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Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile Image

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

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52
Metascore
 31 reviews
6.8
User Score
 125 ratings

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Director: Joe Berlinger
Writer: Elizabeth Kendall Elizabeth Kloepfer Michael Werwie
Production: Voltage Pictures
Movie Details: A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy (Zac Efron) from the perspective of Liz (Lily Collins), his
A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy (Zac Efron) from the perspective of Liz (Lily Collins), his longtime girlfriend, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.
Genre(s): Biography Drama Thriller Crime
MPAA Rating: R
Production: Voltage Pictures
Runtime: 110 min
Country: US
Language: English
Director: Joe Berlinger
Writer: Elizabeth Kendall Elizabeth Kloepfer Michael Werwie
Starring:
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Critic Reviews
(31)
52
Metascore Mixed or average reviews
9 Positive Ratings 29%
18 Mixed Ratings 58%
4 Negative Ratings 12%
Based on 31 Critic Reviews View All
90
Variety
Owen Gleiberman | Feb 1, 2019
"In my judgment, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile is an honestly unsettling and authentic inquiry into the question of who Ted Bundy was, how he operated, what his capture and trial and ongoing infamy has meant, and what, if anything, his existence tells us about our individual relationship to toxic evil." ... Read full review
80
The Hollywood Reporter
Todd McCarthy | Feb 1, 2019
"It’s quite a story, which Berlinger moves along with unrelenting energy. " ... Read full review
75
Uproxx
Vince Mancini | Feb 1, 2019
"Extremely Wicked‘s portrayal yawns with a sense of incompleteness." ... Read full review
58
The Film Stage
Jordan Raup | Feb 1, 2019
"As an oddity of the serial killer genre, some of Berlinger’s choices ring more as engagingly strange than unsuccessful." ... Read full review
50
Los Angeles Times
Justin Chang | May 2, 2019
"If the idea was to tell the story from Liz’s perspective, the movie botches that perspective badly: Abandoning any sense of narrative rigor, it can’t keep hunky, charming Ted from becoming the protagonist of his own hideous story." ... Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)
Emily Yoshida | Feb 1, 2019
"If the narrative film only exists to give us the unsettling sliminess of Efron as Bundy, it won’t be a total waste. But it’s not much of a movie, either." ... Read full review
20
The Atlantic
David Sims | May 5, 2019
"Berlinger’s latest film attempts to reckon with the legacy of a brutal murderer who cynically cultivated his public image to make himself seem more alluring, but the story fails to dig in to the horrifying implications of how Bundy was able to succeed." ... Read full review
Critic Reviews
User Reviews
(30)
6.8
User Score Generally favorable reviews
75 Positive Ratings 60%
42 Mixed Ratings 33%
8 Negative Ratings 6%
Based on 125 Ratings and 30 Reviews View All
10
Alisferper
May 21, 2019
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Excelent film and actors. Zac Efron, well done. This guy really can act. An Oscar for him!… Expand
10
miafaye
Nov 17, 2019
i loved this movie and i watched it 3 times because the acting was amazing. the casting for Zac efron was spot on and i think he did a greati loved this movie and i watched it 3 times because the acting was amazing. the casting for Zac efron was spot on and i think he did a great job as well as the rest of the cast, i hope he does more movies like this!… Expand
9
kayaleerose
May 16, 2019
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. One of the best movies i’ve seen. Zac efron did such a good job portraying this man it is crazy. Really shows you how to trust and how not to. I highly recommend. Unless you are an emotional person. All though it does leave out details about this man ted bundy I would say it is still extremely good.… Expand
7
Trineo99
May 3, 2019
First of all, I just want to mention why this film is really confusing in my opinion and that’s because of the chunky editing. What I mean byFirst of all, I just want to mention why this film is really confusing in my opinion and that’s because of the chunky editing. What I mean by that is that it would jump awkwardly from one scene to the next and it wouldn’t flow properly. Right off the bat, you see this in literally the first minutes of the film. Due to the confusing editing, it makes it hard to understand what has just happened in the film. This does feel like two films were put together to make one film and I actually enjoyed it. The first part is just showing how he’s an everyday man and then in the second half is the trail. This film needs that first part because if it didn’t we wouldn’t believe how people are saying he’s too nice of a guy to do something like this. Some people may think that the first part is unnecessary because it makes him seem like the victim in this whole situation but really it is and for that reason. The second part I found the most interesting though. The whole seeing the trail take place and how he tries to prove his innocence is really intriguing to watch especially as somebody who knows the basic facts about this case. The acting in this film was really well done as well. Zac Efron as Ted Bundy was an excellent choice, even though I do wish they got somebody who looked more like him because he brings off the charm to this role and seeing how Ted Bundy was supposed to be a charmer this was perfect casting. Lily Collins as Elizabeth was great as well and just for her performance is worth a watch of this movie. In the end, Extremely Wicked, Surprisingly Evil and Vile is a good biopic to watch with an interesting true crime case to look into. I give Extremely Wicked, Surprisingly Evil and Vile a 7.5/10.… Expand
7
Ejdjski1234
Jul 3, 2020
Other than the strange editing choices, this is a surprisingly good true story movie
6
Bertaut1
Jul 21, 2019
An interesting approach to the story, but the tone is poorly managed

