Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile Dvd

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile is a 2019 American biographical crime film about the life of serial killer Ted Bundy. Directed by Joe Berlinger with a screenplay from Michael Werwie, the film is based on Bundy’s former girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall’s memoir, The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy. The film stars Zac Efron as Bundy, Lily Collins as Kendall, Kaya Scodelario as Bundy’s wife Carole Ann Boone, and John Malkovich as Edward Cowart, the presiding judge at Bundy’s trial. The title of the film is a reference to Cowart’s remarks on Bundy’s murders while sentencing him to death.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2019, and was released in the United States on May 3, 2019, by Netflix. The film received mixed reviews from critics, though Efron’s performance was praised.

Plot

In 1969 Seattle, law student Ted Bundy (Zac Efron) meets Liz Kendall (Lily Collins), a young secretary and divorced mother. The two begin dating, and Ted helps Liz raise her young daughter, Molly.

By 1974, news reports announce the murders of multiple young women, including two who disappeared in broad daylight at Lake Sammamish. A man resembling Ted was seen by several people asking women to help him load a sailboat onto a Volkswagen Beetle. A composite sketch of the attacker is released, and, following hundreds of phone calls, Ted is arrested in 1975.

A young woman named Carol DaRonch (Grace Victoria Cox) picks Ted out of a police lineup, claiming he had kidnapped and threatened to kill her before she managed to escape. Ted is released on bail, returning home to Liz, who is upset after reading an article about him in the newspaper. Ted explains that Carol was shown his picture before the lineup took place, which is why he looked familiar to her, and says he believes he is being set up. After a four-day bench trial, Ted is found guilty of aggravated kidnapping and is sentenced to serve a minimum of one to a maximum of 15 years in the Utah State Prison.

A few weeks later, Colorado authorities charge Ted with the murder of Caryn Campbell, and he is transferred to Aspen, Colorado, in 1977. Liz refuses to believe Ted is guilty, but the events start to take a toll on her, and she begins drinking and smoking heavily. While at Pitkin County Courthouse, Ted elects to serve as his own attorney and, as such, is excused from wearing handcuffs or leg shackles. During a recess, Ted escapes from the courthouse by jumping out of a second-story window and running to the mountains but is recaptured after six days.

Liz visits Ted and ends their relationship. He later escapes again after sawing a square in his cell’s ceiling. Two women at a sorority house are murdered at Florida State University, followed by vicious attacks on two more. After Ted is arrested, he tries to contact Liz, but she hangs up on him. He starts to receive a following of women who are fascinated by him, some even claiming they love him. Ted is visited by an old friend, Carole Ann Boone (Kaya Scodelario), who believes he is innocent and moves to Florida to be closer to him.

A pre-trial plea bargain is negotiated in which Bundy would plead guilty to killing the two sorority girls, Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman, and twelve-year-old Kimberly Leach, in exchange for a 75-year prison sentence instead of the death penalty, but he refuses. Ted and Carole Ann grow closer as she visits him regularly; the two begin a relationship, but Ted continues to reach out to Liz, who is following his trials via television. She carries the guilt of being the person who gave Ted’s name to the Seattle authorities in 1975. Ted later proposes to Carole Ann, and they marry.

Incriminating physical evidence is provided in court, including a match of a plaster cast of Ted’s teeth to the impressions of bite wounds on Levy’s buttocks. In under seven hours, the jury convicts Ted of the murders of Levy and Bowman, three counts of attempted first-degree murder, and two counts of burglary. Trial judge Edward Cowart (John Malkovich) imposes death sentences for the murder convictions to be carried out with execution by electrocution.

Ten years later, Liz receives a letter from Ted and visits him, taking a photograph given to her by a detective. She demands the truth, but Ted continues to deny having anything to do with the murders. She then shows Ted the photograph — a crime scene image of one of his decapitated victims. Ted finally admits that he sawed her head off by writing the word “hacksaw” on the dew-misted window of the visiting room with his fingers, before erasing it with his hand. Liz leaves the prison in shock but is met outside by her new husband Jerry (Haley Joel Osment) and Molly, now a teenager, and she proclaims that she is okay.

As the film ends, archival footage and on-screen text say that Ted was executed in January 1989, aged 42 years old. Ted had confessed to over 30 murders days before his execution, and his ashes were scattered in the Cascade Mountains, where he had deposited the remains of numerous victims, in accordance with his wishes.

Cast

Zac Efron as Ted Bundy, a former law student accused of several violent crimes against women and become the notorious serial killer.
Lily Collins as Liz Kendall, a college student and single mother who enters a relationship with Ted and professes his innocence through his trials.
Kaya Scodelario as Carole Ann Boone, an old friend of Ted’s who moves closer to him for support. They later marry in court.
Jeffrey Donovan as John O’Connell, Ted’s attorney in Utah who defends his kidnapping case.
Angela Sarafyan as Joanna, Liz’s close friend who believes Ted is guilty.
Dylan Baker as David Yocom, the prosecuting attorney in Utah.
Brian Geraghty as Dan Dowd, Ted’s public defender in Florida when he is re-captured after escaping in Colorado.
Terry Kinney as Mike Fisher, a homicide detective who ties Ted to a murder in Colorado.
Haley Joel Osment as Jerry Thompson, Liz’s co-worker at the University Medical Division whom she begins dating after Ted and eventually marries.
James Hetfield as Bob Hayward, a police officer in Utah who first arrests Bundy. “The Four Horsemen”, a song co-written by Hetfield for the Metallica album Kill ‘Em All, is also featured in the film.
Grace Victoria Cox as Carol DaRonch, a woman Ted kidnapped in Utah, leading to his first conviction.
Jim Parsons as Larry Simpson, the prosecuting attorney in Florida.
John Malkovich as Edward Cowart, the presiding judge at Ted’s final murder trial.
Justin McCombs as Jim Dumas, Ted’s attorney in Colorado who defends his first murder case.
Forba Shepherd as Louise Bundy, Ted’s mother.
Molly Kendall, Liz’s daughter, is portrayed at different ages by Macie Carmosino, Ava Inman, Morgan Pyle, and Grace Balbo. Director Joe Berlinger and cinematographer Brandon Trost make cameo appearances as the presenter and cameraman who interview Ted in Colorado.