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The Bad Seed
Directed by
Mervyn LeRoy
Not Rated
1956
2h 9m
Horror
,
Drama
,
and more
7.4
63%
82%
Add to Watchlist
Rhoda Penmark seems like your average, sweet eight-year-old girl. After her rival at school dies in mysterious circumstances at the school picnic, her mother starts to suspect that Rhoda was responsible.
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Where to Watch The Bad Seed
Kanopy
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Amazon Video
Rent $3.79
Buy $8.99
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Cast of The Bad Seed
Nancy Kelly
Christine Penmark
Patty McCormack
Rhoda Penmark
Henry Jones
Leroy Jessup
Eileen Heckart
Hortense Daigle
Evelyn Varden
Monica Breedlove
William Hopper
Col. Kenneth Penmark
Paul Fix
Richard Bravo
Jesse White
Emory Wages
Gage Clarke
Reginald "Reggie" Tasker
Joan Croydon
Claudia Fern
Frank Cady
Henry Daigle
Frances Bavier
Woman at Dinner Party (uncredited)
Violet N. Cane
Teacher (uncredited)
Vivian Clermont
Mary Beth Musgrove (uncredited)
Shelley Fabares
Margie (uncredited)
Kathy Garver
Rhoda's Classmate (uncredited)
Don C. Harvey
Guard in Hospital (uncredited)
Edna Holland
Saleslady (uncredited)
Dayton Lummis
Doctor (uncredited)
Natalie Masters
Nurse (uncredited)
Patricia Morrow
Ginny (uncredited)
Adele Taylor
Teacher (uncredited)
John Truax
Sergeant (uncredited)
Mervyn LeRoy
Director / Producer
William March
Writer
Maxwell Anderson
Writer
John Lee Mahin
Writer
The Bad Seed Ratings & Reviews
Washington Post
Richard L. Coe
[The Bad Seed] is a double-decked rouser -- a sock melodrama and an absorbing study in crime.
AwardsCircuit.com
Christopher James
While revolutionary at the time, the dramatics in the movie miss their mark by today standards.
Common Sense Media
Barbara Shulgasser
Evil little girl hides her murderous ways in dated classic.
Cinema Crazed
Felix Vasquez Jr.
A near perfect thriller...
Film Threat
Matthew Sorrento
The 'secret' villain is the missing father - or we should say, the mother for trying to child-rear by herself ... The bad seed is dead - but single parents, be warned.
Groucho Reviews
Peter Canavese
The dark drama that launched a genre of evil-kid movies. [Blu-ray]
Movie Metropolis
John J. Puccio
...it's hard now to see what all the fuss was about.
TIME Magazine
Director LeRoy has been overly faithful to the play script.
TV Guide
An erratic but compelling film that lingers long after the fade-out.
Variety
Variety Staff
This melodrama about a child with an inbred talent for homicide is pretty unpleasant stuff on its own.
Video-Reviewmaster.com
Steve Crum
Excellent, chilling classic with McCormack as perfect demon child.
New York Times
Bosley Crowther
Mervyn LeRoy, who produced and directed, has lost a great deal of the bite of the play.
EmanuelLevy.Com
Emanuel Levy
Scandalous, scary and popular, but extremely outdated , this well-acted melodrama was one of the first to deal with criminal conduct as biologically conditioned
PopcornQ
Brandon Judell
A classic reason for getting your tubes tied.
Film Freak Central
Walter Chaw
Wrung to the point of unwatchable by meandering monologues and slow reveals.
Slant Magazine
Eric Henderson
The Bad Seed reflects Slant Magazine's blind, abject terror of precocious, well-behaved little blonde girls.
Chicago Reader
Dave Kehr
Overlong, stiff, and about as suspenseful as a detergent commercial.
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