Shortly after it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Netflix closed a deal to acquire the domestic distribution rights to EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL AND VILE, a biographical crime thriller centered around notorious serial killer Ted Bundy. Netflix has now released a new trailer for the Joe Berlinger directed film which follows the crimes of Bundy (Zac Efron) from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer (Lily Collins), who refused to believe the truth about him for years. The film also stars Kaya Scodelario, Jeffrey Donovan, Angela Sarafyan, Dylan Baker, Brian Geraghty, Terry Kinney, Haley Joel Osment, James Hetfield, Grace Victoria Cox, Jim Parsons, and John Malkovich.
Our own Chris Bumbray caught EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL AND VILE at Sundance, and although he wasn't as enthused with it as others were, still came away with praise for Zac Efron's performance in his review. "Efron is smart casting in the lead, if certain things, such as a scene where he strips to reveal an impossibly shredded physique, seems ridiculous for a part like this," Bumbray said. "He’s always been a good actor and he’s clearly relishing the opportunity to stretch, and it’s his performance that ultimately makes this something of a must-see." At the end of the day however, Bumbray believed that the film fell short of excellence, and never transcended the docudrama genre. EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL AND VILE will hit Netflix and select theaters on May 3, 2019.