# "The Bad Seed" (spoilers!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607 "2004-05-17T14:34:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/1 "2004-05-17T14:34:31Z")
Anyone else see [The Bad Seed](http://imdb.com/title/tt0048977/) on TCM yesterday? I’d not seen it in years and had forgotten how chilling Patty McCormack and Nancy Kelly were. The only misstep was that asinine ending they tacked on—I assume the B’way show ended with Rhoda’s Mom giving her the sleeping pills, and then going offstage to shoot herself, à la Ibsen? Someone at work and I were discussing how and if it could be remade, and decided that little Emily from _Showbiz Moms & Dads_ would make a _perfect_ Rhoda. They could even move the plot from the whole “penmanship medal” to, “But Mommy, that tiara was _mine—I_ should have won it!!” ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/2 "2004-05-17T14:43:38Z")
It’s been on Cinemax a few times over the last couple of months, so I watched and and really rooted for Rhoda to get away with her murder spree. I particularly enjoyed one of my favorite characters, Henry Jones, as the mentally handicapped handyman–nobody could convey dimwitted malwevolence like him. BTW, it’s coming out on DVD in June, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/3 "2004-05-17T14:46:00Z")
Will it be on again? I haven’t seen this movie in many years. I remember it creeping me out bigtime. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/4 "2004-05-17T15:20:43Z")
_What would you give me for a basket of kisses?_ An overdose of something lethal, anyway. I can’t remember; did Rhoda die in the book? (Struck by lightning or otherwise.) ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/5 "2004-05-17T15:33:30Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Anyone else see [The Bad Seed](http://imdb.com/title/tt0048977/) on TCM yesterday? I’d not seen it in years and had forgotten how chilling Patty McCormack and Nancy Kelly were. The only misstep was that asinine ending they tacked on—I assume the B’way show ended with Rhoda’s Mom giving her the sleeping pills, and then going offstage to shoot herself, à la Ibsen? IIRC from a novelization I read years ago, the original version probably ends in the hospital with the mother dead, but everyone relieved that the sound of the shot drew attention and they arrived in time to save Rhoda, who is going to be fine. I watched this yesterday too, and enjoyed the sticky-sweet evil of little Rhoda, but the mother rather annoyed me; she seemed on the edge of hysteria even before anything bad happened! One (or two) of my favorite scenes: Rhoda and the handyman talking about the “stick bloodhounds.” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/6 "2004-05-17T15:39:18Z")
I thought the “you’re really the daughter of a psycho killer” subplot could have been dropped, too—it’s enough that _Rhoda_ is a psycho; the whole heredity red herring was a bit over the top and unecessary. Still, great plot: what do you do when you discover your beloved little child is a sociopathic serial killer? And I still think casting directors should haunt the Baby Beauty Pageants when looking for a “Rhoda.” ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/7 "2004-05-17T15:50:42Z")
I love that movie. I saw it when I was a little girl and it gave me nightmares, and I still feel a bit icky when I see it today. I also was impressed by Henry Jones as the handyman; he and Rhoda were well-matched in malevolence and I liked their scenes together. It has already been remade, however - _The Good Son_, starring Macauley Culkin and Elijah Wood, with MC as the junior psychopath. Without spoiling it, it doesn’t have such a happy tacked-on ending, which is a definite improvement. Wasn’t the original movie based on a true-life child murderer in England? I’ll have to go to [crimelibrary.com](http://crimelibrary.com) after this to check on that. ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/8 "2004-05-17T16:00:35Z")
You forgot the 1985 tv [remake](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088766/), with Carrie Wilson as the Bad Seed? (Well, I forgot all the details but I did remember that there was a remake - which had Blair Brown as the mother, David Carradine as the father, and Lynn Redgrave as Monica Breedlove.) In the original, I really love Henry Jones as “Leroy” and Eileen Heckart as “Hortense Daigle.” ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/9 "2004-05-17T16:33:03Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I thought the “you’re really the daughter of a psycho killer” subplot could have been dropped, too—it’s enough that _Rhoda_ is a psycho; the whole heredity red herring was a bit over the top and unecessary. It’s not a red herring. That’s why the movie’s called “The Bad Seed”. Rhoda has been contaminated by her father’s criminally insane genes, making her criminally insane. It was the 50’s. Genetics was destiny. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/10 "2004-05-17T16:49:39Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > It’s not a red herring. That’s why the movie’s called “The Bad Seed”. Rhoda has been contaminated by her father’s criminally insane genes, making her criminally insane. It was the 50’s. Genetics was destiny. It would have to be dropped if it were remade today. An audience would find it unintentionally funny, like, "I’ve just booked passage . . . _on the Titanic!!"