Cult Movies 101: The Bad Seed

Sometimes what a mother sees in their child is a complete lie.

What they see as the next president or Mariah Carey usually ends up as a garbage man or a waitress at Denny’s. However, regardless of how far-fetched a mother’s view of their child is, never would they expect them to be a cold-blooded killer.

And even if they found out the truth, what would they do about it?

Add in a bit of old-school noir and classical story telling devices and you’ll essentially have 1956’s “Bad Seed,” a film that in spite of its predictability is utterly chilling at times.

So much so that even 50 years after its original release it’s still capable of inducing shudders.

Little Rhoda [Patty McCormack] looks and acts like the perfect young girl and no one in her family seem to suspect just how evil she is. The only person who sees through her charade is the gardener, LeRoy (Played brilliantly by Henry Jones. The cat and mouse game these two have throughout the film are some of the most enjoyable of the film and have aged fantastically.), but his snotty and lazy attitude make his opinion an untrustworthy one among anyone who’d decide to dig deeper.

The fact that mother, Christine, (Nancy Kelly) is in constant denial throughout the film only adds more to the drama and delightfully delays the climax. While this is a tale of murder, it’s far from brutal. Instead, it’s more sinister and psychological. The cleverly written dialogue keeps the secret for as long as it can, but gets the viewer to imagine the “what if.”

What if this child is this evil?

What if someone so presumably innocent and pure could do something this horrible?

After forcing you to ponder such questions, director Mervyn LeRoy throws the answers in your face and let’s the chips fall where they may. Watching the transformation of this child from serene to demonic, “Bad Seed” is able to captivate unlike many horror films released during its time can.

The end result is a cult classic that fans of Hitchcock will adore. Ironic, surreal and disturbing, “Bad Seed” will leave its roots on you.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14225 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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