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Bad Ronald

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Bad Ronald

When awkward teen Ronald Wilby accidentally kills a young girl whose sister rejected his affections, his overbearing mother decides to hide him from the law by creating a concealed room in their home for him to live.

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Release : 1974
Rating : 6.6
Studio : Lorimar Productions,  American Broadcasting Company (ABC), 
Crew : Art Department Assistant,  Art Department Coordinator, 
Cast : Scott Jacoby Pippa Scott John Larch Dabney Coleman Kim Hunter
Genre : Drama Horror Thriller TV Movie

Cast List

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Reviews

SoTrumpBelieve
2018/08/30

Must See Movie...

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Reptileenbu
2018/08/30

Did you people see the same film I saw?

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Beanbioca
2018/08/30

As Good As It Gets

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PiraBit
2018/08/30

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

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Sam Panico
2017/10/22

Originally airing on October 24, 1974 on the ABC Network, this film tells the sad tale of Ronald Wilby (Scott Jacoby, The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane), a kid who is a great artist and lives in a fantasy world. So far, he's me at 15, all socially awkward and afraid of girls. Where he is not like me is that his dad left town and never came back, leaving him with an insanely overprotective mother (Kim Hunter, Zira from Planet of the Apes) who has some mystery disease and wants Ronald to go to med school and heal her. That seems like a lot of pressure. Maybe so much pressure that after getting the Heisman and shut down by Laurie Matthews, the object of his affection, he ends up shoving Laurie's younger sister Carol. The little girl just keeps verbally abusing Ronald — trust me, I've had things twelve year old girls say hurt me to this day and gotten over every punch to my face — until he shoves her again, so hard that her head bounces off a concrete block. Boom. She's dead.Yep. In the 70s — and perhaps nowhere moreso than a 70s made for TV movie — life is cheap. So Ronald and his mom do what any normal person and normal mother would do — they bury the body, hide the evidence and even hide Ronald inside a concealed room. They hope everything will just blow over — even when the police come by with questions. Nosy neighbors be damned, her boy will be just fine, provided he stops drawing, does his studies, eats right and remembers his exercises.It should work. Except she dies, leaving Ronald alone in the house with all his cans of food. Before you get to the next commercial, Ronald has totally escaped into a fantasy world of princes, princesses and demons. His house is sold to the Wood family — mom, dad (Dabney Coleman of Cloak and Dagger, 9 to 5, Tootsie and so much more) and three sisters — Babs, Althea and Ellen.Ronald is running out of food and really needs human interaction. Babs becomes the princess of his dreams while her boyfriend, Duane Matthews, becomes his demon. Well, he's already killed one of Duane's sisters and now he's descended so far into pure mania, who can say what will happen next!Read more at http://bit.ly/2ztipvm

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BA_Harrison
2017/10/02

When teenage outcast Ronald Wilby (Scott Jacoby) accidentally kills a young girl, his overprotective mother Elaine (Kim Hunter) comes up with an unusual way to keep her son out of the hands of the law: she instructs Ronald to turn their guest bathroom into a hideaway, covering up the doorway with plasterboard and wallpaper and creating a secret entrance in the pantry.When the police inevitably turn up, his mother tells them that her son has left home and that she doesn't know his whereabouts. Her intention is to keep up the pretence until the time comes when she can move away with her son without raising suspicion. In the meantime, Ronald occupies his time by drawing characters from his fictional fantasy realm of Atranta.Things goes awry, however, when Elaine has to go into hospital for an operation and dies while under the knife. Her presumably empty house is sold to a new family, the Woods, and Ronald is forced to sneak out whenever possible to find food. Eventually, the lad loses his grip on reality, retreating into his imaginary world, and becomes obsessed with the youngest Wood daughter (Cindy Fisher), who he believes is a princess who must come and live with him in Atranta.Bad Ronald is a made-for-TV movie and, as such, doesn't exactly push the envelope (no gore or nudity here, folks); despite this, it still manages to be both creepy and bizarre enough to appeal to the cult crowd. The premise might be a bit far-fetched at times, Ronald managing to remain undiscovered even when sharing the house with a new family (wouldn't they hear him flushing the toilet?), but solid performances and great direction make it easy to overlook the film's sillier moments (the worst of which involve cartoonish snoop of a neighbour Mrs. Schumacher, overplayed by Linda Watkins).Towards the end, Bad Ronald changes from quirky drama to tense thriller, with the now unhinged Ronald chasing 'princess' Babs through the house (director Buzz Kulik proving particularly fond of the 'upskirt' shot).6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

