The Bad Seed

Lifetime is mostly known for their formulaic, made for TV movies, but something about this one is quite refreshing. Maybe it's because they're using known actors and a known director.

Pros: The acting (particularly the performances of McKenna Grace and Rob Lowe), the music, the direction, and the ending.

Cons: A couple of considerable plot holes (how does a little girl remove a wasp's nest and tape it onto someone's backseat without anyone noticing?) Some characters also feel incredibly dumbed down.

I give this film a 7/10.

It had a good start. But then it turned into a lousy lifetime movie. Watch the 1956 original instead! It had so much more depth and feeling. This one started out with some depth but got shallower and shallower. Soon enough it was like you are watching a puddle. I couldn't wait for it to end. It was really an unpleasant movie to watch. The entire time, I mentally compared it to the original and wished I was watching that one instead. Emma and the acting wasn't too bad. But the dramatic scenes of Chloe in the garage just didn't match the horror of Henry Jones. The distraught mother in 1956 held a lot more emotion. The best part was when Patty McCormack said her couple of gem lines. The ending was a little different but nothing to wow you. If given a choice watch the original.

Well worth a look, not far short of being a genuine cinematic release.

The book and play were masterpieces of psychological theories in the 1950s. The studios bowed to the censors when making the film and altered the ending. But this atrocity is beyond reason the worst concept of remaking anything of that era. Even changing her name to EMMA? As Monika stated in the original film's ending, "We still have Rhoda" bites the dust, I recommend everyone avoid this throwaway schlock and read the novel, rent or stream the original film and enjoy the REAL show!

I don't think I've seen the 1956 version of "The Bad Seed", so how much alike or different the 1956 and 2018 version are I have no idea. Regardless, I sat down to watch this 2018 version as directed by Rob Lowe.

And I must say that I was actually enjoying this movie. The story was quite good, sure it was predictable at times and generic at times, but overall it was a good storyline and plot.

And writer Barbara Marshall definitely did a good job in setting the stage, and slowly building up the movie, right up to the final climax. Well, while the ending was predictable and you saw it coming a mile away, it was still an enjoyable ride getting there.

It should be said, though, that actress Mckenna Grace - playing Emma - really carried this movie phenomenally with her performance. For such a young actress, she showed a tremendous amount of talent. And I think she will have a glorious acting career ahead of her if she continues like this.

However, "The Bad Seed" is hardly a movie that warrants more than a single viewing, because the storyline just doesn't have enough contents to it to support more than a single viewing. But worry not, as it is an enjoyable movie and well worth taking the time to sit down to watch.

I am rating this 2018 version of "The Bad Seed" a six out of ten stars. For a TV movie, this was pretty good.