'The Bad Seed' Review- Rob Lowe Directs This TV Film

This thriller aired in 2018.

The Bad Seed is a 2018 television film directed by Rob Lowe, who also serves as one of the executive producers. It is based on the 1954 novel by William March and aired on the Lifetime cable channel.

Widowed father David Grossman (Rob Lowe) and his sister Angela (Cara Buono) are discussing David’s daughter Emma (McKenna Grace), who believes she is winning an upcoming class prize. After David hires Chloe (Sarah Dugdale) as a nanny, Emma loses to a classmate, and David witnesses her throw an unusual tantrum. At a party at her school, the classmate turns up dead, and David is shocked by Emma’s cold response. When he discovers that she has the medal, he notices Emma demonstrates disturbing behavior, especially when her teacher, Mrs. Ellis (Marci T. House), dies in a mysterious car accident sometime later.

Lifetime flicks have a reputation for being poorly made and overly grandiose in their acting. To their credit, or maybe to Lowe’s directorial debut, this one is not poorly made. It still had a TV film quality, but a good one. My main complaint about the film is it gets dark too fast and feels rushed. Also, there is never a discussion on why Emma turns psychopathic. She just is, and it makes you wonder why David did not notice to begin with. That was at the forefront of the novel, and I think that did this adaptation a disservice.

That being said, I still found it very compelling. Lowe and Grace have excellent chemistry as father and daughter. That was an interesting choice because you always see father/son or mother/daughter plots, but adapting it into a father/daughter story made it thought-provoking in a different sort of way. I liked the approach, and while I am not usually a fan of deviating from the source material too much, this one worked for the story being told. We see a father who is, at first, ignorant of his daughter’s fatal flaws but is thrust into the reality before he is ready.

I appreciated that Patty McCormack had an appearance in this film as a child psychiatrist. She played the little girl in question in the 1956 movie, and they named her character Dr. March after the novel’s author. Those were some nice touches.

Lowe’s directorial debut was not a misfire by any means. He did a good job and truly made this one of the few Lifetime movies that I did not want to turn off after the opening credits.

Bottom line, The Bad Seed is not nearly as frightening as its 1956 predecessor, but it was a good introduction to audiences to Lowe’s directing style.

PARENTAL CONCERNS: Violence, Disturbing sequences, Substance abuse, Foul language

FAVORITE QUOTE: You and me, we’re not nice are we?

Check out the trailer below:

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