Dogs are notorious for being loving, loyal, and a person’s best friend, but what does it mean when a dog is hostile to you from the get-go? Well, that you’re a serial killer, duh. At least, that’s a true story about Ted Bundy that actually made it into Netflix’s Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil & Vile, which stars Zac Efron as the central murderer.
In a new clip from the New York Times, director Joe Berlinger narrates a scene where Efron’s Bundy and his girlfriend, Liz (Lily Collins), go to a shelter in search of for a pet. They run into Carol Ann (Kaya Scodelario), someone he worked with in the past, but the real star of this scene is the dog.
Yes, dogs are the stars of any scene they’re in, but what resonates here isn’t cuteness, but the visceral thrill in how Bundy’s steady eye contact causes the dog to completely lose it, barking and baring its teeth before whimpering away. It’s a fascinating shot that switches gears so fast, from the love-filled cuddling of he and Liz to something much, much darker.
Berlinger notes that the scene was born from Ann Rule’s The Stranger Beside Me. Her dog loved everyone but “acted quite negatively” to Bundy, she wrote, and Berlinger wanted to use the moment to highlight how charisma impacts people much differently than animals. Studies have shown that dogs are capable of sensing an untrustworthy person, so know this for a fact: If your dog doesn’t lie someone, they are absolutely a serial killer.
12 Comments
Counterpoint
I´m not sure, that dog looks like French Resistance to me. He (or she) might be a spy.
Later awarded the Legion d’Honneur by de Gaulle for acts of bravery in a time of war and being a good boy with a smooshy-wooshy face.
His acts of bravery were for his spy activities, but also for whitstanding Hitler’s famously awful breath.
The dog’s ears are angled slightly back, clearly sending a coded message.
Clearly a case of Stockhound Syndrome. The cry for help is in the eyes.
Der Führer is smoldering at me disconcertingly!
You guys need Grammarly so bad.
That scene is nothing special.
Well then we now know for certain Chris Evans isn’t a serial killer…
the visceral thrill in how Bundy’s steady eye contact causes the dog to completely lose itActually, that description promised far more than the actual footage delivered. Another testimony to Efron’s limited capacity as an actor, I guess.
Hear that Efron? Hipster douche #6657 of AV Club comment section is not impressed.