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lisa-kevin3531
2011/09/10

I watched this TV movie when it premiered in 1974. I was eleven at the time, and it was one of the creepiest movies I'd ever seen at that point! It was rerun quite often over the years and I always watched it if possible.Just imagine: Moving into a new home but totally unaware that an insane young man is also living there in a hidden room, coming out only at night to raid your fridge for nourishment! Doesn't sound scary? Well here I am thirty-seven years after I first viewed it writing a review about how frightening it was! And by reading the other reviews here, many viewers seem to have felt the same.And now that another early seventies TV creepfest, Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark, has been remade for theatrical release, maybe Bad Ronald should be given a chance too. The phrase "Made for TV" has the stigma of being less viewer-worthy of the same movie made for theaters. Not here. Watch Bad Ronald and prepare to be scared!

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insomniac_rod
2006/03/04

I can't believe that this movie hasn't reached a "cult" status or even a wider fan database. The movie has an unique creepiness given by it's "made for t.v." label. The plot is more dramatic than scary but works perfect for a Horror movie (like Black Christmas or When A Stranger Calls) but very toned down.**SPOILERS** In the likes of "Psycho", Ronald finds in his mother trust, friendship, and love. Unlike Norman Bates, Ronald is a wimp and seems totally unable to cause damage. It all starts with Ronald and his mother celebrating his birthday. Mother makes him his favorite food and spend together a good time. The scene is sad for me because it displays a sad boy whose only friend is his sick mother (it's shown in a scene that she takes too many pills). That day, Ronald seems "happy" and self-confident on himself so he decides to ask out the hottest girl from school. He goes to her snobby house and asks her out but she rejects him in a rather mocking way. She was swimming in her pool with some friends. Sad Ronald, on his way home pushes by accident a mean girl from school who was riding on her bike. Ronald tries to help her getting up but she refuses and starts insulting him. Ronald ignores her but she goes too far by calling he and his mother "freaks". He tells her to apologize but she refuses; both struggle and ends with the blonde girl falling to the ground and hitting her head with a rock (very fake scene). Scene cuts to Ronald telling his mother that he killed and buried a girl. After several thoughts, Mother comes with the idea that he should hide from society while things "cool" a little. You know the rest. Ronald and his mom build a wall over the bathroom door and create a secret room. Ronald has plenty of space there so there's no problem. The way to access the room is from a secret door from the furniture room. Police comes to Ronald's home and discover his jacket with blood and a letter that Ronald himself wrote. The letter said that he apologizes to his mother because he did "something terrible". Brilliant Ronald didn't think about the consequences of his letter. Things seemed to be working on wheels until mother needs urgent surgery and leaves town. She says that it would only take a week for her to return. The week passes and mother didn't return. Ronald suspects because the phone rang once but it wasn't clear if it was mother who called. Anyways, soon before her death; mother sold the house "as quick as possible" in order for them to leave town. As Ronald learns that his mother died, new owners settled in the house. A couple and their three hot (I mean HOT) daughters are the new owners. Crazy Ronald seems to be very busy working on his "fantasy" world called Atranta where he's the prince looking for his princess Fandetta or something like that. Ronald seems to be losing his mind and now looks more like he's a psycho. Soon after the new people arrive, they notice that food among other things (like a personal diary) disappear. The girls say that they feel a negative vibe in the house and that strange noises happen in the night. Things start to get ugly when Mrs. Schumacher (the nosy neighbor) dies of a heart attack and hits her head with the ground after seeing Ronald sneaking in the kitchen. Ronald buries her. Then, he goes nuts and kidnaps the hot Babs (who wears through the movie hot mini skirts, thank you Babs). Then, he kidnaps Duane (the brother of the girl he killed time ago). What will happen to Ronald? Who will stop Ronald and how? "Bad Ronald" is a dramatic movie with Horror tones. It's more of a dramatic story with some creepy scenes and scary ideas. The plot is very interesting and either makes you either hate or love the main character. The movie is creepy mainly because of it's "direct for t.v." status but it's not scary by any means. Check out the "eye" in the wall scene. Now, that's a scary scene. I like the movie very much because it shows you that Ronald behaves like that because of his mother and society. He's sort of a socially abused teen.

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