Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil & Vile review: Creepy in all the wrong ways

Here's a Ted Bundy biopic starring heart-throb Zac Efron that purports to give us a whole new angle on the rapist and killer.

Right to the end we’re encouraged to believe Bundy might just be innocent, because that’s how his girlfriend and fiancée Liz (Lily Collins), and, later, smitten former colleague Carole Anne (Kaya Scodelario) view him.

Filmgoers who know little about Bundy (young fans of Efron, for example) are in for a big shock. Maybe that’s what director Joe Berlinger wants. Extremely Wicked shows us how easy it is for trusting types to be gulled by dark and handsome strangers. It’s like watching a slightly more gruesome version of Frozen. Girls, don’t trust the smiley guy!

Yet there’s a horrible side effect to presenting practically all the females as lovesick suckers (including two students Bundy goes on to kill). His victims seem complicit in their own destruction. Liz, despite Collins’s best efforts, is never more than a two-note figure, either beaming like Bambi or shrieking and moping. And Scodelario is totally wasted.

Bundy biopic: Zac Efron is on the charm offensive in Extremly Wicked

The film never wallows in violence. We only see Bundy committing one horrendous act. But it’s disturbing that he is the only three-dimensional character. Efron has a ball: he’s likeable, goofy and manic, except when flashing his eyes when he looks like that boy from The Village of the Damned.

He’s a gifted actor, using vile events to show off his range. The movie, which he executive-produced, is hardly evil. But you do leave feeling soiled.

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