Murder. One word that sends shivers down people’s spine. Ted Bundy was one of  America’s most deadly serial killers. The Ted Bundy Tapes is a  Netflix original documentary series about this man and his past. The show describes his thought process throughout these murders and what came after. It grabs your attention as soon as you read the description.

Before watching this series, I hadn’t heard much about this man. I knew that he was a killer, but I didn’t know about any of his cases. These types of shows are so interesting because people want to know how and why someone would do such things to people. This show got the attention of many.

Ted Bundy was on the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted Men List in the 1970s. Bundy had admitted to killing 36 young women across several states, but experts believe he may have killed closer to 100 or more. He had kidnapped, raped, beaten and eventually killed all of these girls. On Jan 24, 1989, Bundy was put to death by the electric chair at the Florida State Prison. Netflix came out with this series on Jan 24, 2019, exactly 30 years after his death.

This show has one season with four episodes. It starts off with a journalist named Stephan Michaud. He had gotten Ted Bundy to openly tell his story in third person. Bundy made an announcement that he was looking for a journalist to help him tell his side of the story. Michaud took this opportunity right away. There are about 75-80 tapes and about 100 hours of conversations.

Before watching this series, I hadn’t heard much about this man. I knew that he was a killer, but I didn’t know about any of his cases. These types of shows are so interesting because people want to know how and why someone would do such things to people. This show got the attention of many.

This series is fascinating. It told the story of a man that did terrible things. What I found the most intriguing was the fact that the voiceovers were actually Ted Bundy talking. You get an inside look into his mind. Some of the things he said didn’t make sense to me at first. I enjoyed that he talked about his past. Bundy went to college for psychology. He used that in his interviews. As the interview went on, Bundy would talk in third person because Michaud said that if he wasn’t directly talking about himself than it would be easier for him to open up. It was so different and it actually helped me understand him more. 

The footage of this show was amazing and put together well.  They had put in unseen footage and interviews that completely grabbed my attention. The show had photos of the victims and newspapers that helped get their stories across. The producers did an excellent job by interviewing people that I would never think to interview. My favorite interview was a woman who had been kidnapped by Bundy, but had escaped. It was interesting because it gave us the victim’s point of view which we can’t get from anyone else.

A movie called Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile also tells Ted Bundy’s story. Zac Efron plays his character as well. This movie was played at a film Festival Jan. 24-Feb 1. The film received the same backlash saying that it glorified Bundy. I haven’t seen the movie, but after seeing the tapes, I think that they are trying to retell the story in a way the new generation will understand. It is important for people to know about this man because he had scared millions. These films will teach us to be safer.

Overall, this show was well produced and definitely got Bundy’s story across. The producers did a amazing job of making sure that they didn’t force people to look at him as innocent, but they helped people understand why he had killed many girls. All of the photographs and interviews not only told Bundy’s story, but also told the victim’s stories as well. This show was interesting and told the history of a person that had way more to him than many people knew.