With the releases of the Ted Bundy-centered films The Bone Collector.
In particular, real-life Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. The Netflix documentary Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes had also made a splash on the streaming giant earlier that year.
Both the movies about Ted Bundy and other nefarious figures like him. In an increasingly voyeuristic, bored, and isolated society, people often want to understand what drives those they can't relate to--especially in more extreme cases. Even darkness as taboo as rape and murder is implicitly fetishized because of how badly people want to absorb it while remaining comfortably safe within their own lives.
And though his crimes were abhorrent and he shouldn't be romanticized in the slightest, it is understandable why the public finds Bundy uniquely interesting. Like many killers, he seemed to have lived two lives, with two different personalities. One side was devoid of human comion, cold, calculating, and brutally violent. But the side that he showcased to the media was the "all-American," charming, intelligent mold that he used to function in daily life, temporarily divorced from the insidious activities of his free time. This, of course, invites the age-old question that most people have asked themselves regarding real-life serial killers: "How can someone who does those kinds of things also present as normal?" And then, there's the more unsettling follow-up query: "And if he can act like everyone else sometimes, how many people on the street secretly harbor the same kind of evil?"
In an era where true crime is all the rage, people want to understand what they can't comprehend. They want the thrill of psychoanalyzing and/or romanticizing someone while untouched by their wrath; a prime example of this was the 2019 "Ted Bundy is Hot" internet movement following Efron's portrayal of him. Of course, Hollywood knows this and routinely capitalizes on it. That's why the production of projects like No Man of God and American Boogeyman won't slow down any time soon.