Directed by Joe Berlinger immediately after he completed work onAn interesting approach to the story, but the tone is poorly managed

Directed by Joe Berlinger immediately after he completed work on Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile is worth seeing for Zac Efron's performance if nothing else, but is a strangely muted affair. Telling the story of Bundy from the perspective of a woman who was oblivious to his true nature is an interesting narrative choice, and had Berlinger stuck to this format, it could have made for a fascinating film. However, what begins as an intriguing insider's look at living with a killer shifts into an underwhelming courtroom drama, only returning to its original tone in the final (fictional) scene.

The film begins in 1969, the night Bundy (Efron) and Liz Kendall (Lily Collins) first met in a Seattle bar, with the duo quickly falling in love. However, six years later, when he is stopped in Utah for a minor traffic violation, he finds himself accused of a series of murders across California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, and Colorado. Meanwhile, it becomes harder and harder for Liz to deny there's more to her boyfriend than she ever imagined.

Very loosely based on Liz Kloepfer's memoir, The Phantom Prince: My Life With Ted Bundy (1981), and written by Michael Werwie, one of the biggest appeals of the movie is the casting of Zac Efron as Bundy. And it has to be said, he's excellent. Especially if you watch the film after the docu-series, you'll pick up on the depth of the performance; his every movement and gesture, the way he smiles, the way he stands, the tone of his voice, everything is perfect.

One of the film's most notable components is that, apart from one brief scene near the end, there is no depiction of violence, attempting to present Bundy not with the 20/20 hindsight of history, but with the same degree of ambiguity with which Liz would have viewed him. Instead of the nature of his crimes, Berlinger focuses, at least in the first half, on how a killer can lie and manipulate, coming across as completely normal to all who know him. Berlinger has said that the film is about the mechanics of how a person can be "seduced by someone capable of evil", and it was his intention that the audience actually like Bundy – just like Liz, he wanted them to be seduced by evil.

However, the film has a lot of problems. For one thing, because it depicts Bundy not as we now know him but as his contemporaries saw him, it means we only see the performative side, never the monstrous underbelly. Sure, this means that the film avoids exploitation, but in doing so, it could be accused of sanitisation, as the film's Bundy is a lovable rogue who bites his thumb at the system, not a murderer, a man who raped and butchered a 12-year-old child.

I understand that Berlinger wants to depict how Liz could have been blinded by devotion to a man that she thought (correctly, as it turned out) was too good to be true. But the problem is that she herself is never characterised enough for this to work; everything we learn about her is predicated on her relationship with him - there's nothing about her life prior to meeting him, for example. Additionally, the focus shift as the film transitions from Liz as subjective focaliser to a more objectively focalised courtroom drama makes very little tonal sense. It's almost as if Berlinger loses interest in Liz when the sensationalist trial begins. This transition reduces Liz to a cycle of watching the trial, crying, doubting his guilt, and drinking, as she's effectively stripped of what little agency she had in the first half.

Another problem is that we learn nothing new about Bundy himself; there's nothing about his childhood, for example, or how he got away with the murders for so long, whether he really loved Liz, or if he genuinely lacked the ability to feel empathy. Along the same lines, we learn nothing about the victims. This was also a problem in the docu-series, but it's far more pronounced here, and because of this, the decision to put the names of his known victims on screen at the end of film is unearned, crass, and meaningless.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile is by no means a bad film. But it could have been so much better. It initially looks at how evil can hide in plain view, creeping into our lives under the guise of normalcy, but Berlinger allows this theme to recede into the background as he hands the narrative over to Bundy. If this was supposed to be Liz's story, Berlinger takes his eye off the ball badly. And although the film certainly doesn't sympathise with him, and although the decision not to show any of the murders is commendable, the fact is that, yet again, Ted Bundy has become very much the star of his own show.… Expand
0
imthenoob
May 10, 2019
For a film that was supposed to give us the girlfriend's side of the story and how she dealt with it, We weren't given anything new orFor a film that was supposed to give us the girlfriend's side of the story and how she dealt with it, We weren't given anything new or insightful. Everything featured is already very common knowledge and that is pretty disappointing. There is such an extreme emotional disconnect as well, I didn't sympathize with his girlfriend at all and felt that we weren't shown enough of her struggles as events unfolded. Instead, She was reduced to a side character while Ted, naturally, was put front and centre.… Expand
User Reviews