Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
2019 · Directed by Joe Berlinger
Original language: English
- drama
- crime
The story
A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy, from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.
What it’s like
Cool, sun-faded 1970s Seattle and Florida interiors give way to flat fluorescent courtrooms and grimy motel rooms, shot with a handheld, observational looseness that keeps the camera close to faces and hands. The palette runs muted: brown carpets, beige walls, dusk-blue exteriors, and the sickly sheen of institutional light. Sound leans on a restrained, mood-driven score and long stretches of ambient room noise, with the courtroom spectacle and media clamour pressing in from outside the frame. The vibe is unsettled and sombre, a dread that sits under ordinary domestic life rather than erupting into it. Pacing is measured and talky, with the emotional weight carried by close two-hander scenes between a woman slowly confronting what she has been avoiding and the charming man who has shaped her life. Violence is largely offstage or implied, with crimes referenced through testimony and news footage rather than shown in detail; there is no gore, but the subject matter is disturbing and the sexual content is non-explicit. Suited to viewers who want a grounded true-crime drama about denial and complicity, watched late at night or on a quiet evening, rather than anything gentle or escapist.
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