6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Although Mikey is just a little boy, he is capable of anything.... Every family Mikey lives with has a series of unexplained "accidents" and hence he's moved from home to home. After his original family die, accidently, Mikey is taken by authorities and placed into the care of adoptive parents. Of course they eventually come to learn that.
Starring: Brian Bonsall, Ashley Laurence, John Diehl, Whit Hertford, Lyman WardHorror | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (320 kbps)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
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 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 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.
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.
1981
2016
Collector's Edition
1989
Collector's Edition
1993
Collector's Edition
1988
Collector's Edition
1991
Collector's Edition
2013
Collector's Edition
1990
Collector's Edition
1981
1988
2003
Collector's Edition
1978
2018
20th Anniversary Edition
2003
1987
Halloween 8
2002
1998
1972
Unrated Collector's Edition
2007
2024