The film begins as Emma Grossman (Mckenna Grace), a nine-year-old girl and daughter of widowed father David Grossman (Rob Lowe), watches a cat drown in the fountain beneath her bedroom window. She simply draws the blind and prepares for her day. At breakfast, she expresses to her father her hope to win a Citizenship medal handed out each year to a student who exemplifies the values of the school.
The "merit day" (on which the medal is awarded) arrives and Emma is seated in the crowd, certain that she will win the medal. To Emma's shock and disappointment, Mrs. Ellis (Marci T. House) announces that the winner of this year's medal is Emma's classmate Milo Curtis (Luke Roessler).
Later, all students and parents are celebrating outside and Emma expresses contempt for Milo to her father, who scolds her for her bitterness. Emma apologizes, but she secretly guides Milo away from the party and through a nearby patch of trees until they reach rocky cliffs overlooking the sea. She slowly moves towards him and murders him off-screen by pushing him into the sea, after stealing the Citizenship medal from him, and sneaking back into the party. Milo's body is found shortly thereafter by two girls who scream for help. Emma and David watch from a distance as people desperately try to resuscitate him and his mother breaks down into hysterics.
The next day, David asks Emma if she is feeling okay following what happened to Milo, but Emma acts cheerily and neglects to talk about the matter with any kind of empathy. David's sister Angela (Cara Buono), a psychiatrist, suggests to David that Emma is in shock and will find time to grieve whenever she is ready. Chloe (Sarah Dugdale), a babysitter David hired, begins work. Emma notices her stealing Xanax from David's bedroom, and tells her she knows what Chloe did as they are watching a film. Emma utilizes this fact to manipulate Chloe into doing tasks for her such as getting her ice cream and letting her stay up past her bedtime.
Milo's funeral is held and Emma and David speak with Mr. and Mrs. Curtis (Shauna Johannesen and Robert Egger). Emma feigns sadness in front of them. Mrs. Curtis requests photos of Milo from the day of the ceremony from David. That night, as David peruses the photos he took, he notices Emma in the background of many of them looking at Milo and his medal with a contemptuous scowl, and David grows concerned.
The next day, Mrs. Ellis and an investigator arrive at David's house to ask him questions, and Emma eavesdrops on the conversation. Mrs. Ellis explains that Emma was the last person to be seen with Milo, having been witnessed taking him into the woods. David becomes anxious and assumes they are insinuating something dark. Chloe appears behind Emma in the next room, deducing that Emma killed Milo. In order to prevent the adults from discussing the matter further, Emma smashes a cookie jar and scratches her arm on broken glass, screaming. Mrs. Ellis and the investigator promptly leave. David asks Emma if she knows anything about being out on the rock-face with Milo, but Emma says she was never out there with Milo and that Mrs. Ellis is lying because she has always hated her.
Whilst Emma and Chloe are out on a walk the next day, Chloe talks to Emma about what she did to Milo, but Emma denies everything. Chloe and Emma spot Mrs. Curtis and the investigator arriving at Milo's house, and Chloe says that Emma better get her story straight or they would capture her for murdering him. Back at the house, Chloe and Emma are eating together and Chloe lies to Emma, saying that if she gets caught for murdering Milo she will be put into a little electric chair for children that's been painted pink. Emma says she doesn't believe her but appears worried about the notion. Later on, Mrs. Ellis is seen getting into her car with a wasp nest having been put in it by Emma and she crashes offscreen. Chloe discovers Milo's citizenship medal hidden under Emma's bed and hangs it from a lamp in David's room so that he will find it.
When David returns home, he does not notice the medal and Emma comes into his room and talks to him. She finds the medal hanging from the lamp and secretly takes it off, hiding it behind her back. David questions her as to what she is hiding and Emma shows him the medal. Distressed, he interrogates her about where she got it and if she was out on the rock face with Milo. Emma admits that she was, but lies and says they played a game and Milo let her wear it for a short time, but that when she left the rock face he didn't return and so she kept the medal.
David calls his sister Angela to refer Emma to a child psychiatrist because he is extremely worried that Emma may have been involved in Milo's death and is concerned about her behavior. The next day, David makes Emma return the medal to Mrs. Curtis. That night, he researches antisocial behavior in children and seems convinced that Emma's behavior is psychopathic. The next day, Emma visits a child psychiatrist (Patty McCormack), and acts normally to deceive her. The psychiatrist, named Dr. March, assures David that Emma is “one hundred percent normal”, and he is relieved.
