Ted Bundy

Alternate titles : Bundy

Tagline : "Thirty Five victims, Ten states, One killer."

One of the better serial killer docu-drama's to come out during the 00's, was this tale of American killer Ted Bundy, who preyed on women across 10 different states during the 1970's.

Starting off in Seattle in 1974, the film shows us how Bundy (as played by Michael Rielly Burke) selected his earlier victims, mostly students from the local university. Before going on to abduct, murder and mutilate dozens more across 9 other states whilst he was away studying at law school. Largely by luring them to his car, by faking an injury or illness.

Though skipping over certain details, for example the names of the people he kills in the film were not actually the names of the victims in real life. The film certainly pulls no punches in showing the brutality of his crimes, including where he blugeoned 4 female college girls to death in their dormitory, and how one of his victims escaped, which lead to his eventual conviction and execution in the late 80's.

Written and directed by Mathew Bright, the film remains largely faithful to the original case, detailing many of his killings and certainly captures many of the disturbing elements that made his crimes so shocking and even goes as far as to feature genuine news footage from the actual trial.

Definitely one for fans of true crime stories. Also, look out for horror veteran Tom Savini who has a guest role as a police detective.

Overall Marks : 6/10.

Terrifying Trivia

• Alternate tag lines "Not every serial killer fits the profile", "Based on the true story of America's most infamous serial sex killer".
• Director Mathew Bright also directed the gothic horror film "Dark Angel : The Ascent" and the bizarre comedy "Freeway". During the 70's he was one of the original members of Danny Elfman's band "Oingo Boingo".
• The films budget was $1,200,000.
• Keifer Sutherland, Peter Saarsgard and Rob Lowe were originally offered the role, but all declined due to the nature of the character.
• The names of the victims in the film are fictional and not the names of the actual victims.
• The character of Beverly, who chats with Ted and his girlfriend at a party about working at a crisis centre, was based on true crime author Ann Rule. Rule did meet Ted and his girlfriend as a party and did work with him at a crisis centre. She went on to write a book about him entitled "The Stranger Beside Me".
• Boti Ann Bliss, who plays Bundy's girlfriend Lee, also played Robin in "Warlock 3 : The Armageddon". She went on to have a reoccurring role in the US cop show "CSI : Miami" playing Maxine Valera.
• A bit of artistic license was used during the execution scene. In the film, the person seen throwing the switch was a uniformed prison guard. In reality, the "executioner" would be a private individual specially hired for the job and would most certainly not have been visible to the condemned in the chamber. Also, the electric current would have been administered at least three different times, not just once.
• The special effects were by horror specialists KNB effects group. Tom Savini also helped out, who also had a role in the film as a detective.

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