The STRANGER Beside Me ~ The Ted Bundy Story Blu-Ray & Digital ~ #Review #MillCreekEntertainment

The STRANGER Beside Me ~ The Ted Bundy Story Blu-Ray & Digital

Photo Credit: Mill Creek Entertainment

Disclosure: I received free Blu-Ray & Digital for review purposes and all opinions expressed here are my own.

Recently I had the opportunity to review a Blu-Ray + Digital titled The STRANGER Beside Me - The Ted Bundy Story, from Mill Creek Entertainment. If you haven't heard yet, Mill Creek Entertainment offers a wide selection of DVDs and Blu-rays which include every genre you can think of. They have films and television shows, not only for adults but also for children's viewing.

The STRANGER Beside Me - The Ted Bundy Story is based on the 1980 true crime book which was written by Ann Rule and is a mixture of autobiographical and biographical.  I have never read the book but found out that the author even knew the serial killer - Ted Bundy - personally before and after he was arrested.

The film stars Barbara Hershey as Ann Rule and Billy Campbell as Ted Bundy. It starts out showing Bundy carrying a dead girl's body to a shack and then putting lipstick on her. Afterwards he is shown  getting stopped the police and being asked to step out of the car. Then Ann Rule gets a phone call from the police department with Bundy on the phone.

The film then goes to back seven years when Bundy and Rule work together at a crisis center, taking phone calls from people who are contemplating suicide. Later it shows the two at a restaurant and he shows her a pile of detective magazines that he has read. Rule is an ex-cop and writes crime fiction.

It fast forwards to three years later where Rule is with a cop talking about the murder of a girl and about not finding the guy who did it. Rule is investigating it at home and her daughter is there asking her if it bothers her and why she still does it. Her mom says "once a cop always a cop". She has been offered to make a book about the series of articles she has written about the murders.

Later Bundy and Rule happen to meet at a political convention where Bundy has a job for the governor. Rule meets a woman that Bundy is dating and she says they are talking of getting married, but it seems like Bundy has to go out quite often without her.

Bundy goes to a racquet club where there are lots of younger girls and later goes out to a parking lot where he has a fake sling on his arm, He asks a girl walking to her car (and that he had seen in the club) if she could give him a jump to his car since his battery died. She catches on to him when he lies about not knowing anybody in town, then contradicts himself. She says she'll get her car to help him but doesn't come back to (help) him.

Then another girl comes along that he must have given the same spiel to. She goes to get her car and  she drives up to where he is. When she gets out he comes up behind her and murders her. Later it shows him going home and has a large bouquet of flowers and food for his live in girlfriend. It is very eery and scary how normal he acts.

Bundy goes to see Rule and they talk about the murders that have been going on. He makes light of the murders and she tells him he doesn't have a 15 year old daughter like she does. Bundy says nothing will happen to her daughter.

Later Rule is shown in a cop's office who is investigating the murders. He has pictures of a VW and a police sketch of the murderer, and says his name is Ted. Rule says she has a friend named Ted who has a VW and looks a little like the police sketch.

In a restaurant Rule is with her friend Bundy and a co-worker of his named Kelly. Kelly says Ted has been accepted at a law school in Utah. Rule says she thought he and Margo were getting married and he says that she will visit there since her parents are living there. They start to talk of the suspect for the murders and Ted says even he is on the list of suspects. Rule says that there are a thousand others, even though he drives a red VW and his name is Ted. It seems like Rule is really thinking the murderer is her friend Ted Bundy.

Then it shows Bundy in Utah. It is 1975. He poses as a plain clothes policeman and tells a girl on the street that they have had break-ins in some cars where she has parked, Then he asks her what type of car she has and it is a Mustang, which he of course says a Mustang is one of the cars that has been broken into. They start walking to where her car is and she asks for some ID so he quick flips open a badge and shuts it. When they get to her car he tells her that they have to go to the police station to file a report, even though she says nothing was taken from her car. He says it is policy procedure and she goes along with him in his car.

While they are driving Bundy tries to handcuff her and she gets loose and goes running. He just about has her when she runs in front of a car and screams to the person to help her. Bundy goes back to his car and drives off. After that he goes to what looks like a dorm with young teenage looking girls inside and when a girl walks out he asks about jumper cables. Later it shows Bundy carrying the dead girl handcuffed to a deserted area.

Afterwards he is shown sitting in his car like in a daze when a policeman comes up and asks if he is having car trouble and what he is doing there. Bundy says he took a wrong turn and has lost his bearings. The policeman checks out his car and takes him in for questioning. They ask why he has a crowbar, handcuffs, and a mask in his car, like a burglar would have. He tells them he is not a burglar and that they are things he has around the house. Later the girl that escaped him identifies him while he is in custody behind bars,

In another segment Bundy calls his friend Rule and said he has made bale and is in Seattle. He meets with her in a restaurant and the waitress asks for his autograph, which he is happy to give her. He adds that "it might be worth something some day". Then he asks Rule if she wants one too.. Bundy asks Rule is she thinks he is guilty and she says she isn't convinced that he isn't.

Later it shows him being convicted of aggravated kidnapping in the state of Utah and being sent to prison. Rule comes to see him and she tells him about the police finding hair fibers of murdered girls in his car in Colorado, and that they are are charging him with murder.

It shows Rule talking to a psychiatrist about how she didn't see the signs of Bundy being a murderer and how she felt guilty that she didn't. Then it shows Bundy in prison talking with a psychiatrist and how he doesn't like feeling humiliated, about how he will be representing himself in court.

I'm not finished watching this film, but am anxious to see the next series of events that happen with the court case and if Rule continues her friendship with Bundy. I'm also curious to see how the rest of the movie plays out.

It definitely shows how you aren't safe anywhere and how you never know what psychopaths are out there.