Review of The Bad Seed (1956) by Jeff B — 11 May 2010

Based on the Maxwell Anderson play, this classic plays up to such high camp its a wonder John Waters hasn't re-made it as a musical! Patty McCormack's Rhonda Penmark, a murderous 10 year old sociopath, is definitely creepy (although aren't all child actors inherently creepy?) but it's Nancy Kelly as Rhoda's mother who really steals the show here as a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown - she plunges into a a mad scene worthy of Donizetti when she finally understands her child has a genetic pre-disposition towards mayhem.

Though the film betrays it's stage roots it a very set-bound manner, it ends up resembling a Hitchcock production crossed with a Twilight Zone episode, with an outrageous denouement (not in the original play) that gives new meaning to the idea of 'deux ex machina' - thanks to the Hollywood Code's diktat that the guilty must always pay.