Bad Ronald – 1974
Director
Buzz Kulik

Writers
Andrew Peter Marin (teleplay)
John Holbrook Vance (novel)

Cast
Scott Jacoby, Pippa Scott,John Larch

Review by Wayne Malin

Highly unbelievable but fun…sort of,

Nerdy high school student Ronald (Scott Jacoby) accidentally kills a fellow female classmate who is making fun of him (he pushes her and her head hits a brick). He goes home and tells his VERY overprotective mother (Kim Hunter). She decides to help him. She has him cover up the door of the guest bedroom and have him hide in there. Then she goes to the hospital for an operation…and dies. Ronald finds out and begins to go crazy. Then a family moves in with some beautiful teenage girls…

Highly improbable TV movie. I saw it on TV back in 1974 when I was 12. I watched it cause it was being sold as a horror movie but, even at that age, I quickly realized how silly this was. A mother protecting her son when he murders someone? A family moves into a house and doesn’t notice a whole section sealed off? And Ronald has holes in the wall to look out–and nobody notices????? The stupidity level is high here. Also it has a bad title and a lousy ending But, in a way, it’s kind of OK. Jacoby isn’t bad and Hunter has always been good. For a quickly made TV movie it’s not bad. Still…nothing to seek out. I give it a 5 (mostly for the acting).