Even over Extremely Wicked

Initially, I thought: not for me, I prefer to watch something cheerful. But then Adeline described a scene and I was sold. And now I'm a bit captivated by it.

The story isn't entirely new. It is based on the popular book series by Sara Shepard (yes, the writer of PLL).

You probably know Ted Bundy well, the brutal serial killer who received the death penalty in 1989 for the murder of at least thirty young women. They were murdered, mutilated, and raped. Think of extreme inhumanity, drive another thousand kilometers straight and even then you are not close to the sickening acts that Ted Bundy committed.The beauty of the film.

A murderer does not present themselves with long fangs dripping with blood, a murderer presents themselves as one of us. That is what this film shows. It tells the story of Elizabeth Kloepfer, Liz, a single mother who meets a man, Ted, at the local bar. When he is with her, the sun shines. He counters all doubts, he hugs her child, pours her a drink, lets her rest her head in the crook of his arm, so she brushes it away. Liz chases everyone out of the house who points out the gaps in Ted's story, but it gnaws at her too. She smokes, she drinks.

One evening, a detective brings an envelope. She must look at the photos inside, because you cannot have any idea of how bad someone is. It takes Liz ten long years before she dares to open the envelope.

At the end of the film, Liz goes to the prison. Ted is overjoyed to see her again, but she is not here for a chat. She takes the photo out of the envelope and presses it against the window that separates them. ‘What happened to her HEAD?’ She keeps asking. At first, he denies it. Then he gets angry. Then his fingers write in the condensation of the glass ‘hand saw’ and Liz runs out of the room.

The scene where her new boyfriend and her daughter wait for her as she leaves the prison is beautiful. And when you see the list of names of the women Bundy has admitted to murdering, you are silent. Keep watching during the credits: you see the real footage of the trial and see how the real Ted was and that you have not been watching a romanticized story.

Do you want to know more about Liz's life? She wrote the book ‘The Phantom Prince, My Life with Ted Bundy’.

Zac Efron is masterful.

And (and he has the same nose as Xander de Buisonjé, but that aside) and Lily Collins is believable and great in her smallness. Anyway. Netflix. Go see it. But if I may give a tip: taking the dog out alone in the dark afterwards is no party.

A bit about Extremely Wicked the movie with Zac Efron.