Later, Chloe goes into Emma's room and taunts her, telling her that she wants to hook up with David and that one day she may become Emma's stepmother. Emma is disgusted and says that she is going to have David get rid of Chloe. That night David, is readying to leave for a date and Emma reveals the contents of the conversation to him, but he assures her that what Chloe said isn't true, and Emma states that she does not ever want to have a stepmother.
Chloe is watching a film downstairs and searches for Emma. Seeing that the work-shed lights are on, she goes out of the house and over to the shed and looks around inside for Emma. Emma locks her in and sets the shed on fire, killing Chloe. David rushes home but the emergency services have already arrived. He later goes into Emma's room, and she is pretending to be asleep, but he questions her about the recent slew of deaths. Emma ultimately admits to murdering Milo, Mrs. Ellis, Chloe, and her previous babysitter whom she didn't like. Emma justifies these murders, claiming she didn't do anything wrong. David is heartbroken.
The next day, David drives Emma to a lake house a few miles away, evading the suspicious Sheriff Peterson (Chris Shields). He doesn't want Emma to end up in an institution or in prison and plans to kill her and then himself. Emma senses this, and one night switches on the gas fireplace as well as the iron stoves in the kitchen, attempting to kill David in an explosion.
He wakes up before this can happen and brings Emma back to the lake house. He crushes some medicine and puts it into Emma's hot chocolate, but Emma switches the mugs without him noticing. He drinks his and when he is asleep, Emma tries to shoot him with his gun but misses. He chases her and Emma calls 911, screaming for help. The caretaker (Lorne Cardinal) of the lake house hears the gunshot and arrives with his shotgun to find David about to kill Emma as he claims that Emma is evil. The caretaker shoots David and Emma remains unharmed as the authorities arrive.
The next morning as David's body is being removed, Emma sits solemnly in the back of a car and hugs her aunt Angela, staring into the distance with a cold and victorious grin.
Cast
Mckenna Grace as Emma Grossman, a girl who murders anyone who crosses her.[1]
Carly Bentall as Mrs. Grossman, David's late wife.
Production
A conventional remake of The Bad Seed, written by Barbara Marshall, had been in development hell between Lifetime and executive producer Mark Wolper. However, it never survived script stage, until late 2017, when Lifetime gave the green light on production. Warner Bros. Television owns the rights to the title. Actor-director Rob Lowe was also named as director and star of the 2018 release, with additional casting to follow.[2] In February 2018, Mckenna Grace and Patty McCormack were announced as being cast.[1]
Reception
Critical reception
The Bad Seed received mixed reviews upon its release. David Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter said: "Call it The Bad Seed and you tap into a surface-glaze legitimacy that's probably unwarranted, because the movie, notable as co-star Rob Lowe's directing debut, achieves only a baseline amount of trashy fun, nothing more or less."[3] Andrea Reiher from the website Collider said the film "suffers from being neither dark enough nor campy enough—either choice would have been a lot more enjoyable. But it is stuck in a middle area that is devoid of over-the-top absurdity or any real darkness."[4]
Ratings
Upon its initial broadcast on September 9, 2018, The Bad Seed was watched by 1.87 million viewers, placing it in the top ten most-watched cable programs on that date.[5]
On November 12, 2021, Lifetime ordered a sequel to the film with Grace set to reprise her role as Emma. It was set to be premiered on May 30, 2022, but was premiered on September 5, 2022 due to its production delay.[6]
The Bad Seed is a 1954 novel by American writer William March, the last of his major works published before his death.
Robert Hepler Lowe is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom A New Kind of Family (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles in the early 1980s, he came to prominence as a teen idol and member of the Brat Pack with roles in films like The Outsiders (1983), Class (1983), The Hotel New Hampshire (1984), Oxford Blues (1984), St. Elmo's Fire (1985), About Last Night... (1986), and Square Dance (1987). The success of these films established him as a Hollywood star.
Patricia McCormack is an American actress with a career in theater, films, and television.
Bad Seed(s) or The Bad Seed(s) may refer to:
Rhoda Penmark is a fictional character in William March's 1954 novel The Bad Seed and the stage play of the same name adapted from it by Maxwell Anderson. She is both the protagonist and antagonist of the story. Penmark is a child serial killer and psychopath who manipulates those around her. She was portrayed by Patty McCormack in the original rendition of the play and later in the 1956 film adaptation. She was also portrayed by Carrie Wells in the 1985 made-for-television adaptation. In the 2018 adaptation and its sequel, she is known as Emma Grossman and portrayed by Mckenna Grace.
