Thanks to the made-for-TV movie era, which peaked in the ‘70s, we have memorable horror moments and monsters like the Zuni doll from Trilogy of Terror, the vampire kid at the window in Salem’s Lot, and eerie spectral encounters with The Woman in Black. Made-for-TV movies weren’t afraid to get weird, either, and 1974’s Bad Ronald is a perfect example. Airing on ABC in close proximity to the theatrical release of Black Christmas, Bad Ronald is like a bizarre young adult version of the classic slasher’s central conceit.
Scott Jacoby (Return to Horror High) stars as the titular Ronald, an awkward high school outcast who prefers to live inside his own fantasy world. After being rejected by a girl, he chances upon the girl’s obnoxious younger sister on his way home. After she taunts him, he shoves her away, and she dies when her head strikes a cinderblock. Panicked, he buries her in a shallow grave and runs home to tell his overprotective mother (Kim Hunter). Mom decides the best way to handle this is to have Ronald build a wall in front of the bathroom and live in the enclosed spaces and crawlspaces for a few months until the coast is clear. Mom unexpectedly falls ill, gets hospitalized, and dies during gallbladder surgery.
Not long after, a new family moves into the home, unaware Ronald is living in the walls and hidden recesses. He becomes fixated on one of the family’s teenage daughters.
It sounds like a perfect setup for creepy atmosphere, right? The three teen Wood daughters feeling like they’re being watched in their own home, because they are. It’s a lot like Black Christmas, in which the unidentified killer watches and stalks the unwitting sorority sisters in their own home, picking them off at opportune moments. Except, Ronald and the Wood daughters are high school students, this is a made-for-TV movie, and the movie opts to frame everything from Ronald’s perspective.
Meaning, Ronald isn’t really much of a horror villain. He’s an odd duck that fantasizes he’s a prince and the middle Wood sister is his princess. He thinks the eldest sister’s boyfriend is the evil duke he must battle. The fantasy element and the loss of his mother makes you pity him rather than fear him. He was a mama’s boy, and he never intended to kill anyone in the first place. The idea of someone lurking in your own home is pretty terrifying, and yet putting us in the shoes of a lost teen boy diminishes that. It’s an interesting choice.
There are occasional reminders that this is supposed to be an outright horror movie, though. Ominous dolls hung from the ceiling. The increasing filth in which Ronald lives. His growing obsession. That iconic peeping eye moment in Black Christmas? Bad Ronald has one just like it. So, I suppose for an unsuspecting family gathered around the television on October 23, 45 years ago, Bad Ronald probably did offer up some good chills. This aired before Black Christmas made its way into theaters in the U.S., so that would’ve helped, too.
Even if it isn’t exactly scary, the fact that something like Bad Ronald exists proves what a fun wild west the TV landscape used to be. At least in the made-for-TV movie department. Because it was network TV, filmmakers had to get creative in developing horror and scares that would still appease TV censors. In the case of Bad Ronald, that meant getting surreal and psychologically weird. And it makes for one fascinating watch.