THE BAD SEED: The Original Enfant Terrible

THE BAD SEED (Blu-ray)

1956 / 129 min

Warner Archive Collection

Available at MovieZyng.com

Review by Mr. Paws😼

We’ve all observed the behavior of someone’s bratty little urchin and gone, "thank God that ain’t my kid.” I had a couple of nephews whose antisocial antics at family get-togethers were generally written off by their enabling parents as “boys will be boys” (an attitude I really despise). But at least they turned out okay as they got older. 

Some kids don’t, though, which I’ve seen during my years as a middle school teacher. That includes one girl who'd someday become locally infamous for a crime spree that resulted in three murders (and displaying no remorse after being caught). The incident briefly sparked a few lively debates among the staff over whether she was a product of her environment or simply wired wrong. 

Do yourself a favor and avoid getting into such an argument, because wherever you plant your flag, it’s unwinnable. But in movies about evil children (at least the fun ones), they are either demonically possessed, the spawn of Satan or were simply born bad. And all of them owe a tip of the hat to 1956’s The Bad Seed, arguably the mother of killer kid movies, though I’ve never been among its biggest fans.

The titular terror in this one is Rhoda Penmark (Patty McCormack), the outwardly angelic eight-year-old daughter of Christine (Nancy Kelly) who’s revealed to be a narcissistic sociopath and completely devoid of empathy. As Christine is soon horrified to discover, Rhoda’s also capable of murder. Though heredity vs. environment is (very) briefly addressed, The Bad Seed does not make the issue open to debate, establishing Rhonda as inherently evil with simplistic zeal.

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Despite being highly influential - remade and ripped-off plenty of times over the years - The Bad Seed is a mixed bag. When focusing on Rhonda’s sadistic shenanigans, the movie is a lot of campy fun, anchored by McCormack’s amusingly over-the-top performance. However, in the interim are long, drawn-out conversions between hapless adult characters that not-only stall momentum several times, they’re distractingly stagey (reflecting the story’s theater origins). One lengthy drunken tirade by a grieving mother is enough to endure, to say nothing of two. 

At 129 minutes, it’s way too long and misses the opportunity to conclude on a dark, haunting note. Instead, we get a tacked-on, Production Code-friendly final act that’s both ridiculous and unintentionally funny (and not how the original novel and play ended). Still, The Bad Seed was a huge hit at the time and remains highly regarded by many fans of sensationalistic potboilers from the era. For them, this new Blu-ray from Warner Archive features a nifty new HD master and a couple of enjoyable bonus features. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTE - Enfant Terrible is an enjoyable archival interview with actor Patty McCormack.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By Patty McCormack and Charles Busch.

TRAILER