'Why did they make a Ted Bundy rom-com?' Film starring Zac Efron criticized for romanticizing the serial killer

Suzy Byrne
·Editor, Yahoo Entertainment

While the title of the new Ted Bundy film starring Zac Efron doesn’t romanticize the serial killer — it’s called Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile — there is a debate over whether the storyline does.

Over the weekend, the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and its new teaser trailer is spreading across the internet, so many on Twitter are discussing the film. Particular discussion points include whether or not it glorifies the convicted rapist and murderer with the Baywatch heartthrob in the lead role — and flashing his abs and winking in the trailer, which people have said is set to inappropriate music and gives off “rom-com vibes.”

Some of the criticism:

The conversation was accelerated by journalists who had issues with the film. For instance, the Daily Beast‘s Kevin Fallon called the film “awkward” and said, “While there is opportunity, even a responsibility, to explore the macabre charisma and ensuing fame that erected the tent around the Ted Bundy circus… Extremely Wicked fails to offer any broader context, any exploration into how that played into his murder spree, or even any other insight into Bundy and his psyche aside from his narcissistic desire for attention, and talent for grabbing it.”

Vanity Fair‘s chief critic Robert Lawson wrote that while the film is a “triumph of sorts for Efron,” it is also “a bit of a problem, a further indictment of our serial killer-sick culture that the film, directed by documentarian Joe Berlinger, doesn’t reckon with enough.”

Not all criticism from journalists has been negative. Cosmo’s Emily Tannenbaum said that the film “is not what you think.” She wrote, “Yes, from the eyes of a lover, we see the charming side of Bundy he was truly famous for, but there’s an undercurrent of creep-factor that, without spoiling the film, is the cause of a well placed, shocking twist. Never is there any doubt Bundy did what he was accused of. The entire film begs the question: if you were in bed with a monster, would you know it?”

Amid the chatter, it’s pointed out that the romanticizing of Bundy isn’t something conjured up by director Joe Berlinger. The murderer was charming — and it made him into a celebrity, someone people were talking about and fascinated with (though not for the best reasons), not unlike Charles Manson.

This one actually got Berlinger to reply.

He responded “exactly.” He elaborated while doing press at the festival. He told the Salt Lake Tribune, “There’s a fine line we’re drawing between people’s perceptions that we’re glorifying [him] versus having a real reason to be telling this story again in this way.”

Others argued that it was romanticized — at the detriment of women. Charlotte Stein’s thread on this has thousands of likes. She wrote, “Look man. That Ted Bundy trailer? With him seeming like a sexy anti-hero? Almost a loveable rogue? They’ve done that on purpose. It’s on purpose, just like with You. They want to normalise/romanticise men doing terrible things, and they know that many women will buy into it too.”

She went on to call him “the worst man to ever exist” — yet the film is “trying to make him sexy.”

Some also wrote that they can’t wait to see Theodore, from first time director Celene Beth Calderon, which focuses more on the victims.

The film also stars Lily Collins, Haley Joel Osment, John Malkovich and Jim Parsons. And there’s no shortage of other Bundy films this year. Berlinger also made a four-hour Bundy documentary series for Netflix called “The Bundy Tapes,” which was released on the streaming site Thursday — the 30th anniversary of the killer’s execution.

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