- Actors: Scott Jacoby, Pippa Scott, John Larch, Dabney Coleman, Kim Hunter
- Directors: Buzz Kulik
- Writers: Andrew Peter Marin, John Holbrook Vance
- Producers: Lee Rich, Philip Capice
- Format: Colour, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
- Language English
- Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3 - 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: Unrated (US MPAA rating. See details.)
- Studio: Warner Archives
- DVD Release Date: 18 Aug 2009
- Run Time: 74 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- ASIN: B002XDR5LE
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 76,680 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Bad Ronald is a cult gem, it was made for TV in 1974 & it stars Scott Jacoby who also starred in The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane (1976) with Jodie Foster & Martin Sheen. Jacoby plays Ronald, an outsider who accidently kills a neighbours girl, so his mother helps him hide from the police in a spare room Ronald builds in their house. When his mother dies after an operation, Ronald continues to live in the spare room even after a new family moves in. Bad Ronald is a strange 'haunted house' kind of movie, the new family can hear noises & food disappears from their fridge & the idea of Ronald sneaking around the house on his hands & knees is very creepy & also unintentially very funny at times. I did sympathise with Ronald, he wasn't bad at all or a psycho, he was misunderstood & creative & all he wanted was to be accepted & popular & liked by girls. The movie does however need remastered, but the acting is very good, the storyline will keep you guessing & the soundtrack reflects the eerie atmosphere of the house & the sadness surrounding Ronalds lonely existence.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
43 reviews
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful
"Stay in the lair until I get home..."
30 Dec 2005
BAD RONALD has been described as "an obscure made-for-TV-movie." Actually, it was one of the better, if quirkier, productions of the "ABC Movie of the Week" series in 1974. This movie is very memorable to anyone born between the late 1950s and early 1960s, and has acheived something like cult status in that age group.
Stammering, stuttering, geeky Ronald is the neighborhood wuss. He is constantly being picked on. In a bizarre set of circumstances, a neighborhood favorite is accidentally killed while Ronald is fleeing from yet another seven-against-one type streetcorner fight.
In mortal fear, Ronald runs home to his paranoid Mommy, who is convinced that (of course) Ronald will undoubtedly be blamed for the death of the most popular kid in school and will definitely be sent to the electric chair. She decides to hide him, and builds a secret room inside their house for Ronald to stay in when people come to visit.
Not long afterward, Mom goes to the hospital for some routine surgery, with a warning to Ronald not to leave the "lair" until she returns. Mom very inconveniently dies on the table, and Ronald remains hidden in his secret room even after a new family moves into his house.
The new owners have a pretty teenage daughter, and lonely, warped, fantasy-ridden Ronald begins to drill spyholes in the walls of the house so he can peep at her. He then forms a twisted plan to kidnap her and keep her in the lair with him forever, a plan which is spoiled when she discovers the lurking Ronald.
BAD RONALD is an unforgettable chestnut of a movie that is not very available, but is well worth tracking down, especially if you remember it from its showing as the Movie of the Week. Hopefully, with the burgeoning release of old television shows to DVD, BAD RONALD will come out of hiding fairly soon.
Stammering, stuttering, geeky Ronald is the neighborhood wuss. He is constantly being picked on. In a bizarre set of circumstances, a neighborhood favorite is accidentally killed while Ronald is fleeing from yet another seven-against-one type streetcorner fight.
In mortal fear, Ronald runs home to his paranoid Mommy, who is convinced that (of course) Ronald will undoubtedly be blamed for the death of the most popular kid in school and will definitely be sent to the electric chair. She decides to hide him, and builds a secret room inside their house for Ronald to stay in when people come to visit.
Not long afterward, Mom goes to the hospital for some routine surgery, with a warning to Ronald not to leave the "lair" until she returns. Mom very inconveniently dies on the table, and Ronald remains hidden in his secret room even after a new family moves into his house.
The new owners have a pretty teenage daughter, and lonely, warped, fantasy-ridden Ronald begins to drill spyholes in the walls of the house so he can peep at her. He then forms a twisted plan to kidnap her and keep her in the lair with him forever, a plan which is spoiled when she discovers the lurking Ronald.
BAD RONALD is an unforgettable chestnut of a movie that is not very available, but is well worth tracking down, especially if you remember it from its showing as the Movie of the Week. Hopefully, with the burgeoning release of old television shows to DVD, BAD RONALD will come out of hiding fairly soon.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
SPOOKY '70s TV MOVIE
20 July 2005
If you can get your hands on a copy of BAD RONALD then do it! It's a good Horor-Cult Classic flick that is way better than any Made For Tv movie has any right to be.
Ronald is anerdy teen who lives with his smothering mother. On the day of his birthday, Ronald crashes the cool kids party nearby and gets thrown out. On the way home a kid is taunting him, Ronald knocks the kid over and they hit their head ona rock/brick and die. Ronald rushes home to tell Mom who decides to hide Ronald in a downstairs bathroom in the house and board it up so he can hide from the cops. While living in the hidden room Ronald's mother croaks and now he's stuck in there...even when a new family buys the house! Ronald grows more and more demented as the days go by and he cant help but peep the young daughters through holes he's made in the walls. One day he decides peeping ain't enough: He's gonna get one of the daughters and bring her back to his "lair!"
Really good creepy freaky flick.
****
Ronald is anerdy teen who lives with his smothering mother. On the day of his birthday, Ronald crashes the cool kids party nearby and gets thrown out. On the way home a kid is taunting him, Ronald knocks the kid over and they hit their head ona rock/brick and die. Ronald rushes home to tell Mom who decides to hide Ronald in a downstairs bathroom in the house and board it up so he can hide from the cops. While living in the hidden room Ronald's mother croaks and now he's stuck in there...even when a new family buys the house! Ronald grows more and more demented as the days go by and he cant help but peep the young daughters through holes he's made in the walls. One day he decides peeping ain't enough: He's gonna get one of the daughters and bring her back to his "lair!"
Really good creepy freaky flick.
****
17 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Before there was gore....
21 Oct 2009
Bad Ronald is one of those movies that creeped me out when I was a kid. To this day, just remembering Jacoby's portrayal of Ronald sends goosebumps all over. Before there was slice 'em up vegematic gore that passed for horror, there were movies that were made to reach into the mental and psychological state; Bad Ronald is one of those movies. There are no gratuitous scenes of bare chested women, pools of blood, entrails, or appendages being hacked off just for the sake of blood, guts, and gore. Instead, this movie explores the lengths the human mind will go to justify physical actions. This movie was made a time when adolescents talking back to adults was viewed as being 'fresh' and disrespectful. A time when adults were referred to as "Mr. or Mrs., and people said "please" and "thank you" and followed a civil discourse when interacting with society. So when Ronald becomes 'bad' his behavior is terrifying and the slide down the fall to evil is not far behind.
I am glad that this piece of cinema is finally available to add to my collection. Thank you Warner Brothers.
I am glad that this piece of cinema is finally available to add to my collection. Thank you Warner Brothers.
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