Zac Efron Portrays an Icy Ted Bundy in ‘Extremely Wicked’ New Trailer

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Zac Efron offers a chilling look at serial killer Ted Bundy in Netflix’s stark new trailer for the drama “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.”

“Extremely Wicked” premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and portrays Bundy’s crimes from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer (Lily Collins), who refused to believe the truth about him for years.

“For years, I’ve carried this guilt that I’m to blame for everything,” Collins says in the trailer.

The footage begins with Collins waiting to have a jailhouse chat with Efron, and recollecting the night they first met and their initial flirtations.

Collins then asks, “Ted — did you do it?” with an emotion-free Efron responding simply, “No.”

Bundy was arrested in 1975 and tried for murder in 1979. Shortly before his execution in 1989, Bundy confessed to 30 homicides committed in seven states between 1974 and 1978.

Joe Berlinger directed from a screenplay by Michael Werwie. The cast also includes Jim Parsons, Haley Joel Osment, John Malkovich, and Kaya Scodelario.

In his Variety review, chief film critic Owen Gleiberman praised Efron’s performance, writing, “He’s startlingly good: controlled, magnetic, audacious, committed, and eerily right.”

Netflix bought “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” for at least $6 million during Sundance. The film opens May 3 in select theaters and on Netflix.