One of the United States' most notorious serial killers is a hot topic following the release of the "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile" trailer and the recent premiere of Netflix's original docu-series, titled "Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes," leaving the internet split over his character's depiction.
"Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile," which recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, sees Zac Efron take on the role of Theodore "Ted" Bundy, who was convicted and executed for the murders of more than 30 women.
The film follows Bundy’s life through the perspective of his girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who struggled to accept the reality of her boyfriend’s horrific, true nature. While "The Ted Bundy Tapes" offers a unique look inside the mind of Bundy, using present-day interviews, archival footage and audio recordings from death row.
Speaking on his latest film, Efron told Variety: "I feel a responsibility to make sure that this move is not a celebration of Ted Bundy." Critics, however, have called out the movie for romanticising Bundy by emphasising his charm and good looks. Although one of Bundy's victims felt that her attacker was not being glorified.
Kathy Kleiner Rubin — who was a 20-year-old university student when Bundy crept into her bedroom and beat her and her roommate with a club — told TMZ that she doesn't think he's being glorified.
“I believe that in order to show him exactly the way he was, it’s not really glorifying him, but it’s showing him, and when they do say positive and wonderful things about him that’s what they saw, that’s what Bundy wanted you to see,” she said.
Netflix also weighed in on the romantic notion of Bundy.
Taking to their official US Twitter account, the global streaming giant commented on the amount of chatter surrounding Bundy's good looks. "I've seen a lot of talk about Ted Bundy’s alleged hotness and would like to gently remind everyone that there are literally THOUSANDS of hot men on the service — almost all of whom are not convicted serial murderers," they wrote.