096: Extremely Wicked... and In Cold Blood (1996)

Did Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, And Vile live up to the hype? ...Not quite. Jeb rejoined me to discuss Berlinger's scripted take on Ted Bundy, or more accurately Bundy's corrosive effect on one of his living victims, his longtime girlfriend Liz Kendall. Did the film do what it set out to, or was the dark gravitational pull of the killer himself too strong? Should Terrence Malick have taken a run at the material? And what's with those lazy music cues?

But Zac Efron's performance is pretty good...which is more than you can say for anyone's in the 1996 miniseries remake of In Cold Blood starring Anthony Edwards, Eric Roberts, and Kevin Tighe as Herb Clutter. It's slow, it seems table-read-y, the director -- veteran of several thrillers -- can't make it thrilling, and I for one found myself wishing I were watching something else...specifically, the Clutter-murders documentary Joe Berlinger made a while back. Good blocking, bad exposition, and new angles on old stories: it's The Blotter Presents, Episode 096.

Support the pod/site on Patreon!

SHOW NOTES

• Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, And Vile on Netflix
• In Cold Blood (1996)
• TBP 032 on Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders
• TBP 082 on The Ted Bundy Tapes
• Dave And Jeb Aren't Mean
• Five Actors Whose Ted Bundy IMDb Credits Might Surprise You

Special Guest: Jeb Lund.