I watched the new edition first because I found it for free first but this version is much better (sorry Rob Lowe). This script works better old school which makes sense because it’s based after a play made in 1954 originally.
Right off the bat Rhoda’s parents are concerned about her behavior and her surprisingly mature attitude but the dad has to go away because of war or something. Mama Christine speaks to Rhoda’s teacher about her strange attitude but nothing comes of it. Then Rhoda is at school when one of her classmates mysteriously drowns! Oh my! But Rhoda is taking it shockingly well… Christine is very suspicious but then again it is her little girl who is only eight (8) years old, so nothing nefarious can be happening, right? Right? Well, the teacher doesn’t think so, she thinks Rhoda had something to do with the death of the little boy. Wow, and right away too? These people have a healthy amount of distrust even for a child, I am about it. Oh and the scene of the mother of the dead child drunkenly monologuing? Exquisite.
Christine is friends with a criminologist in this version of the movie which is much more of a draw and even mentions the title of Bad Seed in the film which was pretty great. There is even a moment with Christine and her father where she mirrors the behavior that Rhoda does with her (the reassuring petting) while the criminologist talks about murder being Hereditary. This actually leads Christine to confronting her father about him not being her father and he comes clean, she’s adopted! She comes from a killer family and when she tries to explain to her father that this is leading to her daughter being a killer he isn’t getting it which is very hard for Christine.
Later, Christine catches Rhoda taking something to the incinerator, it is her tap shoes, uh-oh! Looks like we found the murder weapon! Little Miss Murder confesses to clobbering the now dead kid with her shoes but then turns all nicey-nice and hugs up on mom to try and get her way. Christine is VERY torn about what to do now that she knows her daughter is a cold blooded killer. The mother of the dead child is HEARTBREAKING. She crashes into the house, drunk (again), and just wants to know about her son. “Christine you know something, you know something you won’t tell me.” She is such a powerful addition to the movie I don’t know why the later edition doesn’t really include her intense grieving because it is everything.
Rhoda sets a fire for the groundskeeper and he dies, and while he is dying she is just playing the piano like a little creepy doll. Christine knows immediately that it is Rhoda who killed the groundskeeper and is distraught as Hell, realizing she should have already done something to stop this. That night she feeds Rhoda a lethal dose of sleeping pills then attempts to kill herself with a gun, this alerts others in the building which ends up saving both girls lives. Okay, so the film literally asks you at the end not the tell the secrets of the film, but that is what I do here, I give the synopsis of the movie and this ending was super satisfying, because the narcissistic little girl went out during a thunderstorm onto a pier and got struck by lightning. What an ending! She finally got what she deserved! I thought she had snuck out to try and kill her mother but no, she went out to the pier to try and get a medal she wanted because she is a selfish brat! Christine wakes from her coma and the husband is home, all will be well. Well, once they get over the death of Rhoda, that is.
