The first trailer for Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman has One Tree Hill and Riverdale star Chad Michael Murray stalking and killing as the infamous serial killer. Delivering his lines with a gravelly voice and a constantly changing hair and moustache style, Murray is clearly hoping to leave the soft-edged heartthrob persona to one side and instead liken himself as much as possible to the monster who was once dubbed The Campus Killer.

Deatiling the murders themsevles as well as the race to catch him, a specter roams the highways of a gritty and decadent 1970s America in Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman. Hunting for his next prey-his name is Ted Bundy (Chad Michael Murray), and tracking him down are the intrepid female detective Kathleen McChesney (Holland Roden), working out of the Seattle Police bureau, and rookie FBI profiler Robert Ressler (Jake Hays), the government agent who coined the term "serial killer." This is the true story behind the manhunt that brought America's most fearsome boogeyman to justice.

The Haunting Of Sharon Tate and Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers director Daniel Farrands wrote and directed the project, which stars Chad Michael Murray (House Of Wax}, The Haunting In Connecticut 2: Ghosts Of Georgia, and Riverdale) as Bundy. Rounding out the key cast are Genre actress Lin Shaye (Insidious franchise, The Grudge, Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels) and Holland Roden (Escape Room 2, Teen Wolf). Producing American Boogeyman are Lucas Jarach (The Haunting Of Sharon Tate, The Amityville Murders), Daniel Davila (Dead Mine, Knife Fight) and Farrands, with Alan Pao (The November Man) and Luke Daniels (Under The Silver Lake, No Man's Land on board as executive producers.

Much like Zac Efron before him, who portrayed Ted Bundy in 2019's Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, Chad Michael Murray may seem a surprising choice to play the serial killer, but the studio had confidence in the actor from the start. "Ted Bundy is such a fascinatedly divisive character and is the true personification of evil," said Voltage Pictures president and COO Jonathan Deckter. "Murray is so talented and expertly captures Bundy's charm and seductive nature, traits that the notorious killer exploited to win the trust of his victims as well as society. It's fantastic to continue working with the very gifted Lucas and Dan on this feature and bring engaging narratives to the screen."

There have been several movies and documentaries made about Ted Bundy, giving audiences an insight into his heinous crimes and how he was eventually brought to justice. In fact, Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman is not the only Bundy-related picture in development right now, with Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood due to star in No Man of God, which tells the story of the relationship between Bundy, played by Take This Waltz star Luke Kirby, and FBI agent Bill Hagmaier (Wood), the latter interviewing him multiple times over a number of years about his crimes.

Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman will have its Fathom Release (Nationwide on over 750 screens) on August 16 with a US VOD and DVD release to follow on September 3, 2021.