young women paid for that with a gruesome death.

Because most serial killers are completely incomprehensible, films about this type usually focus on spectacle (‘Silence of the Lambs’) or the police investigation (‘Zodiac’). To really understand the psyche of this type requires a longer playing time, as in the superior television series ‘Mind Hunter’.

The American film ‘Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile’ chooses a different path. This semi-biography about Ted Bundy shows nothing of the horrors, but follows two (more or less) separate paths. First, we follow Elizabeth, Bundy’s wife. Until very long, she refuses to believe that something is wrong with her husband, even though he is often on the road for weeks. In addition, we meet Ted himself, not during the murders but during arrests, escapes and the eventual trial.

Following Elizabeth never really succeeded, despite Lily Collins’ strong play. As a viewer, you can’t go along with her doubts, because we know who Ted is and what he does. Ted’s adventures are already a lot more captivating, with you especially amazed at the incompetence of cops, prison guards and other authorities.

What also stands out is the casting. Besides big names like John Malkovich and Zac Efron we see metal hero James Hetfield (Metallica) in a small role. Even more striking is Jim Parsons’ choice of the prosecutor’s role, as Parsons is forever linked to the role of unworldly scientist Sheldon Cooper from “The Big Bang Theory.”

It makes watching ‘Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile’ a half-baked event. Entertaining but not exciting, engaging but not profound. In the end, a full-length television series would have been a better option. In that case, we would also see Bundy’s early years and understand that that twisted mind had to come from somewhere.