An editorial by Azzam Abdur-Rahman
It’s wild to think that Zac Efron is going to play Ted Bundy. Had someone asked me if this was possible, even after Neighbors came out, I would have called you a liar – but here we are. His newest film, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile, premiered at Sundance and as if Netflix could see the future, they had a documentary series in the docket ready to drop at the same time. Content about serial killers is nothing new from Criminal Minds to Dexter to Silence of the Lambs, but for the first time in my adult life I saw significant black lash. Twitter and Facebook seemed rife with takes about the fetishization of monsters and lambasting producers for continuing to make content like this. Now some criticisms are valid – but I believe we need to have open discussions about storytelling and about why this is a well storytellers return to. Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile is not a movie about Ted Bundy. This is not a biography about his life, nor it is a film about his murders. That movie was made and it is a trashy piece of C-grade horror garbage that shouldn't even exist. EWSEV, from what I have read, is based on Elizabeth Kloepfer, Bundy's fiancee’s, book about their relationship and what it was like to be living with and sharing a bed with a monster.
I think in an era where we are having a reckoning and finally holding predatory men accountable, we need films like EWSEV because there are women, like Kloepfer, who wake up one day to discover their existence could have been a cover for horrible actions. But I am not in the business of defending movies that aren’t fun, or movies I haven’t seen. I am in the business of talking about storytelling and culture and I think this film being released and being told from the perspective of a woman is important to point out. That doesn’t explain away two other films coming out this year about serial murders though.
Hollywood goes back to Serial Killers for one reason. They can’t be explained. I feel all artists are trying to come to grips with things they cannot understand and the idea that someone can be filled with so much hatred and rage and commit such horrible acts is so hard for people to wrap their heads around. We write content trying to give context to their choices (i.e Dexter), content to use them as wolves in sheeps clothing (i.e Hannibal), as terrible works about mental health (i.e Identity) or to focus on how catching them is a game of understanding that cannot be understood easily (i.e Mindhunter, Zodiac). At the end of the day, every writer is trying to understand why. To ignore this as a part of the human condition, that we walk among predators, is to ignore that predatory behavior has warning signs and it has a path of development.
A film that I believe is incredibly broken, but also probably one of the best reflections on the cycle of violence, is Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake. The opening of the film is bad, but it also talks about abuse, serial killers normally first harming animals before people, and how this is often a mindset created by a cycle of violence and oftentimes generational, unchecked issues of mental illness. We live in a nation obsessed with violence and suffering but not obsessed with trauma and its effects on the brain. Hollywood is broken and often cannot relay these concepts together because they are complex and hard to understand, but it can be done.
We need to push for content that asks those question in the same way that EWSEV seems to do. That being said, I am not here to say the backlash is wrong. If anything – it does point out the we obsess over the wrong part of the serial murders mindset. We obsess over the actions, over how we got to this point of violence and the way this has impacted those around the victims.
Sandra Song of Teen Vogue wrote an interesting piece called “The Problem With Pop Culture's White Male Serial Killer Obsession.” Her piece is a take on this subject I didn’t consider – especially her quote, “We not only let their narratives overshadow the lives of their victims, but also allow their legacies thrive in a glamorized fashion.” She is not wrong. We do live in a society willing to continually make films about these men, but is there something to be learned from their lives? I believe there is.
We shouldn’t make movies about these men that show them as the hero in anyway shape or form. We shouldn’t make movies that make them look as if they could be innocent. We especially shouldn’t make movies that glamorize their acts no matter what – but we should talk about them. I think we are living in a brave time where we can all stand up for what we believe in. But if we shut down films like Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile, we shut down the chance to have a conversation about trauma, about mental health and about predatory behavior. We do need to support films that show this is a colorless problem. The fact that the 2013 film Blue Caprice about the Beltway Sniper is dark, unattractive and unspeakably evil is important. It’s the kind of movie I think we need more of.
This piece was important for me to write because in a time where we are all mad, we are all angry and we are all talking about trauma in the culture zeitgeist – I think we still need films like this. We need documentaries about serial murders. We need stories told from the other’s perspective of their actions. We need to talk about how these men and women come to be who they are. We need to be focused and intentional in our approach, but if we aren’t willing to look deep within ourselves when faced with the cruel and harmful actions of men, we would never get films like Monster. So let’s put our pitchforks down and really think deeply about how we can inform and impact Hollywood to consider how they can make a better movie because storytellers will always be obsessed with that why.
