Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Mikey Blu-ray Movie Review

Evidently, Mikey *doesn't* like it.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 24, 2020

William March was an Alabama born writer who survived World War I with a slew of medals to his credit, but who was evidently haunted by some of his battle experiences for years thereafter, as so often seems to be the case with veterans. Late in life (in fact almost immediately prior to his death from a heart attack) March wrote the book for which he is probably best remembered, a tome which in its own way may have provided a bit of (unwanted) post traumatic stress disorder not for veterans, but for parents. The Bad Seed was an almost instant best seller when it was released in 1954, offering a kind of “Bizarro World” take on the prim and proper Eisenhower Era, albeit one with just a soupçon of a so-called “juvenile delinquency” aspect that had started to appear (or in the case of the linked titles below, would soon appear) in various media, including films like Blackboard Jungle and Rebel Without a Cause. The Bad Seed rather famously became a hit Broadway play when Pulitzer Prize winner Maxwell Anderson adapted March’s novel, and in fact the play itself was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize that year (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ended up winning). Rather interestingly, and in fact rather unusually in terms of film versions of stage properties, when The Bad Seed made it to film a couple of years later, three of the stars of the Broadway version, Nancy Kelly (who had won a Tony Award for her stage performance), Patty McCormack and Eileen Heckart all recreated their original roles, with all three ending up with Academy Award nominations for their efforts. If at least some of the performers remained the same, the film version of The Bad Seed made one very significant change to both the source novel and the original play: Rhoda Penmark (Patty McCormack), the murderous little girl at the center of the story, received a rather “electric” comeuppance, because the Hollywood Production Code demanded it. The film perhaps added insult to injury by offering a closing credits sequence that included Rhoda’s put upon mother Christine (Nancy Kelly) actually spanking Rhoda for — well, you know, killing people. By the time Mikey came along in 1992, the Production Code was, if anything, a dim memory, and so this story of a murderous child offers a sinister tale that has an ending much more in line with William March’s original formulation for The Bad Seed.

Mikey , actually kind of like The Bad Seed itself, isn't too strong on psychological underpinnings for why a child might resort to murder, although in the case of this film's title character, Mikey (Brian Bonsall) is perhaps inherently traumatized by the fact that he's a foster child. (That said, March's very title of The Bad Seed might reflect his belief that nature more than nurture played into evil tendencies for some people, and so a psychological underpinning might simply be unnecessary.) This film just basically jumps into Mikey's murderous exploits, as he calmly kills his adoptive family, including little sister Beth (Keeley Marie Gallagher), mother Grace (Laura Robinson) and father Harold (Steve Hart). Already the film is off into pretty preposterous territory which includes both police and a bevy of other concerned folks basically ignoring certain relevant clues as well as a kind of perplexing subplot that is never fully developed which has Mikey in what might be termed "Peeping Tom mode," meaning that he likes to film his murders.

After the opening sequence which sees Mikey take out three people, the film then kind of calms down for an unexpectedly long amount of time as Mikey matriculates to his new "forever" (yeah, right) family. A number of character subplots are introduced, but for any horror film fan, it's all just probably going to be window dressing more or less as they wait for the next round of carnage to take place. The wait is perhaps longer than might be expected, something that gives this film a rather weirdly static second act where the only suspense is when Mikey is going to strike again.

The film is often resolutely silly and illogical, and devoid of any real feeling psychological motivations at play, it simply becomes a laundry list of Mikey's bad behavior. The film is never really frightening and in fact it may even provoke unintended laughter a time or two. Performances are generally winning in a B-movie way, and the pace at least is fairly brisk, even without regular killings dotting the landscape. Interestingly, the film has evidently been completely banned in the United Kingdom for decades, but its almost cartoonish ambience may strike American audiences as being more ridiculous than objectionable.

Mikey Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mikey is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of the MVD Rewind Collection, an imprint of MVD Visual, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Unlike some other releases by the MVD Rewind Collection, this doesn't offer any information as to the provenance of this transfer in terms of either its source element or any restoration work that may have been done. This is by and large a very appealing presentation, however, one that supports a nicely varied palette as well as some above average levels of fine detail on things like fabrics or even the occasional gruesome injury. There are some density and suffusion fluctuations, as well as a frequently pretty heavy looking grain field that can occasionally get slightly clumpy and yellow looking. I noticed no really major signs of any age related wear and tear, though things like some pretty considerable wobble during the credits suggest to me that no significant restoration was undertaken.

Mikey Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mikey features a solid LPCM 2.0 track. The film has occasional sound effects, including quite a few "buzzing" moments courtesy of one of Mikey's favorite methods of killing people, namely throwing electrically powered items into bathtubs, and those reverberate with good energy (no pun intended). Dialogue and underscore are also presented cleanly and clearly without any problems whatsoever.

Mikey Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of Mikey (1080p; 1:27:11) is a really enjoyable in depth piece that actually gets into a good deal more than "just" Mikey, courtesy of interviews with director Dennis Dimster Denk, editor Natan Zahavi, cinematographer Tom Jewett, and star Brian Bonsall, all of whom discuss various other projects on which they worked, as well as what they're up to now.


• Anatomy of a Scene: Mikey (1080p; 13:36) offers Dennis Dimster Denk watching the closing of the film on his phone while offering commentary. The actual scene plays as a picture in picture element.


• Trailers includes Mikey (1080p; 2:17, incorrectly listed as being in standard definition on the back cover, as well as a number of trailers for other releases by the MVD Rewind Collection.

Additionally, this release comes with a folded collectible mini-poster.

Mikey Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As relatively graphic as Mikey was able to be considering the era of its production, it may still pale beside the more relatively tame (by presentational standards, anyway) The Bad Seed. I kind of wish the film had played up a black humor aspect more readily, but as it is it's pretty deadly serious (in more ways than one). This is another cult item that looks and sounds surprisingly good, and while there aren't a ton of supplements on this release, the Making Of featurette in particular is very interesting, for those who are considering a purchase.