Chad Michael Murray, once America's sweetheart, has been transformed into America's nightmare in the new trailer for Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman.

First of all, who asked for more Ted Bundy content? Unfortunately for all of us, somebody thinks we need it, and the title of the forthcoming film, directed by Daniel Farrands, doesn't quite hit the nail on the head, considering the fact that women becoming the victims of male serial killers for decades is hardly a mythical instance, and instead a very visceral reality and fear for too many women.

The first of many things wrong with the premise of Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman. Namely, the casting of an actor who was once the sexiest teen dream across the globe transforming into a handsome version of a very real killer, once again furthering fascination towards Bundy - partially derived from a fervent press cycle focused on how his "good looks" were able to lure women to their death - and detracting from the stories of his victims. The fact that people are still so fascinated by the idea that someone relatively ok-looking was capable of raping and murdering women, really says a lot about what people are willing to believe when it comes to the narrative around the violence committed against us.

Nobody needed another film about Ted Bundy. This much, I can be sure of, especially not after Zac Efron (another infamous teen dream) was cast to play Bundy in the biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. Murdering women is not and never will be - and I cannot stress this enough - sexy, and the story of the way Bundy kidnapped, raped, and murdered at least 20 women in the 1970s has been absolutely done to death.

In the trailer for Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman which will be released in August, the film follows the seemingly untold story of the FBI agent and their manhunt to capture Bundy. What we actually see, is Murray as Bundy, luring a woman into his car by pretending he is injured, holding a knife in a dark room, kidnapping women - all the basic tropes we associate with Bundy's history, embodied in this attractive, troubled rendering of a character that makes it easy for us to separate the story from the real lives he brutally stole.

The world if we stopped making Ted Bundy movies. pic.twitter.com/w5gSVEJlju

— saif (@iconiccfork) July 13, 2021

Watch the trailer, below, and join me, and the above Twitter user in imagining a future where Ted Bundy films are no longer made. Nature could be healing.