Another Ted Bundy movie is coming—this time, starring Chad Michael Murray
Chad Michael Murray will star in another Ted Bundy film, but true crime fans are not so thrilled about another Bundy content.
It is confirmed that the former teen heartthrob is set to portray the notorious serial killer in American Boogeyman, a reimagination of the life of Bundy.
While this news is exciting to fans of the One Tree Hill star, they think that Hollywood is glorifying serial killers like Bundy, who murdered about 30 women in the ‘70s and had about seven films and a TV series retelling his crimes.
Critics were not too happy about the reveal and took to social media to express their disappointment.
"Society has progressed past the need for more ted bundy films," one Twitter user named @siakcis wrote.
society has progressed past the need for more ted bundy films
— jackie (@siakcis) May 26, 2021
@OhNoSheTwitnt joked that "The CDC recommends that we don’t need a new Ted Bundy movie."
The CDC recommends that we don’t need a new Ted Bundy movie.
— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) May 26, 2021
User @buggirl, on the other hand, is "begging" Hollywood to stop making films about Bundy. "NO ONE NEEDS THIS MANY TED BUNDY FILMS," she said.
NO MORE TED BUNDY FILMS. I AM BEGGING. NO ONE NEEDS THIS MANY TED BUNDY FILMS. hollywood has really crossed the line into sensationalizing this fucking loser. rewarding him with a legacy for murdering 30 innocent women. shut the fuck up already.
— bug girl (@buggirl) May 26, 2021
And one user named @JeannaLStars is only interested in seeing a film that "respectfully tells the life stories" of Bundy's victims.
The ONLY Ted Bundy adjacent movie I am interested in is one which respectfully tells the life stories of these women and girls, humanising them, portraying them as real people who lived & loved, rather than simply victims. And ONLY if their families give permission. pic.twitter.com/Ys55huB50a
— Jeanna Louise Skinner (@JeannaLStars) May 26, 2021
Aside from Murray, the infamous serial killer has also been portrayed by Zac Efron in the 2019 film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, Adam Long in the 2018 TV series Ted Bundy: Serial Monster, James Marsters in the 2008 film The Capture of the Green River Killer, Corin Nemec in the 2008 film Bundy: An American Icon, Cary Elwes in the 2004 film The Riverman, Billy Campbell in the 2003 film The Stranger Beside Me, Michael Reilly Burke in the 2002 film Ted Bundy, and Mark Harmon in the 1986 film The Deliberate Stranger.
According to American Boogeyman's synopsis, the thriller is "set in a gritty and decadent 1970s America" and "follows the elusive and charming killer and the manhunt that brought him to justice involving the detective and the FBI rookie who coined the phrase 'serial killer.'"
The movie is written and directed by Daniel Farrands, who also worked on The Haunting Of Sharon Tate and Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers, and also stars Lin Shaye (Insidious) and Holland Roden (MTV's Teen Wolf). It is set to be released on Sept. 20.
Photos from Chad Michael Murray's Instagram (@chadmichaelmurray).