This week I decided to delve into two pieces of media that depict infamous serial killer Ted Bundy: "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile" and "Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes," both directed by Joe Berlinger. I knew little to nothing about the man or the events of his trial, and decided to watch the documentary first to become informed. I was however interested in the movie "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile" to get a more intimate feel of what actually went down, and perhaps to be told a good story. I will be discussing the accuracy of the movie "Extremely Wicked" itself, as well as my takeaways from both films.

The first point of importance to me was how accurate is the film? After seeing "Bohemian Rhapsody" completely smear Freddie Mercury's name, accuracy has become my top concern in movies that portray real events. The film has some outrageous scenes, such as Bundy escaping once by jumping from the courthouse window, and again by crawling through his prison cell's ceiling, which are both mostly accurate. When Ted Bundy did escape from the courthouse and run into the mountains, he apparently lost 25 pounds in just a week or so, and you can definitely see it in the documentary's video. He then apparently lost more weight to shimmy through the tight hole in his ceiling for his second escape. In the movie we do not see either of these weight losses happen. Zac Efron remains absolutely shredded, but perhaps Christian Bale has spoiled me as an audience member.

The Florida trial with Judge Edward Cowart is actually two trails that they condensed into one, but this does not impact the film's accuracy too majorly. The trial was the first nationally televised trial in American history, and contains many lines of actual transcript, such as Judge Cowart's line "Don't shake your finger at me young man." One thing I did notice is that the film seems to fictionalize an entire scene where Bundy objects and then has a witness's testimony completely removed from trial. This is the debut in the film of Bundy in court, and this did not actually happen in real life. Bundy DID propose in court to his girlfriend at the time, Carole Ann Boone, although not exactly as depicted in the movie.

The movie's biggest upset to me was the ending. Bundy's ex-girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, visits Bundy in prison and demands he tell her the truth. After denying his actions several times, Bundy writes the word "HACKSAW" on the window, confessing to her that he really did it. The film then for the first time shows Bundy actually harming a woman. I thought this ending was shocking and crazy, but I was then disappointed to discover it wasn't true. The real event took place over a phone call, and as much as the film wishes to portray Liz Kloepfer as a living victim who survives Ted Bundy, the real story (According to her book, The Phantom Prince) is she believed him when he told her he did not commit the crimes, and that he was only confessing to buy himself time from the death penalty.

The biggest question that arose from many critics was "Does the film sexualize Ted Bundy too much?" It should be noted that there are a few scenes of Zac Efron's naked chiseled body, which I thought were ridiculous as the real Ted Bundy appears to have a normal build. Regardless, Ted's biggest weapon was his charm, and I think Zac Efron does a fantastic job portraying this. Both the movie and documentary show how women flocked to see him in court, being not only terrified of him, but fascinated as well.

In the aftermath of watching these films, I have to admit I felt just like these young women in the courtroom. Both films made me curious as to what exactly was going on inside this man's head, what really motivated him to proceed with these killings. In my head, it is not a question of whether or not he killed these women, I think the evidence shows quite clearly that he did. Hearing him speak on the tapes paints a picture of a man who always thought he was going to be something bigger than he was. He seemed to relish in the attention he received in killing these women and was almost living in his own little world in which he could not suffer negative consequences for doing so. On film you can truly see his demeanor change when the verdict declares him guilty, like he truly did not believe this could be happening to him. It is truly fascinating to me.

Ted Bundy was a psychopathic killer. He was highly intellectual with a charming personality often described as "cool and unemotional." He lacked empathy, pity, and remorse. He had no value for human life, did not care about the consequences of his actions, and in the words of Judge Cowart, his killings were "Extremely wicked, shocking evil, (and) vile." Modern psychologists classify Bundy as a "Power/Control" serial killer. These types of killers like to dominate their victims. Bundy was patient, and would often torture his victims, killing them slowly to draw out his own sadistic pleasure. This behavior empowered him because he had complete control of how and when they would die. Ted Bundy confessed to kidnapping, raping, and murdering more than 30 women in several states between 1974 and 1978. He approached his victims in public places, faking injury or disability, or impersonating an authority figure before assaulting them. He would often visit his victims post-mortem to perform sexual acts on their bodies.

I highly recommend watching both of these pieces of film in conjunction with each other, watching the movie before the documentary if you are more a fan of the dramatics, or watching the documentary before the movie if you are more a fan of the truth. Ted Bundy's story is a fascinating one, and a warning to all as humans. A quote from Bundy himself, "We want to be able to say we can identify these dangerous people. And the really scary thing is you can't identify them. People don't realize that there are potential killers among them. How could anyone live in a society where people they liked, loved, lived with, worked with, and admired could the next day turn out to be the most demonic people imaginable?" The reality is, we have no other options but to live in this society, hoping we can avoid these lunatics. However, another quote from Judge Cowart "You're a bright young man. You'd have made a good lawyer and I would have loved to have you practice in front of me, but you went another way, partner." We have to not only understand that these killers are around us, but inside us. These films show that Ted Bundy was a human above all else, whether you want to call him a monster or not. He made choices that led him down a dark road that ruined countless lives. In a time where empathy seems to be fading away, we must show compassion for our fellow human being. We must know that we are not special, and we can be susceptible to evil, just like many of us before have been. "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile" and "Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes" are a fantastic combination of films by director Joe Berlinger, that left me fascinated, scared, and contemplative. If you are seriously interested in the bizarreness of the human mind, especially that of a serial killer, sit down and enjoy the freakshow that was Ted Bundy.