The Bad Seed1985

Name: The Bad Seed
Genre: Psychological, Survival
Released: 1985-02-07
Rating: 5.9

“Evil Kids Have The Sweetest Faces”

Directed by Paul Wendkos

5.9

Crypt Score

Blended from 2 sources

IMDb 5.5TMDB 6.1

✍ Review

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Year

1985

Runtime

100 min

Box Office

🏆 Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy. 2 nominations total

The premise

Rachel is a 9-year-old girl who is perfection itself - unless she's crossed or challenged. Several disturbing recent incidents have led Rachel's mother Christine to suspect that her child is a latent murderess. Upon discovering that she herself is the daughter of a convicted killer, Christine becomes convinced that sweet little Rachel is a "bad seed" - an inherent killer who feels no remorse because she doesn't know any better.

Horror Vault's take

Behind Rachel's picture-perfect manners lies something that makes her mother Christine deeply uneasy — a chill that no amount of love seems to explain away. When a string of troubling incidents forces Christine to confront the darkest possible truth about her daughter, she also unearths a devastating secret about her own bloodline. This TV remake of the classic evil-child story builds its dread quietly, rooted in psychological tension rather than spectacle. The real horror lives in the domestic spaces between a mother's devotion and her growing, inescapable fear.

Content: Themes Of Child Violence, Suicide Themes, Murder References