The Bad Seed

Synopsis: The movie tells the story of a perfect little girl named Rhoda. Bad things seem to happen around Rhoda, such as one of her classmates drowning on a field trip. Slowly Rhoda’s mother begins to suspect that perhaps something may be wrong with her daughter.

The Good: Where to start? First of all the cast is beyond excellent especially child actress Patty McCormack in the lead role of Rhoda. Her portrayal of the character is amazing, a mix of the right amount of innocence and anger. Rhoda doesn’t understand why killing people is wrong, and you really believe it. Nancy Kelly as Rhoda’s mother does a great job as well. You can feel her pain and horror as she slowly realizes what her daughter is doing. The script is excellent and doesn’t pull any punches. This is pretty impressive for a film being made in the 1950s. The last 10 minutes of the movie is very surprising and had me guessing as to how it was going to end. All of the technical aspects of the film are also very well done, as you would expect from a studio picture.

The Bad: A jaded modern audience may find this movie to be a bit dated. But this movie holds up pretty well for being 50 years old! There really isn’t anything wrong with this film.

The Score: 3.5 out of 4

This may not be considered a horror film in the traditional sense. All I have to say to that is creepy kids really scare the hell out of me! Many people like to assign a “classic” tag to movies and do so way too often in my opinion. The Bad Seed actually is a classic in every sense. Check this movie out. Trust me you won’t regret it.

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