_ I see Patty McCormack still has a respectible acting career (though she did two unfortunate _Bad Seed_ rip-offs, _Mommy_ and _Mommy II_, about ten years ago). ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/11 "2004-05-17T17:13:20Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > It’s not a red herring. That’s why the movie’s called “The Bad Seed”. Rhoda has been contaminated by her father’s criminally insane genes, making her criminally insane. It was the 50’s. Genetics was destiny. Just to pick a nit, but it’s her _mother’s_ bad genes that are the problem. Maternal grandmommie was a psycho-killer. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/12 "2004-05-17T17:45:37Z")
> [@Miss Mapp](#): > > IIRC from a novelization I read years ago, the original version probably ends in the hospital with the mother dead, but everyone relieved that the sound of the shot drew attention and they arrived in time to save Rhoda, who is going to be fine. There was a novelization of a play based on a novel? Wierd… ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/13 "2004-05-17T18:19:38Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > It would have to be dropped if it were remade today. An audience would find it unintentionally funny, like, "I’ve just booked passage . . . _on the Titanic!!"_ \Well, yeah, it would. But now that I’m thinking, there are a few movies that go into the whole nature-nurture debate. “Bedtime for Bonzo”, made only a few years before, comes down on the other side, even though that plot is more intentionally ludicrous. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/14 "2004-05-17T21:38:12Z")
I liked this movie. But instead of a remake of this movie, they ought to do an adaptation of the novel Nursery Crimes by B.M. Gill since it’s even _more_ chilling and twisted, which modern audiences would like 😃 [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0340398809/qid=1084829805/sr=1-1/ref=sr\_1\_1\_\_i1\_xgl14/102-8482692-4328158?v=glance&s=books](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0340398809/qid=1084829805/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1__i1_xgl14/102-8482692-4328158?v=glance&s=books) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/15 "2004-05-17T22:54:08Z")
I rented it along with _Village of the Damned_ to show a few of my friends (who were the same age as me) who’d never seen either of them. It had been quite a few years since I’d watch them too. We watched _Village_ first because I remember being scared shitless of it when I was around 10 and it was great popcorn entertainment. But _The Bad Seed_ held us all silent. No popcorn munching or MST2K type commentary like with _Village_. Makes me want to rent it to show to my kids. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/16 "2004-05-17T23:36:30Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Makes me want to rent it to show to my kids. You really want to give them ideas? Next thing you know they’ll be patting your face and menacingly saying, “I have the prettiest mother _ever_ . . .” ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/17 "2004-05-17T23:48:01Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > There was a novelization of a play based on a novel? Wierd… [hijack] Well, heck, somebody liked “The Cat in the Hat” movie so much they decided to turn it into a [book](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/037582491X/002-3993484-8803210?v=glance), so why not? I love the second review. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/18 "2004-05-18T03:08:25Z")
> [@pugluvr](#): > > . Wasn’t the original movie based on a true-life child murderer in England? I’ll have to go to [crimelibrary.com](http://crimelibrary.com) after this to check on that. I believe you are thinking of [Mary Bell](http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/bell/index_1.html?sect=7) who murdred one of her schoolmates. ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/19 "2004-05-18T06:18:14Z")
Loved the movie. “Hortense ain’t got no sense, let’s write her name on the privy fence.” **Torie** , I don’t think the movie was based on the Mary Bell murders. The site you linked to said the murders took place in 1968, and the movie was made in the fifties, if I am remembering correctly. However, the case does sound chillingly familiar to an episode of _Law & Order_ that revolved around an eleven-year-old girl murderer and her thirteen-year-old accomplice who kill a younger boy and hide him in a construction site. As for the movie, how do you spell Christine’s real name? Ingo Dankhersh is how I think it’s pronounced, I never did hear it clearly. And the details of how Christine came to live with her adopted parents are a little fuzzy, too. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607/20 "2004-05-18T07:47:07Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Will it be on again? I haven’t seen this movie in many years. I remember it creeping me out bigtime. July 25, at 1:30 AM Eastern. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bad-seed-spoilers/245607.md?page=2)