In a move that makes sense if you think about it, Lifetime is reportedly preparing a remake of the 1956 killer-kid classic The Bad Seed. Like the previous film, the TV movie will be based on William March’s 1954 novel; updated for the modern era, this version will focus on Kate, a working wife and mother who’s so busy trying to “have it all” that she fails to notice that her daughter is a budding young Hannabelle Lecter.
If this were the old Lifetime, this newest Bad Seed (the story was also made into a TV movie starring Lynn Redgrave and David Carradine in 1985) would resemble the 1956 version in that it would be campy as all hell. But this is the new, “prestige” Lifetime we’re talking about, so in all likelihood the film will fall just short of the exquisite pleasure of true camp enjoyment. But there are still enough Lifetime-esque qualities for its Bad Seed to work: There’s a fraught mother/daughter relationship, dark secrets, murder, and a subtextual admonishment that maybe not staying home with your kids all the time does make you a bad mom. Besides, now that that Omen sequel series moved to A+E, Lifetime needs something to make moms grateful that their children are simply sass-mouthed, dope-smoking layabouts, not pure evil in human form.