A family moves into a Victorian house, unaware of a secret room hiding a teenage killer.

This was a film that I’d heard so much about but never actually saw it.

This was originally a made-for-TV movie in the US, not exactly something you find readily availalable on DVD in the UK. Luckily for me I ended up finding it on YouTube and was finally able to see what people had been talking about after all these years.

What I watched was a quirky yet charming film, though it admittedly threw me for a loop with some of its scenes. I simply took this as artistic decisions made by the company seeing as this was a made-for-tv movie and not a cinematic release.

That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it though, I thought the ‘Ronald’ character had a lot more depth to it than I expected. You can really feel the isolation and loneliness radiating from him, something we’ve all experienced at some point in our lives.

I read that this was actually based on a novel of the same name but the book was actually more graphic so it had to be toned down. I’d love to read the book and see what was cut out and what the differences are between the book and film.

“Bad Ronald” is a perfect example of 70’s made-for-tv films, it leaves you wanting more and you’re also left wondering what could have been.

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If you want to see the “Bad Ronald” trailer then just click on the video below:

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Miscellaneous facts about the film:

Based on John Holbrook Vance’s novel of the same title, the violence of the book was heavily cut and toned down for television. Much of the more disturbing content of Vance’s novel was considered too intense for FCC restrictions.

Originally aired as a Movie of the Week on the ABC network in 1974.

This had a French remake in 1992 & Dimension Films had plans in 2010 to remake this but nothing has come to fruition.

Adam Carolla regularly makes references about this movie on his podcast with many of his guests. He generally pokes fun and makes specific examples of scenes from the movie, which shows he really loves it.

Hanging on the wall of Ronald’s bedroom is a Tiki mask figure of a horned devil, a foreshadowing of Ronald’s sinister turn. Ronald later paints “The Evil Duke” with devil horns resembling the mask.

The busybody neighbour, Mrs. Schumacher, is never shown without her green flower-print hat throughout the movie.

Final film of actress Linda Watkins.

The actress’s playing sisters Althea and Ellen Wood are real life sisters Lisa and Cindy Eilbacher

Is a lasting testament to how unknown Jimmy Carter was only two years before he was elected President that this movie used the same name for an off-screen character. It contains a line, “She stood up a date with Jimmy Carter.”