Mom of Ted Bundy Victim Worries Zac Efron Film Could ‘Glorify’ Killer and Inspire ‘Copycats’

In Zac Efron‘s new flick Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile, he brings serial killer Ted Bundy to the screen — and, in a movie that’s worrying the mother of one of the serial killer’s victims, to the forefront of the story. Vivian Winters is the mother of Susan Rancourt, one of the infamous killer’s victims who was murdered in 1974, and she’s not exactly looking forward to the Netflix movie. In a new interview with Radar Online, she’s expressed her concerns, the biggest being that the film’s focus will once again be on the true crime killer rather than any of the people he harmed. But she’s not just worried about “glorifying” Ted Bundy. She’s also worried about inspiring “copycats.”

“My fear is that there have been and maybe will be copycat personalities,” Winters confessed to Radar. “I have heard little snippets that the movie is glorifying him and I hope that isn’t so … I don’t think that was the intent and I have not seen the movie. It’s the girls, the victims, who I want to glorify.” She’s worried that the women like her daughter will simply be side notes in the larger story. “They did not invite him into their lives,” she said. “The worst thing most of them did was to try and do a good thing – they offered him help. And it turned out to be the worst mistake they made in their lives.”

Susan Rancourt, Winters’ daughter, went missing from her college campus in April 1974. In March 1975, her skull was found, as well as those of three other young women. A man named “Ted,” later identified as Ted Bundy, was suspected in the killings. According to a 2004 Daily Record article, he was suspected of disarming young women by wearing a sling and asking for help carrying books to his car. Other students reported being approached by Bundy the same night and a few nights before Rancourt disappeared.

For her part, Winters isn’t letting the movie — or the violence itself — distract her from remembering her daughter. “The memories that I have of Susan are so wonderful,” she told Radar. “I can’t let him take away any part of that.”