✖ extremely wicked, shockingly evil and vile

✖ extremely wicked, shockingly evil and vile

• Wednesday 22 May 2019

Earlier this year Netflix released a movie and a series from the same director, Joe Berlinger, that were taking on a few different perspectives on Ted Bundy case.

If you don't know who Theodore "Ted" Bundy is, I highly recommend you to look it up. Let's just say that the looks and the charm can be very deceiving. However, I'm very fascinated in a very odd way on how he managed to keep his guard up until just a few days before his execution until he confessed these horrendous crimes he had done.

My interest in this kind of stuff goes a long way and during the 8th grade, I was very into multiple things, including serial killers. I went through everything I was able to find from Jack the Reaper to Ted Bundy. I mean, a normal hobby for a 14-year-old, huh?

Yesterday evening (or well, this evening, as I'm writing this piece), I watched the Ted Bundy film starring Zac Efron and I learned a couple of things:
✖ Zac Efron is actually a pretty good actor
✖ If you don't know anything about Ted Bundy stuff beforehand, you might actually feel sorry for him
✖ I haven't heard anything about Kaya Scodelario after her acting Effy in Skins
✖ It taught most of us the main point about serial killers

Zac Efron is actually a pretty good actor
There, I said it. To be honest, I've never been a fan of his, especially after I read somewhere that he stated High School Musical was the biggest mistake of his life or something like that. Can't quote that, as I don't really remember what he said, but the point was made. Then I saw him in 17 Again and still wasn't impressed. After 17 Again, I saw him in that circus movie, what was it called?
Right, The Greatest Showman. And wasn't he in Hairspray as well?

Don't get me wrong. I am deeply in love with musicals, but with Zac Efron, I've never been. I guess this is one of those popular unpopular opinions that I'm currently typing out of my keyboard.

Now seeing him in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, I actually can give him the credit he deserves. The actor choice for Ted was actually spot on. And I know this shares a lot of opinions and there were people who thought that choosing someone like Zac is basically "glamorising" serial killers, who are supposed to be evil and vile. He did his job well. Actually better than well.

If you don't know anything about Ted Bundy stuff beforehand, you might actually feel sorry for him
I think I would have wanted to see the movie without actually knowing anything about Ted Bundy beforehand. I think what it would've felt like to watch something, where the info is completely new. The movie was put on a perspective, where they didn't straight forwarded accuse Ted of doing those heinous acts but they managed to describe incredibly well of what his closest people might've felt like at the time. And that's when you start feeling sorry for Ted. You start believing that he actually wasn't guilty at all. Although, based on everything I've read before and seeing Ted Bundy tapes on Netflix before, it didn't kick me that way.

I saw a man, who had managed to convince himself into living in a lie until the very moment the person he loved the most cracked his guards down. I mean, you know it's easy to push things you don't want to believe you've done to the back of your mind, begin a lie and start living in that lie. Unless, if you aren't smart enough to remember what you've lied about.

Although, despite the awful things he had done, he was a very intelligent person. He just chose the wrong path to use it, combined with this awful urge to murder and torture young women in the process. The movie, on the other hand, succeeded to show that even he was extremely wicked, shockingly evil and vile, perhaps one of the most horrendous serial killers of our time, he was also a human.

It taught most of us the main point about serial killers
In January, I wrote about the "Bad Boy effect" and why we tend to fall in love with the psycho version of Dan Humphrey. And I felt like I needed to link it here because it slightly sides the topic of this blog post.

The main point about serial killers, killers and other bad people, in general, is that you can't really know who is able to commit such heinous acts. They don't walk around with a label "serial killer" tattooed in their foreheads. And it's not meant to be tossed out there, so you'd be scared of every single person you'll cross your path in life, but even the ones who "could never have do stuff like that" sometimes actually can do stuff like that. And as scary that is, it's important to remember.

The point is, that they're human too. Whether we enjoy it or not. And it's scary as fuck.