The Bad Seed Returns

No one can say that the original Bad Seed (1956) is not a riveting psychological horror/thriller. Watching a mother slowly realize that she is raising a straight up psychopath is nothing short of horrific. Great film.

The Bad Seed (2018) is a watered down version of the classic with the twist of a father learning these truths about his daughter. It's an average watch because it just didn't bring anything fresh enough to give it a je ne sais quoi to make it very appealing. Also, its hard to measure up this father/nefarious daughter film with Orphan (2009) being similar but setting a much higher standard.

I was interested to see where they would take the storyline with an older McKenna (even though I would've preferred seeing an older version of Rhoda from the '56 film). True to deranged form, McKenna doesn't fail to be an uncomfortable person to watch.

She's still a shrewd egotist and masterful at hiding her darker side. We watch a few of her schemes turn into close calls and missed opportunities but the movie falls flat in terms of payoff. However, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a third film on the horizon.

It was 'meh'. I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. It was just a middle of the week, night on the couch watch for me. If they make a 3rd film, I'll watch it just to satisfy a slim curiosity.

10 points for Ella Dixon great acting, she looks like a diamond in the rough. She brings out the most of her character, creating some mystery with her body expression.

But the plot of the movie is too simple, too predictive and there is 0 suspense or something to make you think after the end.

The characters in general seem naive, their decisions and acts in front of tragic facts are very unreal.

Frankly, the thing I really liked is Ella Dixon's performance, that manages to give her character a bit of depth, since the plot doesn't give us much.

I enjoyed watching the movie, but I don't think it's one I'll watch again after a while.

Do not waste your time with watching this movie... I never wrote reviews here, but now I must, because I'm looking on that as on my obligation for the other people... Just pass this awful movie. Bad script, bad direction, very bad acting and terrible music about psychopath teenage girl who wanna to execute everyone in her life, without any feeling's, but she's are very stupid and script are on the level of elementary school... On the other hand, without any further goals or motives for that what this girl doing, like some kind of fun, but with very bad acting and thus isn't thriller or horror, neither drama, this is a stupid teenage comedy, by my opinion... From me ZERO of 10, but zero isn't possible, because this movie doesn't deserve a better rating score here...

I think this girl McKenna is going places, good acting. The reason I only gave it a 7 is because this movie drags out. The movie would have been much better if it had been shortened quite a bit, lots of the scenes were just to slow, and numerous scenes could have been eliminated. It's kind of a shame, because this could have been a real blockbuster if they just did better editing, shortening it, maybe putting in some better action scenes. I don't think you can compare this to this original bad seed movie made in 56, that was a great movie based on that time frame. Sometimes the movie producers just don't get it, a movie isn't a better movie because it's a long movie. This is the case here.

First of all, don't be put off by it being a Lifetime movie, if they start making all their movies this good, camera work, script, locations and acting, their reputation for movies will skyrocket. Worth a watch, and so glad I wasn't put off by it being a Lifetime movie.

It's on par with quality films releases by Netflix or Prime, a lot of talented people involved in the acting through to bystanders and small details.

The protagonist did remind me of Britney Spears' Baby one more time.

Ignore bad reviews who compare it to the 1950s movie, it's 2022 now and stands on its own as a film. Try it, or watch the first one with the same actress in first, from 2018.