The lovers of classic films probably will remember that magnificent and far in time title called The Bad Seed (1956), about an eight years old girl that seems to be the perfect daughter, charming, polite and intelligent beyond her years, but something not quite right about her. The movie was a big success when it came out, and even achieved 4 Oscar nominations, including best leading and supporting roles for the 3 main actresses, including the by then very young Patty McCormack.
Time has passed, and The Bad Seed (1956) has fallen into oblivion for the big masses. Actor Rob Lowe, who was a big young star in the 1980s and mid-1990s but also remained quite forgetfulness for the last decades, is now working on a remake of this classic movie. This would mark his debut as the director of a feature film, plus he is also saving the role of the father of little Rhoda for himself.
The Bad Seed (1956) was the adaptation of the novel of the same name written by William March and published in 1954. It tells the story of a mother’s realization that her young daughter has committed a murder, or two. When the father is gone for business, leaving his wife and young daughter Rhoda along at their apartment, something strange happens at the little girl’s school. One of her classmates mysteriously drowns at a school picnic. The death is presumed accidental, but one detail was unexplained: his face was imprinted and dappled with strange crescent-shaped marks. The mother then begins to suspect about her daughter’s behavior and begins to reevaluate a few troubling incidents from the past. After Rhoda had begged her parents for a pet dog, she quickly became bored with it, and the animal died in what Rhoda described as an “accidental fall” from the apartment window. An elderly neighbor in Baltimore had promised Rhoda a special necklace upon her death, and soon after died from a fall down the stairs while babysitting Rhoda, who now proudly owns the necklace. Additionally, Rhoda was once expelled from a school for repeatedly being caught lying to teachers and staff who described Rhoda as a “cold, self-sufficient child who plays by her own rules”.
