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Overall Rating : 5.5/10
Directed By : Michael Feifer
Corin Nemec (Chicago Massacre : Richard Speck)
Kane Hodder (Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield)
David DeLuise (Wizards of Waverly Place (TV) )
Shannon Pierce (A Dead Calling)
Supplied By : Lionsgate Films
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : June. 24, 2009
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| PLOT Ted Bundy terrorized 1970s America with a cross-country killing spree through seven states that left over 30 dead while terrorizing coed dorms, and escaping from two jails. |
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| THE REVIEW BUNDY : A LEGACY OF EVIL is film that chronicles the crimes of Theodore Robert Bundy, a serial killer from Washington state. He started a killing spree across several states, was convicted twice in the state of Colorado, only to escape twice and resume killing again, where he mostly targeted college towns and dorms. He was eventually tried and found guilty of murder and sentenced by death from the electric chair. This film fictitiously displays Bundy moments before his execution. Bundy receives a tape recorder from the warden in which he is to recite his life's story in hopes to shed some light on why he did what he did for the sake of his victims' families. Instead of hearing him recite the story, the audience rather sees it visually. As a fan of all things true crime, I have researched and seen a lot of films based on these stories. One of the stories that has fascinated me is the story of Ted Bundy. Bundy was a seemingly mild manned man who was also a well educated man whom graduated from law school. Ted Bundy could've had a career and could've been well on his way as a Lawyer or doing just about anything he wanted, but instead he became a cold blooded killer of multiple women. There was something that drove him, something that set him off, but none of ud will likely know exactly what it was that did so. There have been two movies prior to this one(he was also featured in the film THE RIVERMAN about killer Gary Ridgeway - for it was Bundy who assisted officials in his capture) and each of them explore possible reasons, all of which are similar. Director Michael Feifer has had a recent string of films about serial killers, ranging from BTK, to Ed Gein, to Richard Speck, some have been better than others, but for the most part I have felt as if they lacked focas on any real story at all. For me, BTK was in particular, a film that had very little background about Dennis Rader and a lot more about the violent nature of his killings, so when I popped his newest effort, BUNDY : A LEGACY OF EVIL into my player, I expected more of the same thing. The beginning of the film certainly had me thinking that my assumptions may have been right, as the film starts out showing Nemec as Bundy strangling and killing a victim near a campfire. I'll be honest, after this scene my hopes for liking this film were already fading. But the good thing sometimes about this job, is that I must keep watching, because as i'd find out, this film gets better as it progresses along. After the opening scene, Feifer treats us to a glimpse into what Bundy's home life as a child could've been like. Bundy as a young child grew up believing that his Mother was actually his sister and his father was always unknown. To sheild the boy from hurt, his grandparents claimed young Theodore Robert Cowell(it would later change to the more knoen Bundy after his mother later would marry her boyfriend and Ted adopted), but this didn't help much as his grandfather was a heavy drinker, causing spats of domestic violence. This film provides a nice retrospect of events, for as much time is allowed, we first follow Ted trough his college years and his relationship with his college sweetheart, and their ups and downs. The relationship ended in a nasty break up, which reportedly set Ted off into the frame of mind where he began to kill...this is just one scenario that's been speculated about. From then on Ted becomes a charmer, deliberately doing so to bait young college girls and for most of them the end result was their deaths. We go through the montages, that if you are familiar with, or have seen the other Bundy films you are aware of - there were times where Bundy would pretend to be a man with a broken arm needing help, or someone repossessing a car in order to lure young women back to his Volkswagen Beetle. Like I said, if you've seen the other films, these scenes may seem repetitive, but they really occurred so they have to be here in some capacity, however these things were done better in the TV movie about Bundy titled THE DELIBERATE STRANGER starring a much more convincing Mark Harmon. BUNDY : A LEGACY OF EVIL, for what it is however, is a pretty decent summary of one of America's most well known serial killers. After all, Ted Bundy was a real person, not a creation of sorts, he did what he did, there's no way you can change or improve the story, so of course all of the Ted Bundy films will feel the same. Corin Nemec does an ok job as the killer, while his portrayal is definitely not the best there's ever been of Bundy, he's not bad, and better than I expected. The acting here is ok, and as I said, Nemec does ok as Ted Bundy. Although he doesn't really look like Bundy is appearance, he really taps into his nice guy image. Bundy was never really comfortable socially, therefore when speaking with people, it was awkward, thus it brought about a geekiness about him. Nemec really acts upon this awkwardness and at times it's believable. Nemec not only had to explore this side of Bundy, but there was also a different side, the side of him that was a deranged killer. Although most perceived Bundy as a "nice guy", his darker side would come out at night as he strangled, beat and killed multiple women while patrolling college dorms. Also here in the principal cast we has Kane Hodder, who plays a warden who is assigned to Bundy leading up to his execution by electric chair. Recently, we have seen Hooder, the man most famous for portraying Jason Voorhees four times in the original FRIDAY THE 13TH series, portray killers like Ed Gein and Dennis Rader, both films, which were also directed by Feifer. While I don't agree that the casting was right in these two films, and believe Hodder was just too big in size for these roles, I have to say that his performances in themselves weren't too bad. Here, his role is much smaller, as we really only see him a total of two times through out the film, so I really can't judge his performance, but his character is straight-forward with Bundy, showing him no sympathy, certainly the type of character you'd expect a man of Hodder's stature to play. Overall, TED BUNDY : A LEGACY OF EVIL is a film that uses a mix of both fact and fiction to create a decent telling of a true story. There are many elements added her for dramatic purposes but for the most part the film touches on fact. This is minor, but one discrepancy that bothered me, was that the color of Bundy's car in the film is wrong. In this film Ted Bundy's Volkswagen Beetle is red, while in actuality, his vehicle was a yellowish primer color - for those who know the story well, this one thing will likely stick out immediately. Out of all of the serial killer films that Feifer has done so far, I found myself enjoying this one the most. |
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| GORE
METER 4.5/10 There is lots of blood splatter, head wounds, bloody beatings as well as the rotting and burning of corpses. |
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MUSICAL
SCORE 3/10 Most of the soundtrack features folk-type music with a 70s feel. All of the tracks seem overly generic, as if rights for well known songs couldn't be secured, so for alternatives they had to settle for sound-alikes. | ||||
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM While not the best film i've seen on Ted Bundy, as I said it's a decent effort and an improvement over Feifer's most recent previous serial Killer films. The story of Ted Bundy is an interesting one, in that he seemed to have a bright future ahead of him in law, but he let it slip away all because of his mysterious urge to kill. Out of the three Bundy films that i've seen; TED BUNDY, THE DELIBERATE STRANGER and this one, the made-for-TV movie, THE DELIBERATE STRANGER, still remains my favorite. This DVD will be released July 21, 2009 |
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