I went to IMDb today to find out when The Bad Seed is going to be released on DVD (it was released back in August to my pleasant surprise). While there, I saw that someone is planning a remake. “Great,” I thought, “I’ve been wanting a remake of that movie for so long!” You see, I’ve always loved the play, but was miffed that the movie had to end the way it did (and with that awful spanking scene), and I’ve always thought that, with the right director and cast, a film version could be made that would live up to the play (and the original, underrated, novel). Then, I saw the remake is going to be directed by the guy who made Cabin Fever.
It reminded me of seeing the teaser trailer for the remake of The Haunting back when they were still going to call it The Haunting of Hill House. I was practically wetting myself in excitement until the words “From the director of Speed and Twister” appeared on the screen.
So, I searched online to see if I could find out any more about the Bad Seed remake. This is what I found.
Well, they honestly said they were going to bastardize the original movie. Trying to make her a horror icon to rival Freddy would do it. Paint me deeply uninterested
However: I never saw the spanking scene – which clearly takes place during the end credits sequence and the actors break character – as a serious “ending.”
Nope. ‘Ol Rhonda caught it quick – ‘twas lightning fried and drowneded low, clutchin’ the spellin’ bee medal.
That was a tacked on ending. Wasn’t in the play, wasn’t in the novel. But then, that movie was made back when they couldn’t show anyone getting away with crime.
Aw, that’s too bad. We just caught this on AMC Sunday, and we laughed our asses off though the whole movie. It’s a perfect piece of cheesy cinema, and I think any remake will be far inferior. If they take it seriously, we lose the glorious camp feel. The only hope would be to make it a comedy, but I can’t see how you could top the original.
What was it in particular you found funny? The Fifties clothing? The Fifties social mindset? The acting? The plot? Of course it’s “dated,” but in its time it was one of the most chilling and effective horror plays; the film, of course, had to be watered down for censorship.
A friend of mine and I were discussing if a remake could work (onstage or -screen), and agreed you’d have to cut the “my real mother was a serial killer” subplot, which does come off as ridiculous.
I loved the take Quantum Leap did on the “killer child” theme:
She wasn’t a killer child at all. But coincidences made her look guilty. Her grandmother had killed her children (as a misguided “act of mercy”) in a fit of dispair, except for her mother who was so traumatized that she was later institutionalized. So she had the stigma of having a “insane” mother and grandmother. Then one of her playmates disappeared under highly suspicious circumstances, and the missing girl’s mother spent the rest of her life spreading the “devil child” rumor. Sam had to come to the rescue three separate times to prevent her being blamed for a death she had no part in.
I saw the movie and thought that the spanking scene was funny because it was at the end and it snaps you back to reality, it’s like oh this is not an evil girl just an actress.
The “acting”. That was some of the worst acting I’ve ever seen - I was appalled to learn the little girl had been nominated for it! The dialog was bizarre and stilted, the payoff in the end had us howling with laughter, the wonderful drunken grieving mother, the leering handyman, the indulgent “aunt” - oh gawd, I can’t think of anything in that movie that *wasn’t[\i] funny!
I adore that movie. When I was about 8 years old my sister and I had a Halloween party where we all watched that movie after trick-or-treating. We laughed our asses off, too.
Later I saw it again (thank you Johnny Steele) and actually was struck by the acting. It seems really dated too, but my god those people really got into their parts, you know? And I still love the premise - a sweet manipulative murdering little girl. A remake might be good, but c’mon the original is fantastic.