Chloë Grace Moretz is an American actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including four MTV Movie & TV Awards, two People's Choice Awards, two Saturn Awards, and two Young Artist Awards.
Bad Influence is a 1990 American psychological thriller film directed by Curtis Hanson starring Rob Lowe and James Spader. In this noirish film, Spader plays a yuppie who meets a mysterious stranger (Lowe) who encourages him to explore his dark side. Bad Influence was the first original screenplay for which David Koepp received a sole screenplay credit.
The Bad Seed is a 1956 American psychological thriller film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Henry Jones and Eileen Heckart.
The Bad Seed is a 1954 play by American playwright Maxwell Anderson, adapted from the 1954 novel of the same name by American writer William March.
Mommy is a 1995 American low budget thriller starring Patty McCormack as a mother who is psychotically obsessed with her 12-year-old daughter Jessica Ann.
Mommy 2: Mommy's Day is a 1997 low budget sequel to the 1995 thriller Mommy starring Patty McCormack once again as the psychotically obsessed mother who is trying to reunite with her daughter.
The Young Runaways is a 1968 American drama film directed by Arthur Dreifuss and starring Brooke Bundy, Kevin Coughlin and Patty McCormack. The supporting players are Lloyd Bochner, Dick Sargent, and in one of his early roles, Richard Dreyfuss, who as a small part as Terry, a juvenile delinquent who meets a bad end.
The Bad Seed is a 1985 American made-for-television horror film directed by Paul Wendkos for ABC Television. It is based on the 1954 novel by William March and is a remake of the 1956 movie directed by Mervyn LeRoy.
Black Sheep is a 1935 American drama film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Edmund Lowe, Claire Trevor, and Tom Brown. It was produced by the Fox Film Corporation. The film's sets were designed by the art director Duncan Cramer.
Mckenna Grace is an American actress and singer. Born in Grapevine, Texas, she began acting professionally at age five and relocated to Los Angeles, California, as a child. Her earliest roles included Jasmine Bernstein in the Disney XD sitcom Crash & Bernstein (2012–2014) and Faith Newman in the soap opera The Young and the Restless (2013–2015). After several small roles, she starred as a child prodigy in Gifted (2017), a breakthrough for which she received a nomination for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer.
How to Be a Latin Lover is a 2017 Mexican-American comedy film directed by Ken Marino, written by Chris Spain and Jon Zack and stars Eugenio Derbez, Salma Hayek, Raphael Alejandro, Raquel Welch, Rob Riggle, Rob Huebel, Rob Corddry, Renée Taylor, Linda Lavin, Kristen Bell, and Rob Lowe. This was also Welch's final film before her death in 2023. The film follows a man who has spent his whole life married to a rich old woman, and must learn to make it on his own when she kicks him out. It was released on April 28, 2017 by Pantelion Films and grossed $62.6 million worldwide.
The Lurker is a 2019 American horror feature film written by John Lerchen and directed by Eric Liberacki. Described as an ode to 1980s slasher films, The Lurker stars Scout Taylor-Compton, Michael Emery, Domenica Cameron-Scorsese, Rikki Lee Travolta, Naomi Grossman, and Ari Lehman. The film was produced by Forever Safe Productions and is distributed by Indican Pictures.
Daryl McCormack is an Irish actor. He made his acting debut in the soap opera Fair City (2015–2016), and has since appeared in the BBC series Peaky Blinders (2019–2022), the film Pixie (2020), and the Apple TV+ series Bad Sisters (2022). His portrayal of the title role in the film Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022) earned him a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
The Bad Seed Returns is an American made-for-television horror drama film directed by Louise Archambault, written by Ross Burge, Mckenna Grace, and Barbara Marshall, and starring Mckenna Grace, Michelle Morgan, Benjamin Ayres, Marlowe Zimmerman, Jude Wilson, Gabriela Bee, Ella Dixon, Marlee Walchuk, Lorne Cardinal, and a special appearance by Patty McCormack. It is the sequel to the 2018 television film The Bad Seed, which was both a remake of the 1956 film, as well as having been adapted from William March's 1954 novel. The film premiered on Lifetime on September 5, 2022.
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