Victoria Harkless
Assistant Editor-in-Chief
For this round of Film Forecast I will be reviewing the 2019 film: Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and vile.
This film is based on the book The Phantom Prince: my life with Ted Bundy by Elizabeth “Liz” Kendall who dated Theodory “Ted” Bundy for many years while he was committing several of his most infamous crimes. The cast features Zac Efron in the role of Ted Bundy, Lily Collins as Liz Kendall and Jim Parsons as Larry Simpson a prosecuting attorney.
When the movie begins in 1969, Liz thinks she has found the perfect partner in Ted. When she meets Ted, she is a secretary raising a baby (Molly) on her own, and Ted is a law student at the University of Utah. The couple’s relationship grows and eventually they get engaged. Shortly after that, her seemingly perfect life is turned upside down when Ted is arrested in 1974 on aggravated kidnapping charges. He is found guilty and sentenced to 1 to 15 years in the Utah State Prison.
In the next section, which happens in 1977, Ted is charged with a murder and is expodiated to Aspen, Colorado. Liz still does not believe Ted is guilty and turns to alcohol and smoking in order to cope with the loss of her lover and the reality of his alleged crimes. Ted acts as his own lawyer, leaving him excused from wearing handcuffs or leg shackles, which lets him escape through an open window during a recess from court. He escapes for several days but is ultimately recaptured. When he is recaptured, Liz goes to talk to him and ends their relationship.
When he escapes AGAIN, two women in a sorority house at Florida State University are brutally attacked and killed. This is followed by attacks on two more people. He attempts to contact Liz and she hangs up on him. He goes to trial and refuses a plea deal that would give him a 75 year prison sentence in order to avoid the death penalty. He starts to receive a following of young women, and rekindles a relationship with an ex-lover Carole Anne Boone (Kaya Scodelario). They begin a relationship but Ted continues trying to contact Liz who watches his trials on TV. Ted and Carole get married but Ted is eventually found guilty and sentenced to death.
I would give the movie a solid 8/10. Despite my high rating, there are some things to be aware of. The movie is very fast paced and kind of glances over things. There is also not much about Liz and Molly despite it being based on their story. The fact we do not get to see Ted and Liz build a relationship is also not ideal considering the movie focuses on it a lot as a main plot purpose. Liz also found something that made Ted look guilty before he was arrested, which she talks about in more detail in her book. The end scene is also completely made up for the shock value. Those who have watched the movie know exactly what I am talking about, but no, that did not actually happen. The movie also receives backlash from people claiming the film romanticized Bundy rather than depicting him as a heinous killer.
The aspect I liked about the film was the cast. Zac Efron did a really good job as Bundy. Bundy was described as charming and I think the movie did a really good job of capturing that. Lily Collins was a convincing, struggling single mother. It was very impressive that they had such believable chemistry on screen.
The plot was also very interesting though it is not really even a plot, it was the actual events that occurred during Elizabeth Kendall’s time with Ted bundy.
With that being said, I highly suggest you watch the movie and develop your own opinions on it.
Image Credit: Jonathan Bowers on Unsplash
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