film review. task 1

extremely wicked, shockingly evil and vile film review

 This is a documentary type film about the ruthless serial killer Ted Bundy (Ted Bundy info) . The main genres of this film are said to be, thriller, drama and crime film however, subverts more toward's just a drama/crime film. My reasoning and explanation for this is the director of the film Joe Berlinger had an interesting idea. The film is supposed to show us how the justice or injustice system worked and how people get so fascinated with criminals and victims who have been accused of committing certain crimes but also how these criminals sweep into fame, for example how they killed someone or what they killed someone with or what they did to a person. Joe Berlinger decided he wanted to use is camera work to focus not only on that but as well as a deeper meaning , and more towards the charismatic killer and how evil can be easily disguised by charm. He also does not include how Ted Bundy killed his victims which is why I would argue that this film is not a thriller as it does not meet the expectations of a standard thriller based film where the audience is given a feeling of suspense or surprise.

Ted Bundy is played by Zac Efron and in my personal option was the best person for the role. I say this because Efron not only captures the off-kilter nature of his demeanour but also strikes a scaring resemblance to the criminal. some say Efron perfectly embodies the hotness that drew women towards bundy even after it was obvious this burglar, kidnapper, rapist, necrophile and mass murderer has killed well over 30 women across seven states.

In one particular scene, ted and his girl friend recently get engaged and decide they want to adopt a dog. On the way through the dog shelter Ted stumbles into another female who he used to know, in this short scene theres a lot of narrative work going on, each person in this scene has their own agenda and perceives Bundy in a different way. The use of the hall way with the two intersecting corridors in this scene is too make the characters feel a bit tense with each other which also begins to make the audience feel tense with the characters as well. his girlfriend pulls ted away to proceed further and in the deep background we see this person ted knew turn around a stare at the couple as they walk further. This creates a uneasy feeling as she watches them without them knowing. 

In the scene where Ted Bundy is sentenced to death, we see the camera slowly zoom into Zac efrons eyes ( the actor playing ted) and he lets out a little tear and straight after that the camera switches to Carole Ann Boone and she too lets out some tears. I feel as if this scene was deliberately done like this to show how genuinely scared ted was during his sentencing and how shocked he is that he didn't get away with it. Its as if every bit of hope he had left just shattered into a million pieces there is nothing he can do about it. Things get even worse for ted when he looks into the court room to see carol Ann running out without looking back ( as we described in another scene when they first met ted walks away with liz his girlfriend at the time, Carole Ann looks back at them as they walk off showing she has an interest with ted, now he's the one looking back at her as she walks away indicating that she now has too lost hope for ted and is officially done with him). Official line from the script: Ted looks into the gallery in time to see Carole Ann running out without looking back. He’s now completely alone.