# "The Bad Seed" Remake -OR- Rhoda Meets Jason **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 3, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-remake-or-rhoda-meets-jason/272661 "2004-11-03T01:55:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-remake-or-rhoda-meets-jason/272661/1 "2004-11-03T01:55:18Z")
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](http://www.killermovies.com/b/thebadseed/articles/4335.html) is what I found. > [@Eli Roth](#): > > The original was a great psychological thriller, and we are going to bastardize and exploit it, ramping up the body counts and killings. This is going to be scary, bloody fun, and we’re going to create the next horror icon, a la Freddy, Jason, and Chucky. She’s this cunning, adorable kid who loves to kill, but also loves 'N Sync. God help us all. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-remake-or-rhoda-meets-jason/272661/2 "2004-11-03T03:54:20Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-remake-or-rhoda-meets-jason/272661/3 "2004-11-03T03:59:17Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > 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.” No, but it was just so damn cutesy and I thought it actually spoiled the movie to a point. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-remake-or-rhoda-meets-jason/272661/4 "2004-11-03T11:45:24Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-remake-or-rhoda-meets-jason/272661/5 "2004-11-03T11:50:39Z")
> [@Julius Henry](#): > > But then, that movie was made back when they couldn’t show anyone getting away with crime. You know, I’ve always wondered––with that restriction in place, how did they get away with the ending of _Sorry, Wrong Number_? ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-remake-or-rhoda-meets-jason/272661/6 "2004-11-03T13:15:21Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-remake-or-rhoda-meets-jason/272661/7 "2004-11-03T14:11:11Z")
> [@singular1](#): > > 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 . . . 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. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-remake-or-rhoda-meets-jason/272661/8 "2004-11-04T22:16:25Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![START](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@START](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/START)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-remake-or-rhoda-meets-jason/272661/9 "2004-11-05T02:22:30Z")
> [@MidnightRadio](#): > > 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](http://www.killermovies.com/b/thebadseed/articles/4335.html) is what I found. > > God help us all. 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. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-remake-or-rhoda-meets-jason/272661/10 "2004-11-08T20:59:52Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > What was it in particular you found funny? The Fifties clothing? The Fifties social mindset? The acting? The plot? 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! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-remake-or-rhoda-meets-jason/272661/11 "2004-11-08T21:17:31Z")
Ah, well, to each his (or her) own. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-remake-or-rhoda-meets-jason/272661/12 "2004-11-08T22:37:18Z")
I’ve always gotten _The Bad Seed_ confused with [Demon Seed](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075931/combined). I mean, psychological thriller … megalomaniacal computer controlling a killer octahedron … who **wouldn’t** get 'em confused? ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-remake-or-rhoda-meets-jason/272661/13 "2004-11-08T22:41:50Z")
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.