This was a made for TV movie in 1974? Really? Over the years the TV movie has been aimed at the female demographic. It always stars an aging actress as a mother overcoming a personal tragedy to achieve a previously unreachable goal. It’s an uplifting and inspirational entertainment for the evening hours. That is the opposite of Bad Ronald. This is not your mother’s TV movie starring a former E.R. nurse.
Ronald Wilby (Scott Jacoby) is a geeky high schooler that’s hooked on Lord of the Rings. In a few years he’d probably be hooked on Dungeons and Dragons. But in 1974, there were no polyhedral dice rattling in the back of homeroom. Wilby lives in a big house with his mother (Kim Hunter from A Street Car Named Desire). She encourages him in his writing of a novel about a faraway kingdom. She thinks he’s cool. Unfortunately his classmates see him as a deluded loser. He asks a girl out only to be mocked. While returning home in defeat, the girl’s sister and Ronald exchange words. This leads to her getting pushed over and hitting her head on a cinderblock. Instead of calling for help, he buries her in the woods. He does tell his mom. Instead of taking him to the cops, she comes up with a hiding place behind the kitchen pantry. She tells everyone that he ran away from home. Safely tucked away behind the walls, he works on his novel including illustrating the alternate world’s royal family.
Things get complicated when the mom has to go to the hospital for a simple operation. She doesn’t come home. In fact, she dies. The relative that inherits the house hates Ronald’s guts so he remains lurking. The house goes up for sale thanks to realtor John Fieldler (Mr. Peterson on The Bob Newhart Show). Instead of fleeing the property and going on the lam, Ronald drills holes in the walls so he can spy on the new occupants which include Dabney Coleman (9 to 5) and his daughters. He’s like a ghost creeping around and stealing their groceries. He imagines himself as Prince Norbert while one of Dabney’s daughters is his princess. He wants to rescue her and bring her to his kingdom.
Since this was a TV movie on ABC, there’s no footage of Ronald peeping on the daughter’s showering.There was no such thing as a European cut in 1974. There’s really no hope for him as he descends into the madness of his fantasy world. His crimes keep compounding. He causes the death of another person. Once more he buries the body instead of contacting the authorities. This is one amazingly dark and bleak TV movie. It’s hard to imagine any hope for Harold to come out of this film with a happy ending. This ultimately is the most nightmarish After School Special about the dangers of reading Lord of the Rings. Bad Ronald needs to be part of your Creepfest DVD marathon this October.
The video is 1.33:1 full frame. This lack of cropping makes sense this was shot for television. The transfer looks like it was taken from an old broadcast master tape. The murky texture works for the bleak story. The audio is mono. The levels are fine.
None.
Bad Ronald is brilliant for a made for TV movie. Ronald is one creepy kid who slowly descends into madness as he lurks behind the walls of his house. For folks who adore creepy horror films of the ‘70s, Bad Ronald should be on your must watch list. This is part of the Warner Archive collection so it’s a burn to order DVD-R.
Warner Home Video presents Bad Ronald. Directed by: Buzz Kulik. Starring: Scott Jacoby, Kim Hunter, Dabney Coleman and John Fiedler. Written by: Andrew Peter Marin. Running time: 71 minutes. Rating: Not Rated. Released on DVD: September 1, 2009.