It’s wild to think that Zac Efron is going to play Ted Bundy. Had someone asked me if this was possible, even after Neighbors came out, I would have called you a liar – but here we are. His newest film, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile, premiered at Sundance and as if Netflix could see the future, they had a documentary series in the docket ready to drop at the same time. Content about serial killers is nothing new from Criminal Minds to Dexter to Silence of the Lambs, but for the first time in my adult life I saw significant black lash. Twitter and Facebook seemed rife with takes about the fetishization of monsters and lambasting producers for continuing to make content like this. Now some criticisms are valid – but I believe we need to have open discussions about storytelling and about why this is a well storytellers return to. Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile is not a movie about Ted Bundy. This is not a biography about his life, nor it is a film about his murders. That movie was made and it is a trashy piece of C-grade horror garbage that shouldn't even exist. EWSEV, from what I have read, is based on Elizabeth Kloepfer, Bundy's fiancee’s, book about their relationship and what it was like to be living with and sharing a bed with a monster.
I think in an era where we are having a reckoning and finally holding predatory men accountable, we need films like EWSEV because there are women, like Kloepfer, who wake up one day to discover their existence could have been a cover for horrible actions. But I am not in the business of defending movies that aren’t fun, or movies I haven’t seen. I am in the business of talking about storytelling and culture and I think this film being released and being told from the perspective of a woman is important to point out. That doesn’t explain away two other films coming out this year about serial murders though.
Hollywood goes back to Serial Killers for one reason. They can’t be explained. I feel all artists are trying to come to grips with things they cannot understand and the idea that someone can be filled with so much hatred and rage and commit such horrible acts is so hard for people to wrap their heads around. We write content trying to give context to their choices (i.e Dexter), content to use them as wolves in sheeps clothing (i.e Hannibal), as terrible works about mental health (i.e Identity) or to focus on how catching them is a game of understanding that cannot be understood easily (i.e Mindhunter, Zodiac). At the end of the day, every writer is trying to understand why. To ignore this as a part of the human condition, that we walk among predators, is to ignore that predatory behavior has warning signs and it has a path of development.
A film that I believe is incredibly broken, but also probably one of the best reflections on the cycle of violence, is Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake. The opening of the film is bad, but it also talks about abuse, serial killers normally first harming animals before people, and how this is often a mindset created by a cycle of violence and oftentimes generational, unchecked issues of mental illness. We live in a nation obsessed with violence and suffering but not obsessed with trauma and its effects on the brain. Hollywood is broken and often cannot relay these concepts together because they are complex and hard to understand, but it can be done.
We need to push for content that asks those question in the same way that EWSEV seems to do. That being said, I am not here to say the backlash is wrong. If anything – it does point out the we obsess over the wrong part of the serial murders mindset. We obsess over the actions, over how we got to this point of violence and the way this has impacted those around the victims.
Sandra Song of Teen Vogue wrote an interesting piece called “The Problem With Pop Culture's White Male Serial Killer Obsession.” Her piece is a take on this subject I didn’t consider – especially her quote, “We not only let their narratives overshadow the lives of their victims, but also allow their legacies thrive in a glamorized fashion.” She is not wrong. We do live in a society willing to continually make films about these men, but is there something to be learned from their lives? I believe there is.
We shouldn’t make movies about these men that show them as the hero in anyway shape or form. We shouldn’t make movies that make them look as if they could be innocent. We especially shouldn’t make movies that glamorize their acts no matter what – but we should talk about them. I think we are living in a brave time where we can all stand up for what we believe in. But if we shut down films like Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile, we shut down the chance to have a conversation about trauma, about mental health and about predatory behavior. We do need to support films that show this is a colorless problem. The fact that the 2013 film Blue Caprice about the Beltway Sniper is dark, unattractive and unspeakably evil is important. It’s the kind of movie I think we need more of.
This piece was important for me to write because in a time where we are all mad, we are all angry and we are all talking about trauma in the culture zeitgeist – I think we still need films like this. We need documentaries about serial murders. We need stories told from the other’s perspective of their actions. We need to talk about how these men and women come to be who they are. We need to be focused and intentional in our approach, but if we aren’t willing to look deep within ourselves when faced with the cruel and harmful actions of men, we would never get films like Monster. So let’s put our pitchforks down and really think deeply about how we can inform and impact Hollywood to consider how they can make a better movie because storytellers will always be obsessed with that why.
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