Nearly everyone has had that moment where they hear their house “settling” and you disregard any strange noises. Your brain defaults to the reasonable because anything else would be too terrifying to imagine. If you want to keep it that way, you might not want to watch Bad Ronald. The 1970s were a hot time for made-for-television films, as we recently explored with films such as The Bermuda Depths and The Screaming Woman, but one particularly memorable one for audiences of the time was this 1974 horror-thriller. Based on the novel of the same title by Jack Vance, Bad Ronald found director Buzz Kulik (Brian’s Song) ensuring that the safety one found in their own house would be slightly tainted forever more. As is typical of the Warner Archive, the film has been given a new life on Blu-Ray to scar a new generation of viewers.
Scott Jacoby (The Golden Girls) stars as the titular Ronald, an awkward teen prone to flights of fancy and a love of art with poor social skills exacerbated by the cruelty of his peers. As with the best budding creeps, Ronald has a very overprotective mother, Elaine (Kim Hunter, A Streetcar Named Desire), but not to the level of a Norman Bates. She routinely dismisses his artistic aspirations in favor of encouraging his studies to become a doctor so he can cure an unspecified illness from which she is suffering. On one particularly low day socially for Ronald, the youth finds himself at the end of his patience and inadvertently kills a young girl who was ridiculing him. After some questionable decision making, it is decided by Elaine that she will hide Ronald in an unconverted living space in the walls of the house until an unknown point in the future when there is less interest from the police. The first third of the film works as something of a survival thriller with Ronald trying to avoid detection and maintain his sanity while being catered to by his mother for the necessities. This all changes when his mom goes out one day and never comes back.
While particulars of the plot main strain credulity, the film does a nice job of building the tension of Ronald’s situation up until this point. Ronald has left little doubt that he was the one that killed the little girl, and the detectives are keen to capture him. There is also a very nosy neighbor constantly surveilling the house for anything suspicious. This provides some great unintentional humor as you see this skeletal face peering ominously through windows at various points without ever speaking a word. When Ronald is ultimately left alone, he begins to crack even further as he slips into his own fantasy world, which does not bode well for the new family that moves into his place. Mr. and Mrs. Wood (Pippa Scott and Dabney Coleman) promptly move in with their three young daughters (Cindy Fisher, Cindy Eilbacher and Lisa Eilbacher), and Ronald takes to watching them for his entertainment. The film never does anything truly unexpected with the premise, but it is unsettling enough to watch it play out fully without big twists. Jacoby is not the strongest performer, but he will make you shudder when you see him so he does his job.
At 74 minutes, this movie moves along at a nice pace and builds up dread and Ronald gets more emboldened maneuvering around the house when the family is out or asleep. There is even anxiety derived from the fact that the youngest daughter, Babs (Cindy Fisher), is sure she hears stuff going bump in the night which her parents readily dismiss. None of the performances are going to win awards, but they are strong enough to support a TV movie without issue. The movie is likely to inspire more dread after the credits stop rolling due to your imagination running wild rather than due to anything major in the moment within the film. This is enough, though; a movie that implants in your mind and makes you the slightest bit hesitant to do otherwise routine activities should be considered effective. If you want to creep yourself out a bit, this is a good one to throw on during the Halloween season.
Video Quality
Bad Ronald debuts on Blu-Ray with a 1080p transfer sourced from a 2K scan that is impeccable. The transfer maintains a nice amount of natural film grain, which lends itself to detailed backgrounds and clothing. The image throughout the disc is free from dirt or print damage, as well as pesky digital anomalies such as compression artifacting or banding. Skin tones look natural throughout this transfer. The content that takes place at night is accompanied by deep black levels free of any crush. The low-budget nature of the production is apparent, but the transfer represents it as was intended in a way that is quite stunning. Warner Archive did not cut any corners with this transfer as it ranks as a top notch effort. I have not seen the ancient DVD, but I can only imagine that this new transfer completely blows that disc out of the water.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray release comes with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that sounds perfect for the story. The deliberate delivery of the dialogue always comes through crystal clear even when characters mumble. None of the sound effects or the unremarkable score ever overpowers the dialogue on this release. There are not a great number of sequences that are kinetic here, but there are environmental details that are appropriately lively in the speakers. There does not appear to be any damage or age related wear to the track. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles available on the disc for those who need it. Overall, this is an excellent audio presentation that suits the material really well.
Special Features
There are no special features provided on this disc.
Final Thoughts
Bad Ronald is a dark and entertaining journey that will make you hesitant to walk freely around your house. The performances are merely serviceable, but the story is presented effectively and without too much extraneous material. Warner Archive has released a Blu-Ray featuring a stellar A/V presentation but not special features. This is worth checking out if you want to see one of the more memorable made-for-TV horror films ever released. Recommended
Bad Ronald can be purchased directly through the Warner Archive Amazon Store or various other online retailers.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Warner Archive has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
