There’s been a lot buzz about Zac Efron’s performance as Ted Bundy in the upcoming movie Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. The movie is based on Bundy’s long-term ex-girlfriend’s, Elizabeth Kloepfer, memoir, The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy (unfortunately, I can’t afford to read the memoir). Kloepfer is played by Lily Collins in the movie. The movie is from Kloepfer’s perspective.
The memoir details the six-year relationship Kloepfer shared with Bundy. She describes that she grew very dependent on him because she struggled with being a single mother and was fighting alcoholism. After five years of dating, she began to grow suspicious of Bundy when the bodies of dead women began to show up in the same areas that Bundy was around. She shared her suspicions with the police twice but they didn’t seriously look into her allegations until the second time. When Bundy was in prison, he let Kloepfer know that he tried to kill her by starting a fire in their home and closing off all the exits so that she would get poisoned. However, even after finding this out, Kloepfer and Bundy continued dating while Bundy was on death row until officially breaking off their relationship in 1980. Kloepfer’s memoir focuses on her romantic relationship with Bundy and her inability to accept that a man who appeared to be so loving was capable of committing such heinous crimes.
You can watch Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile in Sky Cinema and on Netflix starting May 3rd.